Penguins at Lightning preview

PENGUINS (28-19-7) at LIGHTNING (39-11-4)
7 p.m. ET; NHLN, SUN, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV

Crosby will play his 916th game with the Penguins and overtake Lemieux, who played 915 in a Hall of Fame career. The 31-year-old center, the No. 1 pick in the 2005 NHL Draft, led Pittsburgh to Stanley Cup titles in 2009, 2016 and 2017.
Center Evgeni Malkin will miss his fifth straight game with an upper-body injury for the Penguins, who have lost three straight (0-2-1) and are 3-6-1 in their past 10 games. Goalie Matt Murray, who missed one game with an upper-body injury, will back up Casey DeSmith.
Pittsburgh holds the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference and is tied in points with the Columbus Blue Jackets for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy will start for the Lightning, who have lost two consecutive games (0-0-2) and are 4-3-2 in their past nine games after going 18-1-1 in their previous 20 games. Tampa Bay has the best record in the NHL.

Players to watch

Penguins defenseman Kris Letang has six points (one goal, five assists) in his past five games and is one goal from passing Paul Coffey (108) for the most by a defenseman in Pittsburgh history.
Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov has not scored a goal in the past nine games, his longest such stretch this season.

They said it

"We're trying to win the game right in front of us. As long as we focus on the short term and we control what we can to get the results, then everything will take care of itself." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan
"We just have to get back to the small details, get some traffic in front of the goalies and start getting the puck there." -- Lightning center Cedric Paquette

Penguins projected lineup

Jake Guentzel -- Sidney Crosby -- Nick Bjugstad
Bryan Rust -- Matt Cullen -- Phil Kessel
Dominik Simon -- Jared McCann -- Patric Hornqvist
Tanner Pearson -- Teddy Blueger -- Garrett Wilson
Marcus Pettersson -- Kris Letang
Brian Dumoulin -- Jack Johnson
Olli Maatta -- Juuso Riikola
Casey DeSmith
Matt Murray
Scratched: Chad Ruhwedel
Injured: Zach Aston-Reese (upper body), Evgeni Malkin (upper body), Justin Schultz (fractured leg)

Lightning projected lineup

Ondrej Palat -- Steven Stamkos -- Nikita Kucherov
Yanni Gourde -- Brayden Point -- Tyler Johnson
Alex Killorn -- Anthony Cirelli -- J.T. Miller
Adam Erne -- Cedric Paquette -- Mathieu Joseph
Victor Hedman -- Dan Girardi
Ryan McDonagh -- Erik Cernak
Braydon Coburn -- Mikhail Sergachev
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Louis Domingue
Scratched: Ryan Callahan, Danick Martel, Anton Stralman
Injured: None

Status report

Murray was a full participant in the optional morning skate. … Malkin and Schultz continued to skate with red no-contact jerseys.

Stat pack

Guentzel has 16 points (10 goals, six assists) in his past 15 games. … Kessel is two points from 800 in the NHL. … Stamkos has 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in his past 11 games. … Hedman is one point shy of 400 in the NHL. … Coburn will play in his 900th NHL game.