The Lightning need to defeat the Devils and for the Detroit Red Wings to lose to the Toronto Maple Leafs in regulation Saturday in order to qualify for the postseason.
Tampa Bay, 3-2-0 on a six-game homestand, trails the Florida Panthers by two points for first place in the Atlantic Division with five games remaining. Florida hosts the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.
"Teams are winning behind us and teams are winning ahead of us so we have to take care of business," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "We have to be more consistent in our game. We can't go hard for 15 minutes here and take 10 minutes off. We have to play hard from the minute the puck drops.
"We need to have a relentless, hounding attitude that we are not giving up on pucks," Cooper said. "And when we do get them we have to shoot. Too many times we've gone in the zone and had some great offensive structure and didn't get a shot off."
The Devils, who came into play Saturday seven points behind the Philadelphia Flyers for the second wild card from the Eastern Conference, welcome back goalie Cory Schneider to the lineup.
Schneider, a 2016 NHL All-Star, has been sidelined with a MCL sprain sustained against the Dallas Stars on March 4.
"I'm excited, it's been four weeks and it feels like a long time for me," Schneider said. "I just have to make sure to play my game and be relaxed and confident."
Schneider served as backup to Keith Kinkaid in a 3-2 loss Thursday to the Panthers.
Defenseman David Schlemko (upper body) and center Jacob Josefson (wrist) also return to the Devils lineup Saturday after missing time with injuries.
Lightning goalie Ben Bishop will make his 59th start of the season. He has won four of his past five starts.
Here are the projected lineups:
DEVILS
Tyler Kennedy - Adam Henrique - Devante Smith-Pelly
Reid Boucher - Travis Zajac - Kyle Palmieri
Mike Sislo - Jacob Josefson - Sergey Kalinin
Bobby Farnham - Stephen Gionta - Blake Pietila
Andy Greene - Adam Larsson
John Moore - David Schlemko
Vojtech Mozik - Damon Severson
Cory Schneider
Keith Kinkaid
Injured: Jiri Tlusty (upper body), Jordin Tootoo (wrist), Mike Cammalleri (hand), Jon Merrill (upper body), Patrik Elias (knee)
Scratched: Joseph Blandisi, Seth Helgeson, David Warsofsky
LIGHTNING
Alex Killorn - Steven Stamkos - Ryan Callahan
Ondrej Palat - Tyler Johnson - Nikita Kucherov
Cedric Paquette - Valtteri Filppula - JT Brown
Vladislav Namestnikov - Brian Boyle - Erik Condra
Victor Hedman - Matt Carle
Jason Garrison - Andrej Sustr
Braydon Coburn - Slater Koekkoek
Ben Bishop
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Injured: Anton Stralman (fractured fibula)
Scratched: Jonathan Marchessault, Mike Blunden, Nikita Nesterov
Status report:Stralman said he hopes to return for the playoffs. "I'm trying to do everything I can to heal up quick and hopefully be back for the playoffs at some point," he said. … Marchessault will be out of the lineup a day after Cooper spoke highly about his play on the line with Johnson and Palat.
Who's hot: Palat has eight points (two goals, six assists) in the past five games. ... Sislo scored a goal on three shots in a 3-2 loss to the Panthers on Thursday.
