Lightning at Canadiens: Projected lines; injuries
Tampa Bay continues its playoff push at Montreal to finish the second half of its back-to-back on Friday
by Bryan Burns / TampaBayLightning.com
One night after a needed victory at Toronto, the Lightning close their final road trip of the regular season on Friday against the Montreal Canadiens.
PROJECTED LINES
Lines are from Thursday's game against the Maple Leafs, and subject to change.
Forwards
Ondrej Palat - Brayden Point - Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn - Yanni Gourde - Cory Conacher
Jonathan Drouin - Vladislav Namestnikov - Adam Erne
Michael Bournival - Gabriel Dumont - Greg McKegg
Defensemen
Victor Hedman - Jake Dotchin
Braydon Coburn - Andrej Sustr
Anton Stralman - Luke Witkowski
Goaltender
Andrei Vasilevskiy or Peter Budaj
FRIDAY'S MATCHUP
The Lightning and the Canadiens are playing the final game of their four-game regular season series...The Bolts are 1-1-1 against the Habs this season...Tampa Bay lost 2-1 in overtime to Montreal six days ago at AMALIE Arena, Alexander Radulov netting the gamewinner 51 seconds into OT...The Lightning's lone win over Montreal came at home 4-3 in overtime on Dec. 28, Tyler Johnson registering the game-winner at 1:36 of OT, part of a two-goal night for Johnson...The Lightning lost in their lone visit to the Bell Centre, dropping a 3-1 decision on Oct. 27, Alex Killorn grabbing the Bolts' only goal...Tampa Bay has lost three straight in Montreal but is 5-3-0 in the regular season in Montreal since 2013-14...The Lightning are 20-22-2 with one tie all-time in the regular season in Montreal...The Lightning have won just one of their previous seven meetings overall against Montreal, going 1-4-2...Tampa Bay is 4038-9 with six ties all-time in the regular season overall versus Montreal.
LIGHTNING-HABS STORYLINES
The Lightning enter tonight's game tied with the New York Islanders and three points behind Toronto for the final wild card in the Eastern Conference...Any kind of loss tonight would eliminate the Bolts from playoff contention...Tampa Bay has won six of its last seven road games and has collected points from seven of its last eight games overall...Since Feb. 4, the Lightning are 18-6-4 and own the third-best point percentage in the NHL (.714) behind only Chicago (.759) and Washington (.724)...Vladislav Namestnikov will skate in his 200th career game tonight provided he's in the lineup as expected.
INJURIES
2016-17 Regular Season Man Games Lost: 262
J.T. Brown - Lower-body injury (DAY-TO-DAY; INJURED APRIL 2) 1 Game
Ryan Callahan - Follow up surgical procedure on right hip (OUT INDEFINITELY; INJURED JAN. 7) 39 Games
Jason Garrison - Lower-body injury (DAY-TO-DAY; INJURED APRIL 2) 2 Games
Cedric Paquette - Lower-body injury (DAY-TO-DAY; INJURED MARCH 9) 14 Games
Steven Stamkos - Lateral meniscus tear in right knee (OUT APPROXIMATELY 4 MONTHS; INJURED NOV. 15) 63 Games
TRANSACTIONS
April 5 - Recalled F Michael Bournival from AHL Syracuse
April 5 - Recalled F Cory Conacher from AHL Syracuse
April 3 - Recalled F Joel Vermin from AHL Syracuse
April 3 - Re-assigned F Joel Vermin to AHL Syracuse
April 1 - Recalled F Joel Vermin from AHL Syracuse A
pril 1 - Re-assigned F Joel Vermin to AHL Syracuse
March 29 - Recalled F Joel Vermin from AHL Syracuse
March 28 - Re-assigned F Joel Vermin to AHL Syracuse