Lightning at Rangers: Projected lines, injuries

The Lightning head to Madison Square Garden on Monday night to take on the Rangers for the final time this year. The two teams meet for the second consecutive Monday night after New York beat Tampa Bay 1-0 in overtime at AMALIE Arena.

PROJECTED LINES
LInes are from Saturday's game and subject to change.
Forwards
Ondrej Palat - Brayden Point - Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn - Jonathan Drouin - Yanni Gourde
Adam Erne - Byron Froese - Vladislav Namestnikov
JT Brown - Gabriel Dumont - Luke Witkowski
Defensemen
Victor Hedman - Jake Dotchin
Jason Garrison - Anton Stralman
Braydon Coburn - Andrej Sustr
Goaltender
Peter Budajexpected to start
MONDAY'S MATCHUP
The Lightning and the Rangers are playing the final game of their three-game regular season series and second of two games at Madison Square Garden...The Rangers have won both prior meetings, including a 1-0 overtime victory seven days ago (March 6) at AMALIE Arena (Mika Zibanejad supplied the game-winner at 3:56 of OT)...Andrei Vasilevskiy made 33-of-34 stops in the OT loss, his only loss in his last six starts...New York defeated Tampa Bay 6-1 in the teams' previous matchup at MSG this season on Oct. 30, the Rangers netting six-straight goals before the Lightning finally scored at 16:36 of the third period on Steven Stamkos' power-play marker...The five-goal defeat is tied for the Bolts' worst loss of the season, and the six goals given up by the Lightning are tied for the most they've allowed this season...Tampa Bay is 6-4-1 against New York over its last 11 meetings...The Lightning are 42-42-5 with five ties all-time overall in the regular season against the Rangers...The Lightning have lost two straight at MSG but are 3-2-0 over their last five regular season games at MSG...The Bolts are 20-24-2 with two ties all-time in the regular season at MSG.
LIGHTNING - RANGERS STORYLINES
The Lightning have picked up points in six of their last seven games (5-1-1 over that stretch) and 13 of their last 15 games (10-2-3 over that stretch)...Since Feb. 4, Tampa Bay owns the third-best points percentage in the NHL (.767) behind Calgary (.821) and Chicago (.786)...The Lightning scored their league-leading 52nd power-play goal on Saturday...With 15 games remaining in the regular season, the Bolts already have more power-play goals this season than they put up in four of the previous five seasons (only 2014-15 when they netted 52 did they score as many)...The Bolts are tied for the NHL's fourth-best power play (22.3%) and lead the league for powerplay chances (233).
INJURIES
2016-17 Regular Season Man Games Lost: 201
Ryan Callahan - Follow up surgical procedure on right hip (OUT INDEFINITELY; INJURED JAN. 7) 26 Games
Tyler Johnson - Lower-body injury (DAY-TO-DAY; INJURED MARCH 9) 1 game
Vladislav Namestnikov - Lower-body injury (DAY-TO-DAY; INJURED MARCH 9) 1 game
Cedric Paquette - Lower-body injury (DAY-TO-DAY; INJURED MARCH 9) - 1 game
Steven Stamkos - Lateral meniscus tear in right knee (OUT APPROXIMATELY 4 MONTHS; INJURED NOV. 15) 50 Games
TRANSACTIONS
March 13 - Recalled Byron Froese from AHL Syracuse; Re-assigned Matthew Peca to Syracuse
March 11 - Recalled Matthew Peca from AHL Syracuse
March 6 - Recalled F Yanni Gourde from AHL Syracuse
March 1 - Acquired a 4th round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft from Pittsburgh in exchange for D Mark Streit
March 1 - Acquired D Mark Streit from Philadelphia in exchange for F Valtteri Filppula, a 4th round pick and a 7th round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft
Feb. 28 - Re-assigned F Yanni Gourde to AHL Syracuse
Feb. 27 - Acquired F Byron Froese and a conditional 2nd round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft from Toronto in exchange for F Brian Boyle
Feb. 27 - Claimed F Greg McKegg off waivers from Florida
Feb. 27 - Recalled F Yanni Gourde from AHL Syracuse
Feb. 27 - Recalled F Adam Erne from AHL Syracuse
IN NIK OF TIME
Tampa Bay forward Nikita Kucherov netted his team-leading 31st goal of the season and Bolts-best 14th power-play goal March 11 vs. FLA...Kucherov established a new career high for goals in a season, bettering his mark of 30 set in 2015-16...Kucherov also set a new career high for points in a season (67), bettering his mark of 66 set in 2015-16...Kucherov is tied for the NHL lead for power-play goals along with PHI's Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn...Kucherov ranks tied for sixth in the NHL for goals...Kucherov is just the fourth Lightning player to record back-to-back 30-goal seasons, joining Vincent Lecavalier (5-straight seasons from 2002-03 to 2007-08), Martin St. Louis (4-straight seasons from 2002-03 to 2006-07) and Steven Stamkos (3-straight seasons from 2009-10 to 2011-12 and 2-straight seasons from 2014-15 to 2015-16)...Kucherov pulled into sole possession of eighth place among the Bolts' alltime goal leaders on Saturday, passing Chris Gratton.