Lightning at Ducks preview

LIGHTNING (30-7-2) at DUCKS (19-15-6)
8 p.m. ET, PRIME, SUN, NHL.TV

The Lightning have won five in a row, are 12-0-1 in December and 13-0-1 since a 3-1 loss to the visiting Ducks on Nov. 27. That also was the last game the Lightning were held to fewer than three goals. Tampa Bay has scored at least four in nine straight games.
Anaheim has lost five in a row (0-4-1) after a 9-1-0 stretch.

Players to watch

Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov leads the NHL with 63 points (18 goals, 45 assists). He has 21 points (six goals, 15 assists) during a 10-game point streak, and his 28 points (eight goals, 20 assists) in December are a Lightning record.
Ducks forward Nick Ritchie has four assists in his past two games. He had a goal and an assist in the win against Tampa Bay in November.

They said it

"Regardless if you're in first place or eighth place, you've got to keep plugging away. There are peaks and valleys during the year and you have to take advantage of games when maybe you're not at your best and you still get points." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper
"With our lineup and the way we're made up, we have to develop that blue-collar and stay-at-home type of defending through the middle of the ice much better." -- Ducks coach Randy Carlyle

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 -- Ryan Callahan
Victor Hedman -- Anton Stralman
Ryan McDonagh -- Erik Cernak
Braydon Coburn -- Dan Girardi
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Louis Domingue
Scratched:Mikhail Sergachev, Danick Martel
Injured:J.T. Miller (upper body)

Ducks projected lineup

Pontus Aberg -- Ryan Getzlaf -- Ondrej Kase
Nick Ritchie -- Adam Henrique -- Daniel Sprong
Andrew Cogliano -- Ryan Kesler -- Jakob Silfverberg
Brian Gibbons -- Carter Rowney -- Kiefer Sherwood
Hampus Lindholm -- Brandon Montour
Jacob Larsson -- Josh Manson
Josh Mahura -- Jake Dotchin
John Gibson
Chad Johnson
Scratched: Ben Street, Andy Welinski
Injured: Corey Perry (knee surgery), Cam Fowler (facial fractures), Patrick Eaves (rib), Rickard Rakell (ankle), Ryan Miller (knee)

Status report

Coburn is set to return after being scratched for a 6-5 win against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday. Sergachev will be scratched for the second time this season. ... Fowler has been skating with a full shield, but no date has been set for his return.

Stat pack

Vasilevskiy is one win from 100 in the NHL. ... Anaheim has trailed in eight of its past 10 wins and led in four of its past six losses.