The Lightning are back in action following the Christmas break, taking on the Canadiens for the first time this season. Prior to the break, Tampa Bay had put together two straight wins over Ottawa and Minnesota. The Canadiens will be playing the second half of a back-to-back after facing the Hurricanes in Raleigh on Wednesday.
Lightning vs. Canadiens: Projected lines, injuries and storylines
Tampa Bay resumes its four-game homestand with a meeting against Montreal
© Mike Carlson
Lines from Thursday's morning skate. Subject to change.
Forwards
Vladislav Namestnikov - Steven Stamkos - Nikita Kucherov
Ondrej Palat - Brayden Point - Tyler Johnson
Alex Killorn - Yanni Gourde - Cory Conacher
Chris Kunitz - Cedric Paquette - JT Brown
Defensemen
Victor Hedman - Jake Dotchin
Mikhail Sergachev - Anton Stralman
Braydon Coburn - Dan Girardi
Slater Koekkoek - Andrej Sustr
Goaltenders
Andrei Vasilevskiy or Peter Budaj
Tonight's Matchup
The Lightning and the Canadiens are playing their first of four meetings this season and first of two at AMALIE Arena...The two teams will meet again in seven days (Jan. 4) at Bell Centre...The Lightning went 2-1-1 against Montreal in 2016-17, splitting a pair of games at AMALIE Arena as well as a pair of games at Bell Centre...Both games at AMALIE Arena last season went to overtime, the Lightning winning 4-3 on Dec. 28, Tyler Johnson netting the game-winner, and the Canadiens downing the Lightning 2-1 on April 1 courtesy of Alexander Radulov's game-winner...Tampa Bay defeated Montreal 4-2 in their last overall meeting on April 7 at Bell Centre behind a pair of goals from Yanni Gourde, who has scored three goals in his two career meetings against the Habs...The Lightning are 4-1-3 in their last eight home games vs. the Habs...Tampa Bay is 20-16-7 with five ties all-time at home vs. the Canadiens...Victor Hedman has recorded more career goals (6), assists (18) and points (24) against Montreal than any other NHL team.
Tonight's Storylines
The Lightning begin a stretch tonight of eight-straight games against Eastern Conference opponents, their second-longest such stretch of the season (longest: 9-straight games against East opponents Feb. 12-28)...Tampa Bay is starting a stretch of seven games in 11 days and nine games in 15 days tonight...The Bolts are playing the first half of a back-to-back set tonight, their sixth of 13 back-to-back sets this season...The Lightning are 4-1-0 so far this season in the first half of a back-to-back set...Tampa Bay continues to pace the NHL for wins (26), points (54), ROW (24), points percentage (.771), goals (131) and goal differential (+46)...The Lightning are off to their best start in franchise history with 54 points through 35 games, nine points better than the 45 put up by the 2010-11 team (20-10-5) and the 2013-14 team (21-11-3) through 35 games...The Bolts lead the NHL for goals per game (3.74) and rank third for goals
allowed per game (2.46) and are the only League team in the top seven in both categories....Tampa Bay is currently on a season-long seven-game home win streak and is two home victories from tying the franchise record for consecutive home wins (9 in a row from Jan. 2 to Feb. 12, 2016)...The Lightning are tied with Vegas for the best home points percentage (.861) in the NHL.
Injuries
2017-18 Regular Season Man Games Lost: 39
Current injuries
Ryan Callahan - Upper body (indefinite) 4 Games
Transactions
Dec. 8 - Re-assigned D Jamie McBain to AHL Syracuse
Andrei the Giant
Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made all 22 stops Dec. 23 vs. MIN to record his fourth shutout of the season and eighth of his career...Vasilevskiy is tied with CBJ's Sergei Bobrovsky for most shutouts this season in the NHL..Vasilevskiy moved into a tie with John Grahame for fourth place on the Lightning's all-time shutouts list.
Vasilevskiy played in his 119th career game on Saturday to move past Mike Smith (118) for fourth place on the Lightning's all-time goalie games played list...Vasilevskiy has allowed two or fewer goals in 11 of his last 16 starts and leads the NHL with 18 starts overall allowing two or fewer goals...Vasilevskiy has won seven of his last eight starts...Vasilevskiy paces the NHL for wins.
Vasilevskiy ranks second in the NHL for goals-against average (2.13) and save percentage (.932)...Vasilevskiy extended his home win streak to six games on Saturday and improved to 14-1-1 at home this season...Since the trade that sent Ben Bishop to Los Angeles last season (2/26/17), Vasilevskiy is 35-9-3, the 35 wins ranking first in the NHL over that stretch.
In the Nik of Time
Lightning right winger Nikita Kucherov scored his 24th goal Dec. 23 vs. MIN to extend his point streak to seven games (5-6--11)...Kucherov pulled into the NHL lead for goals on Saturday.
Kucherov's 24 goals are tied for the third most through 35 games in Lightning history, trailing only Steven Stamkos' 27 goals in 2010- 11 and Steven Stamkos' 25 goals in 2012-13...Kucherov has recorded at least one point in 29 of 35 games this season...Kucherov has a NHL-best 18 multi-point games this season...Kucherov continues to pace the NHL for scoring.
Kucherov's 51 points are the second most through 35 games in Lightning history, trailing only Vincent Lecavalier's 53 points in 2007-08...Over the last two seasons, Kucherov leads the NHL for goals with 64 (second: PIT's Sidney Crosby - 58) and ranks second for scoring with 136 points (first: EDM's Connor McDavid - 143).
