If the Lightning are nervous about potentially getting swept tonight, they're not showing it.
"I think it's an opportunity for our team, obviously, but at the same time it's going to be a challenge," Lightning forward Tyler Johnson said. "We dug ourselves a hole. We've got to go one period at a time to be able to get it back. Everyone's going to have to step up."
The Lightning get leading scorer and Art Ross Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov back for Game 4 after he was suspended for Game 3 following a boarding penalty toward the end of Game 2. Kucherov put up more points (128) during the regular season than anybody in the NHL since 1996. He hasn't recorded a point in the series but has yet to go three-consecutive games this season without a goal or assist, a trend the Lightning would desperately like to see hold up tonight.
"He competes. He works so hard. He wants to be the best player," Anthony Cirelli said of Kucherov. "He always wants to keep getting better. It obviously sucks not having him in Game 3, but we know he's ready to go and he's going to be coming out flying."
The news on the back end isn't as bright, however. A pair of key defensemen will be absent once again for the Lightning in Game 4. Reigning Norris Trophy-holder Victor Hedman did not participate in Tampa Bay's morning skate Tuesday and will miss a second-consecutive game with an upper-body injury Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. The Bolts will be without Anton Stralman tonight as well. Stralman is dealing with a lower-body injury that's lingered over the final month of the regular season and has yet to play in the series, although he did suit up and practice during the morning skate.
The absences of two of their blue line cogs hasn't tempered the Bolts' confidence, however. They feel if they can play their game and force Columbus to adjust to them rather than adjusting to what Columbus is doing, they can turn the series around.
"I think it's all about playing into our identity, making plays, having fun out there and playing the right way," forward Yanni Gourde said. "I think we've gotten away in the first three games of what really this team is about. I think tonight we're excited to go out there and have some fun and we're going to play the right way and play our way."