Lightning at Islanders: Projected lines, storylines, injuries

The Lightning and Islanders close out their season series on Thursday night in Brooklyn.
The teams have split the first two meetings, both of which were played in Tampa. The Isles won 5-3 back in November while the Bolts earned a 6-2 win when the teams met two and a half weeks later.

Lines from Wednesday's practice. Subject to change.
Forwards
J.T. Miller - Steven Stamkos - Nikita Kucherov
Ondrej Palat - Brayden Point - Tyler Johnson
Alex Killorn - Anthony Cirelli - Yanni Gourde
Chris Kunitz - Cedric Paquette - Adam Erne
Defensemen
Victor Hedman - Anton Stralman
Ryan McDonagh - Dan Girardi
Braydon Coburn - Mikhail Sergachev
Slater Koekkoek - Jake Dotchin
Goaltenders
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Louis Domingue or Peter Budaj
Thursday's Matchup
The Lightning and the Islanders will complete their three-game regular season series tonight...Tampa Bay was a 6-2 winner the last time the two teams met on Dec. 5 at AMALIE Arena, Yanni Gourde netting a pair of goals and Chris Kunitz recording a goal and an assist for his first multi-point game with the Bolts...The Islanders earned a 5-3 win on Nov. 18 at AMALIE Arena despite a pair of goals from Yanni Gourde...Tampa Bay has won four of its last five regular season meetings with the Islanders, outscoring the Isles 23-9 over those five, and eight of its last nine vs. the Isles including playoffs...The Lightning have won two in a row in the regular season in Brooklyn, outscoring the Islanders 10-1, and six in a row including playoff games...Chris Kunitz has more career assists (21) and points (34) vs. NYI than he does against any other NHL team...Yanni Gourde has four goals in two career games vs. NYI...Nikita Kucherov has points in six of his last seven regular season games vs. NYI (5-6--11).
Thursday's Storylines
With their win Tuesday, the Lightning became the first NHL team this season to reach 50 wins and the second Tampa Bay team in franchise history to win 50 games, joining the 2014-15 squad (50-24-8)...On Sunday, Tampa Bay clinched its 10th postseason appearance all-time and fourth in the last five seasons, becoming the first Eastern Conference team to clinch a playoff spot this season and second team in the NHL, joining Nashville...The Bolts lead the NHL for wins (50), goals (258), goals per game (3.53) and goal differential (+59) and are tied with VGK for the best ROW (44)...Tampa Bay remains in first place in the Atlantic Division by five points over Boston (the Bruins have two games in hand) and has led the Atlantic continuously since Oct. 19...With 104 points through 73 games, the Bolts are closing in on their most points gained in a season in franchise history, needing four points over their last nine games to match the team record 108 points put up by the 2014-15 team...The Lightning are tied with NSH for the League lead for road
wins (23) and have recorded more road wins this season than any other season in team history (previous best: 22 road wins in 2003-04 and 2006-07)...The Lightning's 48 road points are tied for second most all-time for the franchise and three points from tying the record of 51 road points established in 2003-04...Tampa Bay is 11-2-1 over its last 14 games.
Injuries
2017-18 Regular Season Man Games Lost: 117
Current injuries
Ryan Callahan - Upper body (injured March 20)
Transactions
March 17 - Recalled G Louis Domingue from AHL Syracuse
March 13 - Re-assigned G Louis Domingue to AHL Syracuse
March 12 - Recalled G Peter Budaj from AHL Syracuse
The Big Cat
Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 27 of the 30 shots he faced March 20 vs. TOR for his 41st victory, establishing a Lightning franchise record for single season wins held previously by Ben Bishop (40 wins) in 2014-15...Vasilevskiy paces the NHL for wins.
Vasilevskiy is aiming to become the third goalie in the last 30 years and 12th in NHL history to lead the NHL in wins before his 24th birthday, joining Chris Osgood in 1995-96 and Carey Price in 2010-11.
In the Nik of Time
Lightning right winger Nikita Kucherov scored his team-leading 37th goal of the season March 20 vs. TOR for his third goal over the last two games...Kucherov (145 career goals) tied Freddy Modin for the fifth-most goals in Lightning history with his marker against Toronto...Kucherov ranks tied for first in the NHL for even-strength goals (30) and eighth in the League for all goals...Kucherov has led the NHL for scoring continuously since Dec. 12.
Kucherov is aiming to become the first Lightning skater to finish the season as the NHL's scoring leader since Martin St. Louis in 2012-13 (17-43--60 in 48 games)...Kucherov's 94 points are tied for the sixth most in a single season in Lightning history and the most since Steven Stamkos recorded 60-37--97 in 2011-12.
Goals Galore
The Lightning have scored 258 goals, second most in franchise history, and with nine games to play are closing in on their all-time record of 262 goals during the 2014-15 season...Tampa Bay has scored a NHL-best 98 goals in 2nd periods this season, the most 2nd period goals its scored in a season all-time (previous best: 96 2nd period goals in 2006-07)...The Bolts have netted 132 home goals, seven goals from tying the franchise record for home goals in a season (139 in 2014-15)...Tampa Bay's 126 road goals are second most in franchise history and two shy of matching the mark for most road goals in a season (128 in 2006-07).