Lightning at Blues
Two of the hottest teams in the NHL meet for the first of two games within 10 days when the St. Louis Blues host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night. The Blues have won five straight and boast a 10-0-1 mark in their last 11 games, but will be without out All-Star defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk indefinitely due to an abdominal injury. The Lightning own the most points in the Eastern Conference with 68 after winning five of their last six outings, including the 3-1 triumph over Columbus on Saturday.
Tampa Bay leads the league in scoring (3.22 per game) and St. Louis is third at 3.14 while both are getting solid goaltending. Lightning netminder Ben Bishop, who grew up outside St. Louis and started his career with the Blues, allowed two goals on 63 shots the last two games. Brian Elliott is 7-0-1 in his last eight decisions in net, but the Blues will have to replace Shattenkirk after he was injured in the 4-3 victory at Washington on Sunday.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, Sun Sports (Tampa Bay), FSN Midwest (St. Louis)
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (32-15-4): Backup goalie Evgeni Nabokov cleared waivers Monday and Tampa Bay recalled 20-year-old netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy to take his place. The Lightning play 11 games over the next 20 days with three back-to-backs and Vasilevskiy boasts a 3-1-0 mark and a .937 save percentage in his first four NHL games while Nabokov struggled at times (.882 SP). Rookie center Cedric Paquette, who was named the NHL's Second Star of the Week, looks to stay on a roll after posting five goals in the last three games to reach 10 overall.
ABOUT THE BLUES (32-13-4): Shattenkirk stood second in the league in scoring among defensemen with 40 points through Sunday, but reportedly will have surgery in the next 7-10 days. Vladimir Tarasenko snapped a five-game goal drought with his 25th on Sunday and added an assist to reach a team-high 50 points while Alex Steen scored twice and set up another to push his season total to 43. Captain David Backes saw his nine-game point streak come to an end against Washington when he was ejected for an illegal hit.
OVERTIME
1. Tampa Bay’s rookie LW Jonathan Drouin recorded four assists and had a plus-4 rating over his last three contests.
2. St. Louis Cs Jori Lehtera and Patrik Berglund missed the last two games with upper-body injuries and are questionable for Tuesday.
3. Lightning captain Steven Stamkos has registered five goals and nine points in six career games against the Blues.