Lightning at Coyotes preview

LIGHTNING (40-16-5) at COYOTES (30-26-8)
8 p.m. ET; FS-A PLUS, SUN, NHL.TV

The Lightning's 11-game winning streak, 13-game point streak and six-game road winning streak ended with a 5-3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday. Tampa Bay, 23-3-1 in its past 27 games, trails the Boston Bruins by five points for first place in the Atlantic Division.
The Coyotes have lost two straight and are 5-10-4 in their past 19 games. They are 7-1-3 in their past 11 home games. Arizona is tied with the Calgary Flames for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy is 19-1-2 with two shutouts in his past 22 starts and has allowed seven goals in six games against the Coyotes.

Players to watch

Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov has 25 points (12 goals, 13 assists) in his past 15 games and nine goals in 10 games against the Coyotes.
Coyotes forward Phil Kessel has 43 points (15 goals, 28 assists) in 47 games against the Lightning.

They said it

"It's a great challenge for us. We've talked about not giving up easy looks on the rush, not fueling their offense in transition with poor puck play. And defending correctly, spending as little as time possible in the zone." -- Lightning assistant Derek Lalonde on playing the Coyotes
"Every game for us feels like a big game. We've got to battle hard. We've got to bring our A-game. The good thing about this team is when we work hard, we're a very good team and we're hard to play against." -- Coyotes defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Lightning projected lineup

Steven Stamkos -- Brayden Point -- Nikita Kucherov
Blake Coleman -- Anthony Cirelli -- Alex Killorn
Ondrej Palat -- Tyler Johnson -- Yanni Gourde
Pat Maroon -- Mitchell Stephens -- Carter Verhaeghe
Victor Hedman -- Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev -- Kevin Shattenkirk
Braydon Coburn -- Luke Schenn
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Curtis McElhinney
Scratched:Cameron Gaunce
Injured:Jan Rutta (lower body), Ryan McDonagh (lower body), Cedric Paquette (lower body)

Coyotes projected lineup

Taylor Hall -- Christian Dvorak -- Conor Garland
Clayton Keller -- Derek Stepan -- Nick Schmaltz
Carl Soderberg -- Barrett Hayton -- Phil Kessel
Lawson Crouse -- Brad Richardson -- Vinnie Hinostroza
Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Alex Goligoski
Jordan Oesterle -- Niklas Hjalmarsson
Aaron Ness -- Ilya Lyubushkin
Antti Raanta
Adin Hill
Scratched: Michael Grabner, Christian Fischer
Injured:Darcy Kuemper (lower body), Jason Demers (lower body), Jakob Chychrun (lower body)

Status report

Paquette (lower-body injury), a forward, will be a game-time decision. … Point, a forward, is expected to return after being out Thursday with the flu. … Kuemper, a goalie, was assigned to Tucson of the American Hockey League for conditioning and could return next week. … Chychrun, a defenseman, will miss a second consecutive game.

Stat pack

Tampa Bay has allowed three goals or more in three consecutive games for the first time this season. … Stamkos has 20 points (12 goals, eight assists) in his past 13 games. … Raanta has made 117 saves on 120 shots in his past four games.