Lightning at Rangers preview

LIGHTNING (38-11-2) at RANGERS (22-21-7)
8 p.m. ET; NBC

Lundqvist has won each of his past four starts, a season high, with a .912 save percentage and 2.50 goals-against average.
The Rangers have won five of their past seven games, including 4-3 against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Thursday, when center Mika Zibanejad had his second career hat trick. Zibanejad has eight goals in the past five games and the game-winning goal in each of New York's past four victories.
The League-leading Lightning (78 points) are playing the second game of a back-to-back after defeating the New York Islanders 1-0 in a shootout at Nassau Coliseum on Friday. They lead the NHL with 3.88 goals per game, but have scored two or fewer in five of their past six games (3-3-0).

Players to watch

Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman, who scored the shootout winner against the Islanders, has five points (two goals, three assists) in the past four games.
Rangers right wing Mats Zuccarello has points in each of the past six games he's played (four goals, eight assists).

They said it

"The one thing, as you can see, I think we left some of our goal scoring touch at the [10-day] break." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper
"Against a team like [the Lightning] you can't take six penalties like we did the last time we played them. We put ourselves at a huge disadvantage." -- Rangers coach David Quinn referencing the Lightning's 6-3 win against New York on Dec. 10, when Tampa Bay went 2-for-6 on the power play

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 -- Dan Girardi
Ryan McDonagh -- Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev -- Anton Stralman
Louis Domingue
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Scratched: Danick Martel, Mathieu Joseph, Braydon Coburn,
Injured: None

Rangers projected lineup

Chris Kreider -- Mika Zibanejad -- Mats Zuccarello
Pavel Buchnevich -- Kevin Hayes -- Jesper Fast
Filip Chytil -- Ryan Strome -- Vladislav Namestnikov
Cody McLeod -- Boo Nieves -- Jimmy Vesey
Marc Staal -- Neal Pionk
Brady Skjei -- Adam McQuaid
Brendan Smith -- Kevin Shattenkirk
Henrik Lundqvist
Alexandar Georgiev
Scratched: Tony DeAngelo
Injured: Brett Howden (knee), Fredrik Claesson (shoulder)

Status report

Buchnevich will start the game on a line with Hayes and Fast after getting an assist on Zibanejad's game-winning goal in New Jersey. Buchnevich was scratched the previous game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday. … Stralman and Callahan could be back in after being scratched against the Islanders. Martel was also scratched against the Islanders.

Stat pack

Kucherov, who leads the League with 79 points (22 goals, 57 assists), has no goals in his past six games and two in his past 10. … Zuccarello will be playing in his 500th NHL regular season game, all with the Rangers. … Hedman needs two points to reach 400 for his career (89 goals, 309 assists).