Lightning at Senators preview

LIGHTNING (40-17-3) at SENATORS (21-28-10)
7:30 p.m. ET; TSN5, RDS2, SUN, NHL.TV

The Lightning are one point ahead of the Boston Bruins and have played two more games.
Goaltender Louis Domingue will start for Tampa Bay, which is 9-5-0 in its past 14 games.
Craig Anderson could start for the Senators after backup Mike Condon started in a 3-2 shootout loss against the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday.

Players to watch

Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) during a seven-game point streak.
Senators forward Matt Duchene has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in his past eight games.

They said it

"Fans out there want to see 15-20 trades out there on the last day. The guys on the desk on trade deadline are looking for the action, but in all reality, general managers are trying to protect their assets while trying to improve their team and it's a hard thing to do. I don't envy the position for any of the 31 of them." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper
"Just make sure the guys get rest as much as they can, come straight to the game and keep as much energy as we can to face such a powerful team. And we're going to give everything we've got in front of our fans, for sure." -- Senators coach Guy Boucher on playing the second half of a back-to-back

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Lightning projected lineup

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

Senators projected lineup

Mike Hoffman -- Matt Duchene -- Bobby Ryan
Zack Smith -- Derick Brassard -- Mark Stone
Ryan Dzingel -- Jean-Gabriel Pageau -- Marian Gaborik
Magnus Paajarvi -- Nicholas Shore -- Tom Pyatt
Johnny Oduya -- Erik Karlsson
Mark Borowiecki -- Cody Ceci
Fredrik Claesson -- Thomas Chabot
Craig Anderson
Mike Condon
Scratched:Ben Harpur, Max McCormick
Injured:Chris Wideman (hamstring)
Suspended: Alexandre Burrows

Status report

The Lightning will dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen. … Boucher said Wednesday that Ryan, who has missed 10 games since sustaining a hand injury in a 2-1 overtime win against the Anaheim Ducks on Feb. 1, could play.

Stat pack

Kucherov leads the NHL in points with 78, eight ahead of Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin, Philadelphia Flyers forward Claude Giroux and Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau. ... The Lightning have scored at least four goals in six of their past 10 games.