Oilers at Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning look to rebound from a rough two-game road trip in which they allowed 11 goals when the Edmonton Oilers pay a visit Thursday night. The Atlantic-Division Lightning have split six contests in January after a four-game winning streak and captain Steven Stamkos is warming up with five goals in his last five contests to reach 25 on the season. The Oilers, who beat Tampa Bay 3-2 on Oct. 20, are 3-3-2 in their last eight games but still have the fewest points in the league (29).
The Lightning were without leading scorer Tyler Johnson along with top defenseman Victor Hedman due to lower-body injuries in a 4-3 loss at Boston on Tuesday and both are expected back soon. Tampa Bay has won five straight and are 16-4-1 overall on home ice with five of the next six slated for Amalie Arena. Edmonton owns 10 victories, including five against the top 10 teams in the league in points, but is 2-11-7 on the road.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, SNET-Oilers (Edmonton), Sun Sports (Tampa Bay)
ABOUT THE OILERS (10-25-9): Taylor Hall posted seven points in his last eight games and leads the team with 28 overall, including a penalty-shot goal in the win over Tampa Bay. Jordan Eberle has also accumulated seven points in seven contests to stand second on the team with 27 and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins owns 25. Center Derek Roy boasts two goals and five assists in eight games since being acquired from Nashville and Teddy Purcell, who played most of the last five seasons in Tampa Bay, is fourth on the team with 19 points.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (27-14-4): Stamkos took Johnson’s spot in between Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat on Tuesday and scored twice to go along with a plus-2 rating. Center Vladislav Namestnikov was recalled from Syracuse of the American Hockey League and moved into the lineup versus Boston while right wing Brett Connolly was a healthy stretch for the first time this season. Ben Bishop’s save percentage dipped to .909 after giving up seven goals in two games, but he lost for the first time in six decisions Tuesday and owns 21 wins.
OVERTIME
1. Tampa Bay RW Ryan Callahan has scored in back-to-back games and boasts three points in his last three contests, leaving him two shy of 300 overall.
2. Edmonton C Boyd Gordon’s next game will be the 600th of his career and he is one assist shy of 100.
3. The Oilers are 5-1-1 in their last seven meetings with the Lightning, including two straight wins.