Sharks at Lightning
The San Jose Sharks look to complete a perfect three-game road trip when they visit the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon. San Jose began its trek with a shootout victory at Washington on Tuesday before posting a 3-0 victory at Florida two nights later. Joe Pavelski recorded a goal and an assist while Alex Stalock made 24 saves for his first NHL shutout.
Tampa Bay is coming off a 2-1 shootout loss to the New York Islanders on Thursday. Captain Martin St. Louis scored a power-play goal and Ben Bishop turned aside 29 shots, but the Lightning were unable to cash in during the bonus format. San Jose is looking to sweep the two-game season series after skating to a 5-1 home victory on Nov. 21 in which Tommy Wingels scored twice and Patrick Marleau recorded a goal and two assists.
TV: 2 p.m. ET, CSN California (San Jose), Sun Sports (Tampa Bay)
ABOUT THE SHARKS (30-12-6): Captain Joe Thornton opened the scoring against Florida with 51 seconds remaining in the second period, ending his 20-game goalless drought. The tally was Thornton's 1,169th career point, leaving him one shy of tying Hall-of-Famer Bobby Hull for 48th place on the all-time list. "Jumbo is like wine, he gets better with age," coach Todd McLellan said.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (28-15-5): Defenseman Sami Salo returned to action Thursday after missing two games with a lower-body injury. Steven Stamkos moved closer to getting back in the lineup as he participated in his first full morning skate Thursday since breaking his leg on Nov. 11. St. Louis' goal extended his point streak to six games and gave him 957 career points, leaving him one behind Larry Robinson for 87th place in NHL history and two back of Kirk Muller for 86th.
OVERTIME
1. San Jose has won consecutive games for the first time since capturing four in a row from Dec. 21-29.
2. Tampa Bay is winless in its last four home games (0-2-2).
3. Pavelski has scored 13 goals in his last 18 contests.