Lightning at Panthers preview

LIGHTNING (9-2-1) at PANTHERS (4-5-1)
7:30 p.m. ET; FS-F, SUN, NHL.TV

The Lightning need one point to break the mark of 19 set in 2003-04 and 2014-15; they reached the Stanley Cup Final in both seasons.
Tampa Bay is tied with the Los Angeles Kings and St. Louis Blues for most points in the NHL.
The teams split a home-and-home set to open the season, with the Lightning winning 5-3 at Amalie Arena on Oct. 6 and the Panthers winning 5-4 at BB&T Center the following night.

Players to watch

Lightning center Steven Stamkos was held without a point for the first time this season in a 4-1 loss against the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday, but still leads the NHL with 21 points (four goals, 17 assists).
Panthers forward Evgenii Dadonov has six points (four goals, two assists) in the past four games.

They said it

"Our team has come a long way since [the first two games against Florida]. That's why I'm actually looking forward to tonight to see where we stand. These 12 games, I consider Florida one of the top teams we've played so we'll see where we're at." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper
"We keep playing the way we have been, good things happen. You've got to stick to the script. We know what they have over there. They have some offensive talent so we've got to make sure we're ready for that." -- Panthers forward Nick Bjugstad

Lightning projected lineup

Vladislav Namestnikov -- Steven Stamkos -- Nikita Kucherov
Ondrej Palat -- Brayden Point -- Yanni Gourde
Chris Kunitz -- JT Brown -- Ryan Callahan
Alex Killorn -- Tyler Johnson
Victor Hedman -- Jake Dotchin
Mikhail Sergachev -- Anton Stralman
Braydon Coburn -- Dan Girardi
Andrej Sustr
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Peter Budaj
Scratched:Gabriel Dumont, Slater Koekkoek
Injured: Cedric Paquette](https://www.nhl.com/player/cedric-paquette-8476975?season=20172018) (upper body)

Panthers projected lineup

Jonathan Huberdeau -- Aleksander Barkov -- Evgenii Dadonov
Jamie McGinn -- Vincent Trocheck -- Radim Vrbata
Chase Balisy
-- Derek MacKenzie -- Nick Bjugstad
Micheal Haley -- Denis Malgin -- Owen Tippett
Keith Yandle -- Aaron Ekblad
Ian McCoshen -- Mark Pysyk
Mike Matheson -- MacKenzie Weegar
James Reimer
Antti Niemi
Scratched: Alexander Petrovic](https://www.nhl.com/player/alex-petrovic-8475755?season=20172018)
Injured: Colton Sceviour](https://www.nhl.com/player/colton-sceviour-8474098?season=20172018) (upper body), Jared McCann (lower body), Connor Brickley (upper body), Roberto Luongo (hand)

Status report

Paquette will miss his sixth consecutive game. Cooper said the hope was for Paquette to be back for a three-game road trip to California, which begins Nov. 8 against the San Jose Sharks. … Luongo, who has not played since Oct. 20, will miss at least another week. "This isn't a day-to-day, short-term thing right now," Panthers coach Bob Boughner said.

Stat pack

Point had five points (two goals, three assists) in the first two games against the Panthers. … The Lightning are tied with the Toronto Maple Leafs for most goals (45) in the NHL. … The Panthers are 12-for-14 (85.7 percent) on the penalty kill the past four games, after going 17-for-25 (68.0 percent) in the first six games, and allowing at least one power-play goal in each game.