Lightning at Predators
The Tampa Bay Lightning attempt to complete an eventful five-game road trip unbeaten when they take on the inconsistent Nashville Predators on Monday. The Lightning lost captain Steven Stamkos (knee surgery) for four months in the second game of the trek and recorded a pair of shutouts, including a 3-0 triumph at Philadelphia on Saturday in which they suffered several injuries.
Tampa Bay center Brian Boyle (upper body) is a game-time decision for Monday after sitting out Saturday and top-pair defenseman Anton Stralman (upper body) is not yet ready while forwards Jonathan Drouin, Brayden Point, Cedric Paquette and Vladislav Namestnikov all missed portions of the victory over the Flyers. “I think there was one point I got back on the bench and I was asking Alex (Killorn) where everybody was,” Lightning center Tyler Johnson told the Tampa Bay Times. Nashville has made strides this month at 5-2-2 but is coming off a 3-1 setback at St. Louis that completed a 1-2-0 road trip. James Neal saw his six-game goal-scoring streak come to an end but has netted seven tallies in his last seven contests.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, TVA, FSN Sun (Tampa Bay), FSN Tennessee (Nashville)
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (12-6-1): Backup Andrei Vasilevskiy has posted a shutout in each of his last two starts and owns a .953 overall save percentage while Ben Bishop has been solid as well, going 4-2-0 with a .938 save percentage this month. “We’ve got a plan for both and, right now, it seems to be working,” coach Jon Cooper told reporters. “So we’re not going to deviate from that.” Nikita Kucherov leads the team with 22 points – 15 in his last 11 contests – and the speedy Drouin has recorded a goal and an assist in two games since returning from a concussion.
ABOUT THE PREDATORS (7-7-3): While Neal has perked up offensively, Ryan Johansson still is sitting with one goal on the season and brings an eight-game drought into Monday's contest. Filip Forsberg is tied with Neal for the team lead at 12 points but also has scored just once after posting 33 goals last season and the Predators have received only two tallies from Colin Wilson (lower body), who missed the game against St. Louis. Defenseman P.K. Subban, whose turnover in the offensive zone led to the winning goal for the Blues on Saturday, has notched 11 points.
OVERTIME
1. Nashville recorded eight power-play goals in its first four games of the season but has scored only six in the last 13 contests.
2. Tampa Bay C Valtteri Filppula, who recently went over 400 points for his career, has registered four assists in his last three games.
3. Each of the last five meetings has been decided by one goal, and the Predators have earned at least one point in all of them (4-0-1).