PROJECTED LINES
Forwards
Ondrej Palat
--
Tyler Johnson
--
Nikita Kucherov
Brayden Point
--
Valtteri Filppula
--
Alex Killorn
Michael Bournival -- Vladislav Namestnikov -- Brian Boyle
Jonathan Drouin
--
Cedric Paquette
-- Joel Vermin
Defensemen
Victor Hedman - Anton Stralman
Braydon Coburn - Luke Witkowski
Andrej Sustr, Slater Koekkoek and Nikita Nesterov rotating
Goalie
Ben Bishop expected to start
SATURDAY'S MATCHUP
The Lightning and the Capitals are playing their first of three meetings this season and first of two at AMALIE Arena...The Bolts lost all three matchups against Washington last season and were outscored by the Caps 11-6...In their last meeting on Dec. 18, 2015, Washington rallied from a 3-0 second period deficit, scoring five-consecutive goals, including three on the power play, to win 5-3...The Caps' Alex Ovechkin has tallied 40 goals and 81 points in 60 career games versus Tampa Bay, the 40 goals the most any active NHL player has scored against the Lightning and the 81 points second only to Florida's Jaromir Jagr (82)...The Lightning have lost two straight and four of their last five at home to the Capitals...The Bolts are 23-32-2 with two ties all-time at home versus Washington...The Bolts have gone 3-8-2 overall against the Caps over the last four seasons and are 38-67-8 with six ties all-time versus Washington.
LIGHTNING-CAPITALS STORYLINES
The Lightning are playing the first half of their third back-to-back set of the season tonight...The Bolts are tied with Calgary for most road games (15) in the NHL so far this season...Since the start of the 2014-15 season, the Lightning have more home victories (63) and the have best home points percentage (.712) of any team in the NHL (second: NYR with 61 wins and a .688 home points percentage)...Tampa Bay owns the second-best power play in the NHL currently, connecting on 23.9% of its opportunities with the man advantage...The Bolts' 21 power-play goals are tied with Philadelphia for most in the league.
INJURIES
2016-17 Regular Season Man Games Lost: 41
Current injuries
Ryan Callahan - Lower-body injury (DAY-TO-DAY; INJURED NOV. 29) 2 Games
Steven Stamkos - Lateral meniscus tear in right knee (OUT APPROXIMATELY 4 MONTHS; INJURED NOV. 15) 8 Games
TRANSACTIONS
Nov. 30 - Recalled F Joel Vermin from AHL Syracuse
Nov. 30 - Recalled F Michael Bournival from AHL Syracuse
Nov. 28 - Re-assigned F Erik Condra to AHL Syracuse
Nov. 23 - Recalled F Erik Condra from AHL Syracuse
BACK TO BACK
The Lightning have 16 sets of back-to-back games this season, their most back-to-back sets since 16 were on the schedule during the 2010-11 season (most all-time back-to-back sets is 19 during 1997-98 and 1993-94 seasons)...Tampa Bay swept its last back-to-back set, following a 4-0 win at NYI with a 4-3 victory at DET...Last season, the Bolts went 8-5-0 in the first game and 5-6-2 in the second game of a back-to-back set.
