The Lightning are in Boston, playing the first of two games against the Bruins in less than a week. The Bruins travel to Tampa to face the Bolts next Thursday.
Both teams will come into Thursday off of losses. The Bolts fell 4-1 to the Coyotes on Monday while Boston lost to the Jets in a shootout on Tuesday.
Lightning at Bruins: Projected lines, storylines, injuries
The Bolts look to hold off Bruins as they try to maintain their division lead
© Maddie Meyer
Lines from Monday's game. Subject to change.
Forwards
J.T. Miller - Steven Stamkos - Nikita Kucherov
Yanni Gourde - Brayden Point - Tyler Johnson
Ondrej Palat - Anthony Cirelli - Alex Killorn
Chris Kunitz - Cedric Paquette - Cory Conacher
Stamkos said he’s “good to go” for tonight’s game without going into too much detail about what kept him sidelined for game vs. Arizona. #TBLightning
— Caley Chelios (@CaleyChelios) March 29, 2018
Defensemen
Victor Hedman - Anton Stralman
Ryan McDonagh - Dan Girardi
Braydon Coburn - Mikhail Sergachev
Goaltenders
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Louis Domingue or Peter Budaj
Thursday's Matchup
The Lightning and the Bruins are playing their third of four meetings this season and second of two at TD Garden...The two teams will play twice in a span of six days, the Bruins visiting Tampa on April 3...Tonight's game is the first half of the Bolts' 12th back-to-back set of the season...The Lightning are 6-4-1 in the first half of a back-to-back set...Boston has won both prior matchups against Tampa Bay this season...The Bruins earned a 3-2 victory over the Bolts the last time the two teams played at TD Garden (Nov. 29) despite goals from Andrej Sustr and Steven Stamkos (PP) and a 33-of-36 save effort from Andrei Vasilevskiy...Boston blanked the Bolts 3-0 in the last meeting overall (March 17 at AMALIE Arena), the only time this season the Lightning have been shut out and the first time they were held without a goal since a 4-0 loss at Boston April 4, 2017...The Lightning have lost three in a row and seven of their last eight games (1-5-2) against Boston...The Bolts have split their last six games with the Bruins in Boston (3-3-0)...Anton Stralman has more points (14) vs. BOS than he does against any other team in the NHL.
Thursday's Storylines
The Lightning can match the franchise record for most points in a season (108 pts. in 2014-15) with one more win over their last six regular season games...The Bolts have already established a franchise record for wins (51) this season...Tampa Bay remains in first place in the Atlantic Division by a point over Boston (the Bruins have a game in hand) and has led the Atlantic continuously since Oct. 19...The Lightning lead the NHL for wins (51), goals (267), goals per game (3.51) and goal differential (+56) and are tied with VGK for most ROW (45)...The Bolts lead the NHL for road wins (24) and set a franchise record for road wins in a season (previous best: 22 road wins in 2003-04 and 2006-07)...Tampa Bay's 50 road points are second most for a season in Lightning history and one point from matching the all-time high of 51 set in 2003-04 (22-12-4-3).
Injuries
2017-18 Regular Season Man Games Lost: 121
Current injuries
Ryan Callahan - Upper body (out indefinitely; injured March 20) 3 games
Adam Erne - Lower body (day-to-day; injured March 26)
Steven Stamkos - Lower body (day-to-day; injured March 24) 1 game
Transactions
March 17 - Recalled G Louis Domingue from AHL Syracuse
March 13 - Re-assigned G Louie Domingue to AHL Syracuse
In the Nik of Time
Tampa Bay right winger Nikita Kucherov netted a power-play goal March 26 vs. ARI for his fourth goal in the last five games...Kucherov's goal Monday was the 146th of his NHL career, passing Freddy Modin for sole possession of fifth place among the Bolts' all-time leading goal scorers...Kucherov also recorded his 39th career power-play goal to pass Dave Andreychuk for sixth place among the Lightning's all-time power-play goal scorers...Kucherov ranks second in the NHL for scoring.
Kucherov has set career highs for scoring and assists this season and is two goals shy of matching his career high for goals (40 in 2016-17)...Kucherov ranks tied for third for even-strength goals (30) in the NHL and tied for ninth for all goals...Kucherov's 96 points are the third most by a right wing in Lightning history (most: 102 - Martin St. Louis 2006 -07) and the fifth most among all Bolts skaters alltime.
Hed of the Class
Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman tallied a power-play assist March 26 vs. ARI to give him points in four of his last five games (3-2--5)...With his assist Monday, Hedman (103 career power-play points) tied Pavel Kubina for ninth place among Tampa Bay's all-time power-play scoring leaders and second place among Lightning defensemen.
Hedman ranks second all-time among Bolts blueliners for power-play assists behind only Dan Boyle...Hedman ranks fifth among NHL defensemen for power-play scoring...Hedman leads all league blueliners for plus/minus (+27) and ranks sixth for scoring.
The Big Cat
Bolts goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 29-of-31 shots in his last start March 24 at NJD for his 30th start this season allowing two or fewer goals...Vasilevskiy has set a Lightning franchise record for most wins in a season (42) and paces the NHL for victories.
Vasilevskiy's seven shootout victories are a Tampa Bay record for shootout wins in a season (previous best: 6 - Johan Holmqvist 2006-07)...Vasilevskiy's 1,801 saves are the most in a single season in Lightning history (previous high: 1,761 - Nikolai Khabibulin 2001-02)...Vasilevskiy's .921 save percentage would be the third best for a season in Bolts history if the season ended today.
Goals Galore
Tampa Bay set the all-time franchise record for goals in a season (267) in 2017-18, bettering the previous mark of 262 from the 2014-15 season...The Lightning also established a new record for road goals in a season (134), passing the 128 goals recorded by the 2006-07 squad.
