Lightning at Coyotes
The Arizona Coyotes are still clinging to slim playoff hopes as they attempt to stretch their winning streak to a season high-matching four Saturday when the struggling Tampa Bay Lightning pay a visit. The Coyotes own points in four straight (3-0-1) and have allowed two goals during their win streak to pull within nine points of Colorado for the second wild card in the Western Conference with two games in hand.
Louis Domingue is expected to get the start in net Saturday and former Lightning goaltender Mike Smith, who stopped 71-of-72 shots in his two games since returning from a sports hernia, is slated to go Sunday against San Jose. The Lightning let a third-period lead get away in a 4-3 loss at Dallas on Thursday and are 1-4-1 since winning a franchise-record nine in a row. Captain Steven Stamkos has four goals in the first three games of the road trip, but Tampa Bay has dropped into third place in the Atlantic Division. “We played like a fragile team that was scared to lose and not hungry to close out a game,” Stamkos told reporters Thursday. “We can’t let that fear of losing creep in at this time of year. There’s almost that feeling like we want the playoffs to get here, but there’s still a lot of hockey left.”
TV: 10 p.m. ET, FSN Sun (Tampa Bay), FSN Arizona
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (40-26-5): Stamkos has reached 33 goals with his latest surge and is tied for the team lead in points (57) with Nikita Kucherov, who has three in three games. Physical forward Cedric Paquette returned to the lineup after a two-game absence with a lower-body injury, but center Valtteri Filppula (upper body) is expected to miss his third straight. Defenseman Victor Hedman leads the team in assists (32), plus-minus rating (plus-16) and ice time (23:01 per game).
ABOUT THE COYOTES (31-32-7): Arizona will likely be without leading scorer and top defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson (19 goal, 49 points) for a fifth straight game due to an upper-body injury. Veteran captain Shane Doan has led the way for the Coyotes while posting his 393rd career goal and three assists during the winning streak. A big part of Arizona’s success of late has been its special teams, which have converted 4-of-9 power-play opportunities and killed off all 12 in the last four games.
OVERTIME
1. Tampa Bay G Ben Bishop is one away from his third consecutive 30-win season.
2. Arizona LW Alex Tanguay has recorded three goals, four assists and a plus-6 rating in six games since being acquired from Colorado.
3. The Lightning have won three straight, including a 2-1 triumph on Feb. 23, and are 6-1-1 in their last eight outings against Arizona.