Each team has a player considered questionable: Forward Reilly Smith didn't participate in the Panthers optional skate, and forward Nikita Kucherov took a shot on his shin in the third period of a 7-4 win against the New York Islanders on Friday. Kucherov left the game temporarily but returned after missing a couple of shifts.
Tampa Bay will be without defenseman Anton Stralman, who sustained a non-displaced fracture of his left fibula Friday while battling in front of the net with Islanders forward Anders Lee. Defenseman Victor Hedman said Stralman is in good spirits.
"He's very positive, so I think that will help him with his recovery," Hedman said. "He's a calm Swedish guy."
Hedman, who already leads the Lightning in ice time, said he expects to take on more minutes and responsibility with Stralman out of the lineup.
"It's going to be a group effort," Hedman said. "We all have to do more and we understand that because he did a lot of things for this team."
Florida put together a strong effort Thursday in a 4-1 road win against the Boston Bruins after losing consecutive games to the Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers.
Panthers coach Gerard Gallant said it's important to focus but remain loose as the push for the Stanley Cup Playoffs intensifies.
"We're battling right now for the division lead and it's a lot of fun," Gallant said. "We're playing a big game late in the season and that's where you want to be right now."
Forward Jaromir Jagr said this game is going to be one of the toughest tests for the younger players on the Panthers and another chance to experience a playoff-like atmosphere.
"You have to raise your game as you get closer to the playoffs," Jagr said. "As these guys get older they will understand that more, so this is going to be a good for them to see how they handle the situation."
Tampa Bay will go with Andrei Vasilevskiy in net and Florida will counter with Roberto Luongo.
Here are the projected line combinations:
PANTHERS
Jonathan Huberdeau - Aleksander Barkov - Jaromir Jagr
Jussi Jokinen - Vincent Trocheck - Reilly Smith
Teddy Purcell - Nick Bjugstad - Jiri Hudler
Garrett Wilson - Greg McKegg - Logan Shaw
Brian Campbell - Aaron Ekblad
Dmitry Kulikov - Steve Kampfer
Jakub Kindl - Alexander Petrovic
Roberto Luongo
Al Montoya
Injured: Dave Bolland (lower body), Derek MacKenzie (foot), Erik Gudbranson (foot), Willie Mitchell (concussion)
Scratched: Quinton Howden, Shawn Thornton
LIGHTNING
Alex Killorn - Steven Stamkos - Nikita Kucherov
Ondrej Palat - Tyler Johnson - Jonathan Marchessault
Cedric Paquette - Vladislav Namestnikov - JT Brown
Mike Blunden - Brian Boyle - Erik Condra
Victor Hedman - Nikita Nesterov
Jason Garrison - Andrej Sustr
Matt Carle - Braydon Coburn
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Ben Bishop
Injured: Anton Stralman (fractured leg), Valtteri Filppula (upper body), Ryan Callahan (lower body)
Scratched: Slater Koekkoek, Joel Vermin
Status report: Callahan and Filppula participated in the optional skate but are not expected to be in the lineup. Lightning coach Jon Cooper said he's hopeful they will return Monday. … Koekkoek, a defenseman, and Vermin, a forward were recalled from Syracuse of the American Hockey League.
Who's hot: Stamkos has scored six goals in the past six games. … Jokinen has six points (three goals, three assists) in the past four games.
