Preview: Lightning at Blues

LIGHTNING (13-10-1) at BLUES (13-7-3)
8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, SUN, NHL.TV

Lightning team scope

The Tampa Bay Lightning recalled forwards Michael Bournival and Joel Vermin from Syracuse of the American Hockey League on Wednesday and they are likely to make their season debuts Thursday. The Lightning, who have lost three in a row and four of five (1-4-0), will be without forward Ryan Callahan (lower body) for a second straight game, and also are missing forward Steven Stamkos (knee). Bournival, signed as a free agent July 1, has not played an NHL game since Feb. 28, 2015, when he was with the Montreal Canadiens. He has 11 points in 17 AHL games this season. "I'm really excited for the change to go back in the lineup," Bournival said. "... I'm really excited about it. I worked hard this summer to get back in shape. I didn't train a lot last year because of my concussion so I'm really proud of what I did to get back in the NHL. Now I get the opportunity to prove myself." Vermin played six NHL games last season. He also has 11 points in 17 AHL games this season. "It's really nice to be back," he said. "I'm enjoying this moment, absolutely. I've been playing pretty good in the [AHL] the last couple games. I'm just trying to bring my speed and do the same thing, not over-think it. Just have fun and go with my instincts." Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy will start in consecutive games for the first time this season.

Blues team scope

The St. Louis Blues will have forward Alexander Steen back in the lineup after he missed the past six games because of an upper-body injury sustained Nov. 15 against the Buffalo Sabres. "I think we were cautious from the get-go to make sure that I was OK," Steen said. "I think it was a little more complicated than we first thought. Now it's back to where we want it to be." Coach Ken Hitchcock said Steen's presence impacts the entire lineup. He'll play Thursday at center with left wing Robby Fabbri and right wing Vladimir Tarasenko. "I think long-term it's going to work great for us, but we've got to temper our enthusiasm to see how he gets through the game and how the chemistry of the line looks," Hitchcock said. "It looked very good at practice two days ago so we'll see how it looks in the game. We've played this line before and it's very successful, so we're not afraid to look at it again." Center Paul Stastny will play his 700th NHL game. "You look at the start of the year, that's where you look the only time where you are and what potential milestone you might get," Stastny said. "But other than that it flies by so quick. I remember it was like 680 at the start and now it's already like 700. When you're having fun and the team's winning I think it flies by. It's just another nice round number to have. You enjoy it. You only get to that number by playing with good guys on winning teams and kind of being successful all the time." Jake Allen will start in goal; he's 6-0-0 with a 1.95 goals-against average and .933 save percentage in his past six games.

Lightning projected lineup

Ondrej Palat -- Tyler Johnson -- Nikita Kucherov
Brayden Point -- Valtteri Filppula -- Alex Killorn
Jonathan Drouin -- Cedric Paquette -- Joel Vermin
Michael Bournival -- Brian Boyle -- JT Brown
Victor Hedman -- Andrej Sustr
Nikita Nesterov -- Braydon Coburn
Jason Garrison -- Slater Koekkoek
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Ben Bishop
Scratched: Vladislav Namestnikov, Luke Witkowski
Injured: Steven Stamkos (knee), Anton Stralman (upper body), Ryan Callahan (lower body)

Blues projected lineup

Jaden Schwartz -- Paul Stastny -- David Perron
Robby Fabbri -- Alexander Steen -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Patrik Berglund -- Jori Lehtera -- Dmitrij Jaskin
Scottie Upshall -- Kyle Brodziak -- Ryan Reaves
Jay Bouwmeester -- Alex Pietrangelo
Carl Gunnarsson -- Kevin Shattenkirk
Robert Bortuzzo -- Colton Parayko
Jake Allen
Carter Hutton
Scratched: Nail Yakupov, Ty Rattie
Injured: Joel Edmundson (upper body)

Status report

Namestnikov likely will be a healthy scratch for the first time this season; he was working with the extra players during an optional skate. In the past three games Namestnikov has no points and is a minus-6. Stralman will miss a 10th straight game. ... Steen's return means Rattie will be a healthy scratch along with Yakupov. Lehtera will move to the third line and Berglund will shift to left wing. Hitchcock said Edmundson is not quite ready to play yet.

Who's hot

Point has four assists the past four games. … Perron has three goals and eight assists during his eight-game point streak, which is a personal NHL career high and the longest current streak in the NHL. Schwartz has five goals and four assists during a seven-game point streak.