At the Rink: Lightning at Canadiens

MONTREAL -- In a stark reversal from their 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs series, the Tampa Bay Lightning have had the Montreal Canadiens number so far this season.

Tampa Bay, which was swept in four straight games by Montreal in their Eastern Conference First Round series, won its first two games against the Canadiens, outscoring them 11-3.

The Lightning face the Canadiens at Bell Centre on Tuesday in the first of three games between the teams in March.

"We're pretty familiar with this team, we're familiar with the guys that they have," center Steven Stamkos said after Tampa Bay's morning skate. "We've played some very good hockey games against these guys, so we expect that (Tuesday)."

Tampa Bay (41-20-6) is in second place in the Atlantic Division, two points behind the Canadiens (42-18-6), who lead the Eastern Conference.

Stamkos scored a hat trick in the Lightning's 7-1 win against the Canadiens on Oct. 13. Tyler Johnson scored twice in Tampa Bay's 4-2 win at Bell Centre on Jan. 6.

Lightning goalie Ben Bishop made 39 saves on 42 shots in recording the two wins; he did not face Montreal last spring because of a dislocated elbow.

Tampa Bay has an opportunity to become the first team to defeat Canadiens goalie Carey Price three times this season.

Price leads the NHL with 37 wins, a 1.89 goals-against-average, and a .936 save percentage. He made 28 saves in a 2-0 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on Saturday for his seventh shutout, which is two less than League leader Marc-Andre Fleury of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Lightning coach Jon Cooper cautioned his players not to let Price's gaudy statistics get inside their heads.

"The one thing you talk to the guys about is don't get frustrated, because eventually when you're doing the right things, the dam will break," Cooper said. "But the more you get frustrated, the more you come to the bench and say, 'Oh my gosh, how are we ever going to beat this guy?' then all of a sudden you're beating yourself."

Tampa Bay leads the League with 222 goals, which is 45 more than Montreal has scored in one fewer game played.

Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban said facing Stamkos, his childhood teammate and friend, cannot be his only focus.

"Whether it's Steven, or it's a guy like (Sidney) Crosby, (Evgeni) Malkin, or guys like that, or (Alex) Ovechkin, it's a challenge every night," Subban said. "This League's too good for you to look at one player on every team. I mean, there's players on the fourth line that can expose you if you're not ready to play, so obviously it's a challenge when you're going up against a player like that, he can score goals, but at the end of the day that's my job. It's my job to make sure that he doesn't have a great night."

Montreal's three 2015 NHL Trade Deadline acquisitions, defenseman Jeff Petry and forwards Torrey Mitchell and Brian Flynn, will make their Canadiens home debuts.

Here are the projected lineups:

LIGHTNING

Alex Killorn - Steven Stamkos - Ryan Callahan

Ondrej Palat - Tyler Johnson - Nikita Kucherov

Cedric Paquette - Valtteri Filppula - Jonathan Drouin

Brenden Morrow - Brian Boyle - Vladislav Namestnikov

Anton Stralman - Victor Hedman

Braydon Coburn - Jason Garrison

Andrej Sustr - Mark Barberio

Ben Bishop

Andrei Vasilevskiy

Scratched: Nikita Nesterov

Injured: Matthew Carle (abdominal surgery), J.T. Brown (upper body)

CANADIENS

Max Pacioretty - David Desharnais - Dale Weise

Alex Galchenyuk - Tomas Plekanec - Brendan Gallagher

Lars Eller - Jacob De La Rose - Devante Smith-Pelly

Brandon Prust - Torrey Mitchell - Brian Flynn

Andrei Markov - P.K. Subban

Tom Gilbert - Jeff Petry

Nathan Beaulieu - Sergei Gonchar

Carey Price

Dustin Tokarski

Scratched: Mike Weaver, Manny Malhotra, Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau

Injured: Alexei Emelin (upper body)

Status report: Brown will miss his third straight game because of an upper-body injury. … The Canadiens will use the same lineup as Saturday. Emelin took part in the morning skate, but Montreal coach Michel Therrien said Monday that he will not face Tampa Bay.

Who's hot: Stamkos has four goals and two assists in his past five games. Johnson has two goals and six assists during a six-game point streak. Killorn has a four-game point streak (two goals, two assists). Palat has five assists during a three-game streak. Bishop is 5-1-0 in his past six starts. … Gallagher has scored in two straight games. Pacioretty has a goal and an assist in his past two games, and Plekanec has two assists.