Coyotes at Lightning preview
Arizona eyes fifth straight victory; Tampa Bay can stretch season-long winning streak to nine
by Corey Long / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
COYOTES (25-16-4) at LIGHTNING (25-13-4)
7 p.m. ET; SUN, FS-A, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV
The Game
The Tampa Bay Lightning will try to extend their season-long winning streak to nine games when they host the Arizona Coyotes at Amalie Arena on Thursday.
The Lightning have outscored opponents 38-17 in eight consecutive victories, the longest active run in the NHL. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy has won his past six starts with a 2.17 goals-against average and .932 save percentage for Tampa Bay, which is 11-2-1 in its past 14 games.
The Coyotes look to extend their winning streak to five games, which would be their longest this season. Goalie Adin Hill will make his second straight start; he allowed two goals on 39 shots in a 5-2 win at the Florida Panthers on Tuesday.
Arizona, tied with the Vegas Golden Knights for first place in the Pacific Division, has 31 road points this season (14-6-3), second in the NHL to the Washington Capitals (35; 17-6-1).
Players to watch
Coyotes forward Phil Kessel has six points (one goal, five assists) in a four-game point streak.
Lightning center Brayden Point has 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in his past nine games.
They said it
"The worst thing to do [against the Lightning] is back off … skate backwards and back in your end. They'll kill you. You have to go through them. If that's your man, mark them … You can't play off guys, you've got to be in their faces." -- Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet
"We know they're a very good team this year. Obviously they are coached well with [Rick] Tocchet over there. He is a very structured coach. They pay attention to details, especially defensively. They have added some offensive players as well, so they're not just a defensive-minded team." -- Lightning center Steven Stamkos
Coyotes projected lineup
Taylor Hall -- Christian Dvorak -- Conor Garland
Clayton Keller -- Carl Soderberg -- Nick Schmaltz
Lawson Crouse -- Derek Stepan -- Phil Kessel
Vinnie Hinostroza -- Brad Richardson -- Christian Fischer
Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Jason Demers
Jakob Chychrun -- Alex Goligoski
Jordan Oesterle -- Ilya Lyubushkin
Adin Hill
Ivan Prosvetov
Scratched: Kyle Capobianco, Barrett Hayton , Michael Grabner
Injured: Antti Raanta (lower body), Niklas Hjalmarsson (lower body), Darcy Kuemper (lower body)
Lightning projected lineup
Steven Stamkos -- Brayden Point -- Nikita Kucherov
Ondrej Palat -- Anthony Cirelli -- Tyler Johnson
Pat Maroon -- Cedric Paquette -- Alex Killorn
Carter Verhaeghe -- Mitchell Stephens -- Yanni Gourde
Victor Hedman -- Jan Rutta
Braydon Coburn -- Erik Cernak
Kevin Shattenkirk -- Mikhail Sergachev
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Curtis McElhinney
Injured: Ryan McDonagh (upper body)
Scratched: Luke Schenn
Status report
Raanta participated in an optional morning skate and the goalie remains day to day, . … McDonagh did not skate Thursday. The defenseman is questionable for the Lightning's upcoming games at the Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils this weekend.
Stat pack
Crouse has scored a goal in three consecutive games. … Schmaltz has 12 points (one goal, 11 assists) in his past 10 games. … Stamkos has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in his past eight games. … Kucherov has seven points (two goals, five assists) in a five-game point streak.