Lightning at Kings
The Tampa Bay Lightning begin a six-game road trip that could go a long way toward determining their playoff fate when they face the Los Angeles Kings on Monday afternoon. The injury-ravaged Lightning began to put things together with points in six of seven games (4-1-2) before losing five of their last six, including a frustrating 3-1 setback against Columbus on Friday.
Most of the issues for Tampa Bay have been in the defensive end of the rink, where it is allowing about one-half goal more per game than when it finished fifth in the league (2.41) in 2015-16 and reached the Eastern Conference finals. “It’s more about the mindset than anything,” Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman told the Tampa Bay Times. “Defense is a lot of hard work – that’s the bottom line. It doesn’t necessarily take a lot of skill. It’s about the attitude.” The Lightning will have to be sharp to cool off Los Angeles' Jeff Carter, who scored the overtime winner in the 3-2 victory over Winnipeg on Saturday – the fifth triumph in seven games for the Kings. Carter leads the team with 40 points - 10 during the seven-game stretch - and has netted nine tallies in his last 12 contests.
TV: 4 p.m. ET, Sportsnet, FSN Sun (Tampa Bay), FSN West (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (20-20-4): The numbers for goaltenders Ben Bishop and Andrei Vasilevskiy have suffered due mostly to uneven defensive performances by the players in front of them as they own .908 and .906 save percentages, respectively. Nikita Kucherov leads the team in scoring with 17 goals and 40 points, but Jonathan Drouin has been the most productive since Dec. 1 - notching 10 tallies and 11 assists in 19 games. The Lightning assigned Matthew Peca to Syracuse of the American Hockey League and recalled Joel Vermin for the road trip.
ABOUT THE KINGS (22-17-4): Carter, who leads the NHL with eight game-winning goals, has recorded 15 more points than anyone else on the team, but others have been stepping up of late to aid the offense, which has produced 16 tallies over the last four games. Defenseman Alec Martinez has notched an assist in each of his last four contests and captain Anze Kopitar has caught fire with a goal and six assists during his four-game point streak. Tanner Pearson was kept off the scoresheet Saturday but has recorded five goals in his last seven games while Dustin Brown has collected four points in his last three contests.
OVERTIME
1. Los Angeles G Peter Budaj has allowed three goals on 50 shots over the last two games after surrendering five tallies on 22 shots against Dallas.
2. Tampa Bay All-Star D Victor Hedman leads all NHL blue-liners with 31 assists.
3. The Kings, who are 9-1 in overtime this season, have earned points in each of their last five meetings with the Lightning (4-0-1) – including a 3-1 triumph in Los Angeles last campaign.