Flames at Lightning preview

FLAMES (33-25-7) at LIGHTNING (40-19-5)
4 p.m. ET; SUN, SNW, NHL.TV

Tampa Bay, which is coming off a 5-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday in which it allowed five straight goals in third period, hasn't lost five games in a row in regulation since Feb. 24-March 4, 2013.
The Lightning trail the Boston Bruins by seven points for first place in the Atlantic Division.
Calgary lost 4-3 to the Nashville Predators on Thursday when Mikael Granlund tied it with 0.1 second remaining in regulation before scoring the winner in overtime.
The Flames, who are 2-0-1 in their past three games, hold the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference, one point ahead of the Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets, and one point behind the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks for second place in the Pacific Division.

Players to watch

Flames center Mikael Backlund has 10 points (five goals, five assists) during a five-game point streak.
Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov has 29 points (14 goals, 15 assists) during a personal 18-game point streak.

They said it

"If we can use what happened (on Thursday) to get us better prepared to play [Saturday], or get us prepared for a good start, then probably what we went through is a step for us in becoming a better hockey team." -- Flames coach Geoff Ward
"There's always overthinking; the mental part of the game is huge. At the same time, we know we're a good group of guys. We know the system works. We just have to stay positive and know it's going to work out. We're slipping a little bit here, but we're going to find our game again." -- Lightning forward Yanni Gourde

Flames projected lineup

Johnny Gaudreau -- Sean Monahan -- Elias Lindholm
Andrew Mangiapane -- Mikael Backlund -- Matthew Tkachuk
Milan Lucic -- Derek Ryan -- Dillon Dube
Sam Bennett -- Mark Jankowski -- Tobias Rieder
Mark Giordano -- TJ Brodie
Noah Hanifin -- Rasmus Andersson
Derek Forbort -- Erik Gustafsson
David Rittich
Cam Talbot
Scratched:Michael Stone, Zac Rinaldo, Oliver Kylington
Injured:Travis Hamonic (upper body)

Lightning projected lineup

Ondrej Palat -- Brayden Point -- Nikita Kucherov
Blake Coleman -- Anthony Cirelli -- Alex Killorn
Yanni Gourde -- Barclay Goodrow -- Tyler Johnson
Pat Maroon -- Cedric Paquette -- Mitchell Stephens
Victor Hedman -- Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev -- Kevin Shattenkirk
Braydon Coburn -- Zach Bogosian
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Curtis McElhinney
Scratched:Carter Verhaeghe, Luke Schenn
Injured:Steven Stamkos (lower body), Ryan McDonagh (lower body) Jan Rutta (lower body)

Status report

Coleman practiced Friday after his wife gave birth to a baby girl Thursday evening. … Hedman was held out of practice for maintenance but is expected to play.

Stat pack

Tampa Bay has been outscored 21-11 during its losing streak. … Shattenkirk is one assist away from 300 in the NHL. … The Lightning are 2-for-19 on the power play in their past seven games. … Gaudreau has 11 points (two goals, nine assists) in 10 games against Tampa Bay.