Lightning at Oilers preview

LIGHTNING (27-7-2) at OILERS (18-14-3)
10 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SN1, CITY, SNE, SNO, SNW, SUN, NHL.TV

The Lightning are 10-0-1 in their past 11 games, the longest point streak in the NHL this season. They are playing the final of a four-game Western Canada road trip (2-0-1).
Andrei Vasilevskiy will start in goal for Tampa Bay.
Edmonton has lost two straight after going 8-1-1 in their previous 10 games. They are 9-4-1 under coach Ken Hitchcock.
Mikko Koskinen will start in goal for Edmonton. He is 7-0-0 at Rogers Place.

Players to watch

Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in a seven-game point streak. He has 34 points (eight goals, 26 assists) in his past 18 games.
Oilers center Connor McDavid has 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) in 16 games. He needs one assist for 200 in the NHL to become the fifth player to reach the milestone before his 22nd birthday, along with Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Dale Hawerchuk and Ron Francis.

They said it

"It's human nature to look ahead to the break but at the same time, we've had a very successful road trip and it would be a shame to waste this one away. We have a chance to make it a great road trip."-- Lightning forward Ryan Callahan on the last game before the Christmas break
"They play with a lot of speed and their offensive instincts are huge. We have to make sure we're not giving them anything easy on transition, turning pucks over, and not allowing them to come back at us quickly " -- Oilers forward Drake Caggiula on the Tampa Bay Lightning

Lightning projected lineup

Ondrej Palat -- Steven Stamkos -- Yanni Gourde
Tyler Johnson -- Brayden Point -- Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn -- Anthony Cirelli -- J.T. Miller
Adam Erne -- Cedric Paquette -- Ryan Callahan
Victor Hedman -- Anton Stralman
Ryan McDonagh -- Erik Cernak
Braydon Coburn -- Dan Girardi
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Louis Domingue
Scratched: Danick Martel, Slater Koekkoek, Mikhail Sergachev
Injured: Mathieu Joseph (lower body)

Oilers projected lineup

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Connor McDavid -- Jesse Puljujarvi
Tobias Rieder -- Leon Draisaitl -- Alex Chiasson
Drake Caggiula -- Kyle Brodziak -- Zack Kassian
Milan Lucic - Ryan Spooner -- Valentin Zykov
Darnell Nurse -- Adam Larsson
Jason Garrison -- Matt Benning
Kevin Gravel -- Caleb Jones
Mikko Koskinen
Cam Talbot
Scratched: Chris Wideman,Ty Rattie
Injured: Andrej Sekera (Achilles), Oscar Klefbom (hand), Kris Russell (undisclosed)
Suspended: Jujhar Khaira

Status report

Callahan will return after missing the past two games with an upper body injury. … Zykov returns to the lineup after being a healthy scratch the past four games. ... Khaira is serving the first of a two-game suspension for a cross-check on St. Louis Blues defenseman Vince Dunn.

Stat pack

Point has 26 points (12 goals, 14 assists) in his past 18 games. … Stamkos has 16 points (11 goals, five assists) in his past 11 games. … Draisaitl has 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in his past seven games.