Lightning at Maple Leafs preview

LIGHTNING (60-16-4) at MAPLE LEAFS (46-27-7)
7 p.m. ET; TSN4, SUN, NHL.TV

The Lightning's 60 wins are tied with the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens for second-most in a season. The 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings hold the record with 62. Tampa Bay has two games remaining, against Toronto on Thursday and at the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Gardiner will be a game-time decision. He has missed the past 18 games with a back injury.

Players to watch

Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov has five points (two goals, three assists) in his past four games. His 125 points (39 goals, 86 assists) are two from tying the NHL record for most points by a Russia-born player, set by Alexander Mogilny with 127 in 1992-93.
Maple Leafs forward John Tavares has nine points (seven goals, two assists) in his past seven games.

They said it

"It's just the competitive nature that comes out in everyone. They want to win every time we come to the rink. Whatever records have come along the way, they've come as a result of us continuing to want to be better as a team." -- Lightning captain Steven Stamkos
"I think it's a good test facing a team like the Lightning both for me and the team preparing for the playoffs. They lead the stats in almost everything so you can't really get better preparation than this." -- Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Gardiner

Lightning projected lineup

Ondrej Palat -- Steven Stamkos -- Tyler Johnson
Yanni Gourde -- Brayden Point -- Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn -- Anthony Cirelli -- Mathieu Joseph
Adam Erne -- Cedric Paquette -- Ryan Callahan
Braydon Coburn -- Anton Stralman
Ryan McDonagh -- Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev -- Jan Rutta
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Edward Pasquale
Scratched:Danick Martel, J.T. Miller, Cameron Gaunce
Injured:Dan Girardi (lower body), Victor Hedman (upper body), Louis Domingue (lower body)

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Patrick Marleau -- Auston Matthews -- Kasperi Kapanen
Zach Hyman -- John Tavares -- Mitchell Marner
Andreas Johnsson -- William Nylander -- Connor Brown
Tyler Ennis -- Frederik Gauthier -- Trevor Moore
Morgan Rielly -- Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner -- Nikita Zaitsev
Calle Rosen
-- Travis Dermott
Frederik Andersen
Garret Sparks
Scratched:Nic Petan, Justin Holl, Igor Ozhiganov, Martin Marincin
Injured:Nazem Kadri (undisclosed), Jake Muzzin (undisclosed)

Status report

Girardi, who last played March 7, took part in the morning skate. Lightning coach Jon Cooper said he could play Saturday. … Johnsson will return after missing the past two games with an illness. Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said Kadri and Muzzin are unavailable. He said one is ill and the other isn't but gave no further details.

Stat pack

Stamkos has 14 points (eight goals, six assists) in his past eight games and is two points from matching his NHL career-high of 97 points in 2011-12. … Marner has seven points (one goal, six assists) in his past seven games.