SENATORS (11-14-7) at LIGHTNING (24-7-2) 7:30 p.m. ET, SUN, TSN5, RDS, NHL.TV
The Lightning, who have the best record in the NHL, are 7-1-0 in their past eight games and 14-5-0 in their past 19. Tampa Bay forward Nikita Kucherov is the League's leading scorer with 48 points (23 goals, 25 assists) and center Steven Stamkos is second with 45 points (13 goals, 32 assists). Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy is expected to start; he leads the NHL with 21 wins, is 11-4-0 with two shutouts in his past 15 starts. The Senators are 2-1-0 in their past three games after going 1-10-2 in their previous 13. Ottawa defenseman Dion Phaneuf (personal) missed practice Wednesday and will not play Thursday.
Players to watch
Senators center Jean-Gabriel Pageau had scored goals in two straight games. Lightning center Brayden Point has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in his past eight games.
They said it
"We went to keep grinding. Our last three games were good except for the ending [in a 6-4 loss against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday]. We want to continue playing well and it doesn't matter if it's on the road and against the best team. We want to give ourselves a chance." -- Senators coach Guy Boucher "If you want to make the playoffs, you've got to beat the teams in your division. We haven't played [Ottawa] yet. We're going to play them at some point and it kind of starts tonight, so these are big games for us." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper
Dotchin and Johnson each participated in the morning skate, and each will play after missing the game Tuesday with a virus. ... Ottawa practiced Wednesday and did not hold a morning skate. ... The Senators recalled Chlapik and Englund from Belleville of the American Hockey League.
Stat pack
Stone has five assists in his past four games. … Kucherov has eight points (four goals, four assists) in a five-game point streak. … Stamkos has eight points (two goals, six assists) in his past seven games. … Johnson has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in a seven-game point streak.
