Preview: Hurricanes at Lightning

HURRICANES (16-12-7) at LIGHTNING (18-15-4)
7 p.m. ET; SUN, FS-CR, NHL.TV

Hurricanes team scope

The Carolina Hurricanes hit the road for second leg of back-to-back games after a 3-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at PNC Arena on Friday. Forward Elias Lindholm had to leave the game because of an upper-body injury and coach Bill Peters did not have any information on Lindholm's availability for Saturday. Defenseman Justin Faulk did not make the trip to Tampa and is week to week because of a lower-body injury sustained against the Boston Bruins on Dec. 23. The Hurricanes are 7-2-2 in their past 11 games and goalie Cam Ward, who had 27 saves against the Blackhawks on Friday, is a big reason for the recent surge. It appears likely that Ward will start again Saturday. "We are enjoying it and having fun," Ward said. "We just want to build off this and continue forward."

Lightning team scope

The Tampa Bay Lightning were missing center Tyler Johnson from the morning skate Saturday but coach Jon Cooper said there's a chance he will play against the Hurricanes. "[Johnson] wasn't feeling too well so we gave him the morning off," Cooper said. "He should be OK for [Saturday] so we'll see." When the Lightning played the Hurricanes on Dec. 4, it was scoreless through regulation before Phillip Di Giuseppe scored in overtime. Cooper said that the Hurricanes' defense is among the best in the NHL. "They have top defensemen," Cooper said. "Because they are in Carolina maybe they are out of the limelight a little but they have bought in to Bill's system and they are hard to play." The Lightning are in the third of a five-game homestand and are 3-0-1 in their past four games at Amalie Arena.

Hurricanes projected lineup

Jeff Skinner -- Victor Rask -- Derek Ryan
Brock McGinn -- Jordan Staal -- Lee Stempniak
Sebastian Aho -- Teuvo Teravainen -- Andrej Nestrasil
Joakim Nordstrom -- Jay McClement -- Viktor Stalberg
Jaccob Slavin -- Brett Pesce
Noah Hanifin -- Ron Hainsey
Klas Dahlbeck -- Ryan Murphy
Cam Ward
Eddie Lack
Scratched:Matt Tennyson
Injured: Elias Lindholm (upper body), Justin Faulk (upper body), Bryan Bickell (illness)

Lightning projected lineup

Ondrej Palat -- Tyler Johnson -- Nikita Kucherov
Brian Boyle -- Valtteri Filppula -- Jonathan Drouin
Alex Killorn -- Vladislav Namestnikov -- Yanni Gourde
Michael Bournival -- Matthew Peca -- JT Brown
Victor Hedman -- Anton Stralman
Jason Garrison -- Andrej Sustr
Slater Koekkoek -- Braydon Coburn
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Kristers Gudlevskis
Scratched: Nikita Nesterov
Injured: Ryan Callahan (lower body), Cedric Paquette (lower body), Steven Stamkos (knee), Ben Bishop (lower body), Brayden Point (upper body)

Status report

Nestrasil likely will be in the lineup if Lindholm is unavailable. …Vasilevskiy will start his third game in four days. If Johnson can't play than Nesterov, a defenseman, would play as a forward again. Namestnikov participated in the morning skate and likely will play Saturday after missing one game because of an illness.

Who's hot

McClement scored the game-winning goal against the Blackhawks on Friday. … Palat has scored a goal in the past two games.