Lightning at Red Wings preview

LIGHTNING (29-9-3) at RED WINGS (17-16-7)
7 p.m. ET; FS-D, SUN, NHL.TV

Jimmy Howard started Detroit's past seven games but sustained a lower-body injury in a 4-2 win against the Florida Panthers on Friday.
Tampa Bay is coming off a 6-3 defeat at the Ottawa Senators on Saturday and is 0-1-1 in its past two games. The Lightning fell behind Ottawa 3-0 in the first period, tied the game with three goals in the second, but allowed three in the third. The Lightning lead the NHL standings with 61 points and are 5-2-1 in their past eight games.

Players to watch

Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov has 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in his past 13 games. He leads the League in scoring with 58 points (26 goals, 32 assists).
Red Wings forward
Andreas Athanasiou
has four goals on 21 shots in his past four games. He scored Detroit's first goal against Florida 42 seconds into the game and had an assist.

They said it

"We're not getting beat because the other team is better than us. We're beating ourselves. It's the most frustrating part because you know you have the ability to stop it." -- Lightning forward Steven Stamkos after Tampa Bay's loss to Ottawa.
"I haven't played in a while, but I've been staying in shape and getting ready for whenever I got the call. I won my last start, so I've got confidence, and I'm going to try to build off that." -- Red Wings goalie Petr Mrazek on replacing Jimmy Howard

Lightning projected lineup

Vladislav Namestnikov -- Steven Stamkos -- Nikita Kucherov
Ondrej Palat -- Brayden Point -- Tyler Johnson
Alex Killorn -- Yanni Gourde --
Cory Conacher
Chris Kunitz -- Cedric Paquette -- Ryan Callahan
Victor Hedman -- Jake Dotchin
Mikhail Sergachev -- Anton Stralman
Slater Koekkoek -- Dan Girardi
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Louis Domingue
Scratched: JT Brown, Braydon Coburn, Andrej Sustr
Injured: Peter Budaj (lower body)

Red Wings projected lineup

Andreas Athanasiou -- Dylan Larkin -- Tomas Tatar
Tyler Bertuzzi
-- Henrik Zetterberg -- Gustav Nyquist
Justin Abdelkader -- Frans Nielsen -- Darren Helm
Anthony Mantha -- Martin Frk
Danny DeKeyser -- Mike Green
Jonathan Ericsson -- Trevor Daley
Niklas Kronwall -- Nick Jensen
Xavier Ouellet
Petr Mrazek
Jared Coreau
Scratched:Luke Witkowski, David Booth
Injured:Luke Glendening (hand), Jimmy Howard (lower body)

Status report

The Lightning did not hold a morning skate. … The Red Wings recalled Coreau from Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League to back up Mrazek. ... Howard's availability after Detroit's upcoming five-day break is uncertain. ... The Red Wings will again dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen.

Stat pack

Hedman has 14 points (three goals, 11 assists) in his past 12 games. … Zetterberg has 12 points (two goals, 10 assists) in his past 11 games.