Hurricanes at Lightning preview

HURRICANES (20-17-5) at LIGHTNING (33-8-2)
7:30 p.m. ET; SUN, FS-SE, NHL.TV

The Hurricanes, who have scored at least four goals in four straight games, are on their longest winning streak since they won seven consecutive games from Feb. 5- March 4, 2010.
The Lightning, who have the best record in the NHL, are 8-1-0 in their past nine games and 16-1-1 in their past 18. They have scored at least four goals in 11 of their past 13 games.
Victor Hedman is expected to play his 663rd game and become Tampa Bay's all-time leader in games played by a defenseman; he is tied with Pavel Kubina.
Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who will make his ninth straight start for the Lightning, is 5-0-0 with a .924 save percentage against Carolina.

Players to watch

Hurricanes forward Justin Williams has four points (three goals, one assist) in a four-game point streak and needs one goal for 300 in the NHL.
Lightning center Steven Stamkos has 21 points (13 goals, eight assists) in his past 13 games.

They said it

"[The Lightning] have no weaknesses. You look up and down their lineup, no matter who they're throwing out there they have guys that can score, play with pace and defend. And they have world-class goaltending. They are one of the elite teams in the League." -- Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour
"[Carolina is] a big shot volume team. Their six defensemen can all play the game well. [Center Sebastian] Aho is a rising star in this league. … they have four lines that work hard. They are a difficult team to play against." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper

Hurricanes projected lineup

Brock McGinn -- Sebastian Aho -- Teuvo Teravainen
Micheal Ferland -- Lucas Wallmark -- Jordan Martinook
Andrei Svechnikov -- Greg McKegg -- Justin Williams
Warren Foegele -- Victor Rask -- Saku Maenalanen
Jaccob Slavin -- Brett Pesce
Calvin de Haan -- Justin Faulk
Trevor van Riemsdyk -- Dougie Hamilton
Petr Mrazek
Curtis McElhinney
Scratched: Clark Bishop
Injured: Jordan Staal (upper body)

Lightning projected lineup

Ondrej Palat -- Steven Stamkos -- Alex Killorn
Tyler Johnson -- Brayden Point -- Nikita Kucherov
Adam Erne -- Anthony Cirelli -- Yanni Gourde
Mathieu Joseph -- Cedric Paquette -- Danick Martel
Victor Hedman -- Dan Girardi
Ryan McDonagh -- Erik Cernak
Braydon Coburn -- Anton Stralman
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Louis Domingue
Scratched: Slater Koekkoek
Injured:J.T. Miller (upper body), Ryan Callahan (upper body)

Status report

Callahan will miss a second straight game. … Sergachev is a healthy scratch as part of a rotation to work Cernak in the lineup. … Miller skated but will not play.

Stat pack

Aho has six points (one goal, five assists) in his past four games. … Kucherov has 29 points (nine goals, 20 assists) in his past 14 games and multiple points in eight of his past nine (23 points; seven goals, 16 assists).