Lightning at Avalanche
The Tampa Bay Lightning look to finish a five-game road trip with four victories when they visit the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday night. The Lightning knocked off Arizona 4-2 on Saturday with two goals from Ondrej Palat, who has collected six points during a four-game point streak. The Avalanche lost in a shootout at Tampa Bay on Jan.17, but have won three of their last four games to keep their playoff hopes alive - capped by an impressive 4-1 victory at Chicago on Friday.
Colorado looked as though it was fading away earlier this month with four consecutive defeats before posting 14 goals during its current four-game uprising. Tampa Bay leads the league in goals and has 15 on the trip while the Avalanche are 24th after finishing fourth last season when they won the Central Division. Colorado must remain hot to hop over four teams into playoff position and the Lightning can take over first place in the Atlantic Division with a victory.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Sun Sports (Tampa Bay), Altitude 2 (Colorado)
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (37-18-6): Ben Bishop became the first Tampa Bay goalie to post two 30-win seasons Saturday and will likely be rested in favor of rookie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who is 4-2-1 in his first seven NHL decisions with a .927 save percentage. Defenseman Anton Stralman continues his outstanding season while amassing seven points in the last five games. Captain Steven Stamkos has recorded four goals in the last five games and boasts 32 overall while Tyler Johnson has a team-high 56 points.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (25-23-11): Defenseman Tyson Barrie, whose father Len was once a co-owner of the Lightning, posted two goals and set up another against the Blackhawks and leads the team with 26 assists. Veteran Jarome Iginla tops the Avalanche with 41 points and forward Alex Tanguay is next with 38, but the young stars continue to have had inconsistent seasons. Captain Gabriel Landeskog does have a five-game goal streak to match fellow first-round pick Matt Duchene with 15 tallies overall.
OVERTIME
1. Tampa Bay’s forward line of Johnson, Palat and Nikita Kucherov boasts a combined plus-88 rating.
2. Colorado C Nathan MacKinnon, who won the Calder Trophy last season, has gone 13 games without a goal since tying the Lightning with seven seconds left in regulation.
3. The Lightning has not won in Colorado since their Stanley Cup season in 2003-2004.