Lightning at Panthers preview

LIGHTNING (18-7-1) at PANTHERS (10-10-4)
7 p.m. ET; FS-F, SUN, NHL.TV

McDonagh took part in an optional skate Saturday morning, two days after leaving the Lightning's 5-4 victory against the Buffalo Sabres with an upper-body injury.
Tampa Bay is 6-2-0 in its past eight games and has scored at least four goals in four of its past five.
The Panthers, 1-3-1 in their past five games, have allowed at least four goals in six of their past eight. Goalie James Reimer, who made 22 saves in a 3-2 overtime win against Buffalo on Friday, could start, coach Bob Boughner said.
Tampa Bay is 2-0-0 against Florida this season, winning twice at home -- 2-1 in a shootout on Oct. 6 and 7-3 on Nov. 21.

Players to watch

Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov has 17 points (three goals, 14 assists) during an eight-game point streak, the longest by a Tampa Bay player this season.
Panthers forward Jonathan Huberdeau has seven points (one goal, six assists) in a three-game multipoint streak. On Friday, he became the first player in Florida history with four consecutive games having at least two assists.

They said it

"It's always fun to play [the Panthers]. There's always so much emotion in those games. It just elevates the game. We want those games. We want to be on top of those games and the key is working hard." -- Lightning forward Yanni Gourde
"A team like that, you've got to play your best. We've got to have a game similar to last night where we're tight defensively." -- Panthers coach Bob Boughner

Lightning projected lineup

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

Panthers projected lineup

Jonathan Huberdeau -- Aleksander Barkov -- Mike Hoffman
Dryden Hunt -- Jared McCann -- Evgenii Dadonov
Frank Vatrano -- Nick Bjugstad -- Troy Brouwer
Micheal Haley -- Juho Lammikko -- Colton Sceviour
Keith Yandle -- Aaron Ekblad
Mike Matheson -- Mark Pysyk
MacKenzie Weegar -- Alexander Petrovic
James Reimer
Michael Hutchinson
Scratched:Bogdan Kiselevich
Injured: Roberto Luongo (lower body), Denis Malgin (upper body), Vincent Trocheck (ankle), Derek MacKenzie (shoulder), Jamie McGinn (back)

Status report

Luongo will miss his fifth game because of a knee injury. It might be optimistic to hope for him to return against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday, Boughner said. … Along with reuniting Barkov and Huberdeau on a line Friday, the Panthers reunited Yandle and Ekblad on defense.

Stat pack

Stamkos has more goals (30), assists (30) and points (60) against Florida than against any other NHL team. … Florida has scored a power-play goal in 14 of its past 15 games.