Lines from Saturday's game (subject to change)
Forwards
Ondrej Palat - Brayden Point - Yanni Gourde
Alex Killorn - Anthony Cirelli - Steven Stamkos
Barclay Goodrow - Tyler Johnson - Blake Coleman
Patrick Maroon - Ross Colton - Mathieu Joseph
Defensemen
Victor Hedman - Jan Rutta
Ryan McDonagh - Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev - Cal Foote
Goaltenders
Curtis McElhinney expected to start
Sunday's Matchup
The Lightning and the Panthers are playing their fourth of eight meetings this season (although only seven are scheduled currently; makeup date for a contest at FLA has yet to be announced) and the second of four at AMALIE Arena...Tampa Bay is 1-2-0 against Florida, the Panthers the only team the Lightning have a lower than .500 point percentage against this season...The winning team in all three meetings has scored five or more goals...Florida earned a 6-4 win over the Bolts in the teams' last meeting Feb. 15 at AMALIE Arena, the Panthers handing the Lightning their first home loss of the season...From that contest, Tampa Bay fell behind 4-1 and closed to within 5-4 by the end of the second period but could get no closer...Alexander Volkov scored two goals for his first career multi-goal game in the NHL in the loss...Ondrej Palat has recorded a point in all three matchups and leads the Bolts for scoring vs. Florida (1-3--4 pts.)...Tyler Johnson (3-0--3 pts.) and Alexander Volkov (3-0--3 pts.) have scored a goal in two of three matchups and pace the Bolts for goals versus Florida.
Sunday's Storylines
The Lightning are concluding a stretch of five games in seven days today...Tampa Bay is completing its fifth of a scheduled nine back-to-back sets...The Bolts are 3-0-1 in the second half of a back-to-back and are attempting to sweep their third back-to-back this season...The Lightning have matched their franchise record for points through the first 30 games of a season, equaling their mark of 22-6-2 and 46 points from 2017-18...Tampa Bay has won three in a row...The Lightning conclude a three-game homestand today...The Bolts own the second-best home record in the NHL at 12-2-0 (.857), trailing only the New York Islanders (12-1-2, .867)...Tampa Bay paces the NHL for wins (22), ROW (T-1st, VGK), goals per game (3.63) and goal differential (+40)...The Lightning are second in the League for point percentage (.767), regulation wins (18) and power-play percentage (29%)...The Bolts have scored a power-play goal in three-straight games (3 PPGs total) and eight of the last nine contests (11 PPGs total).
Injuries
2020-21 Reg. Season Man Games Lost: 69
Nikita Kucherov (Hip surgery Dec. 29; Out) 30 Games
Mitchell Stephens (Lower-body injury Jan. 23; Out indefinitely) 26 Games
The Road Ahead
Tuesday, March 23 at Dallas Stars
Thursday, March 25 at Dallas Stars
Saturday, March 27 at Carolina Hurricanes
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