Lightning at Maple Leafs
Ryan Callahan and captain Steven Stamkos have played major roles as the Tampa Bay Lightning continue to surge toward the top of the Atlantic Division with six wins in a row. Callahan has recorded 11 points in his last seven games and Stamkos has scored in six straight as the Lightning go for their fifth consecutive road victory Monday against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Callahan scored twice, Stamkos converted a penalty shot and linemate Alex Killorn tallied on the power play in the 4-1 win at Boston on Sunday that pulled Tampa Bay within two points of Atlantic-leading Florida. “It’s fun to play when that’s going on,” Stamkos told reporters of his line’s production. “I really believe we’re earning everything we get.” The Maple Leafs are 2-7-1 in their last 10 games, falling to last place in the Eastern Conference, and likely will deal another player or more by Monday's trade deadline. Nazem Kadri has picked up his production for Toronto with five assists in his last four games and has 32 points, pulling within three of Leo Komarov for the team lead.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Sun Sports (Tampa Bay), TSN4, TVA (Toronto)
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (36-22-4): Tyler Johnson was hit in the face with a puck late in Sunday's contest and left the ice bleeding, but coach Jon Cooper told reporters his talented center only needed stitches and should be fine. Stamkos leads the team with 28 tallies and can match his career-high goal-scoring streak of seven games that he set in 2010. Ben Bishop made 32 saves for the victory Sunday and likely will hand the duties over to backup Andrei Vasilevskiy, who is 8-1-0 since shutting out Toronto 1-0 on Jan. 27.
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (21-29-10): PA Parenteau has had a solid season with 16 goals and could be one of the players who is shipped out Monday but suffered an upper-body injury in Saturday’s loss to Montreal. Veteran Brad Boyes also may be on the move after posting seven points in his last eight games. Toronto sent goaltender James Reimer to San Jose in a deal on Saturday - leaving the bulk of the workload to Jonathan Bernier (7-16-3, .898 save percentage), with newcomer Alex Stalock working in at times.
OVERTIME
1. Tampa Bay has been a perfect 15-for-15 on the penalty kill over its last five contests after going 6-for-6 on Sunday.
2. Komarov has scored a team-best 18 goals but was kept off the scoresheet Saturday while posting a minus-3 rating.
3. The Lightning have won six of the last eight meetings, including a pair this season.