PROJECTED LINES
Lines are from Friday's practice at the Brandon Ice Sports Forum. Saturday's morning skate at AMALIE Arena was optional. Subject to change.
Forwards
Ondrej Palat - Tyler Johnson - Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn - Brayden Point - Joel Vermin
Brian Boyle - Valtteri Filppula - Jonathan Drouin
Vladislav Namestnikov - Cedric Paquette - J.T. Brown
Defense
Anton Stralman - Victor Hedman
Jason Garrison - Andrej Sustr
Braydon Coburn - Luke Witkowski
Nikita Nesterov
Goalie
Andrei Vasilevskiy expected to start
SATURDAY'S MATCHUP
The Lightning and Penguins are playing their first of three meetings this season and their only meeting at AMALIE Arena...Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh are hooking up for the first time since their seven-game series in the 2016 Eastern Conference Final, which the Penguins won four games to three after rallying from a 3-2 deficit to take the final two games...The Bolts swept the Pens in the regular season last year, winning all three games by a combined 15-9 margin...Vladislav Namestnikov recorded his first career hat trick and netted the game-winning overtime goal in the Bolts' 5-4 win on Jan. 15, 2016...Anton Stralman has scored four of his nine goals last season against the Pens...The Lightning have won three-straight at home over the Penguins in the regular season...Tampa Bay is 23-18-0 with two ties all-time at home in the regular season against Pittsburgh...The Lightning are 36-42-3 with five ties overall in the regular season versus the Penguins.
LIGHTNING-PENGUINS STORYLINES
Per the Elias Sports Bureau, Tampa Bay has more home victories (64) and has the best home points percentage (.707) of any team in the NHL since the 2014-15 season (second: NYR with 62 wins and a .691 home points percentage)...The Lightning are 7-4-1 at home this season...Tampa Bay has allowed five goals in four of their last seven games; prior to that stretch, the Lightning had allowed five goals or more just once in their first 21 games of the season...The Lightning and Penguins are the only teams in the league with multiple players averaging over a point a game. Nikita Kucherov (1.07) and the injured Steven Stamkos (1.18) are averaging over a point a game for the Bolts; Sidney Crosby (1.38), Evgeni Malkin (1.04) and Phil Kessel (1.00) are doing so for the Pens...The
Lightning scored just one goal Thursday vs. Vancouver, the 12th time this season they've been held to one goal or = fewer, second most in the league behind only Buffalo (13 times).
INJURIES
2016-17 Regular Season Man Games Lost: 47
Ryan Callahan - Lower-body injury (DAY-TO-DAY; INJURED NOV. 29) 5 Games
Steven Stamkos - Lateral meniscus tear in right knee (OUT APPROXIMATELY 4 MONTHS; INJURED NOV. 15) 11 Games
TRANSACTIONS
Dec. 9 - Re-assigned D Slater Koekkoek to AHL Syracuse
Dec. 8 - Recalled D Luke Witkowski from AHL Syracuse
Dec. 6 - Re-assigned F Michael Bournival to AHL Syracuse
Dec. 6 - Re-assigned D Luke Witkowski to AHL Syracuse
IN THE NIK OF TIME
Tampa Bay forward Nikita Kucherov leads the Lightning for goals (13), assists (16) and scoring (29 points)...Kucherov ranks tied for second in the NHL for scoring...Kucherov ranks tied for seventh in the league for goals...Kucherov paces the Bolts for plus-minus (+6), and since the start of the 2014-15 season, Kucherov owns a +53 rating, the third best combined plus-minus in the league over that span.
