Lightning at Jets
Ben Bishop is not expected to be in the lineup Tuesday when the Tampa Bay Lightning visit the Winnipeg Jets, who have struggled to keep the puck out of their net lately. Bishop, among the league leaders in several goaltending categories, is day-to-day with an upper-body injury suffered in Sunday's 5-3 loss at Edmonton and Anders Lindback is likely to make the start for the Lightning. The Jets come home after an 0-3-0 road trip during which they surrendered 14 goals and scored nine.
Winnipeg, which has beaten the Lightning four straight times - including a 2-1 overtime triumph on Dec. 7, has won consecutive games only once since the end of November. Valtteri Filppula is a big reason Tampa Bay has kept winning since losing Steven Stamkos to a broken tibia on Nov. 11, posting 13 points and a plus-7 rating over the last 10 games. Filppula is likely to play despite sitting out practice Monday.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, Sun Sports (Tampa Bay)
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (25-13-4): Ondrej Palat, who is riding a career-high six-game point streak, and defenseman Radko Gudas were named to the Czech Republic’s Olympic roster on Monday. Captain Martin St. Louis has gone four games without a point – one shy of his longest drought of the season. Bishop’s absence is not expected to be a long one, but the Lightning recalled Cedrick Desjardins from Syracuse of the American Hockey League to back up Lindback.
ABOUT THE JETS (19-21-5): Winnipeg has allowed four or more goals in five of its last seven games with both Al Montoya and Ondrej Pavelec spending time in net. The Jets are yielding 30.8 shots on goal per game – 10th-most in the league through Sunday – while dropping into the bottom 10 in goals against at 2.91. Bryan Little leads Winnipeg in scoring with 34 points but has only one in the last five games, while Evander Kane has notched 11 points in 11 contests.
OVERTIME
1. Winnipeg RW Michael Frolik and Pavelec were named to the Czech Republic's Olympic squad.
2. Tampa Bay C Tyler Johnson (23 points) and Winnipeg C Mark Scheifele (22) are among the leading rookie scorers in the league.
3. Jets RW Blake Wheeler has 13 points in his last nine games against Tampa Bay, including a goal and an assist on Dec. 7.