Lightning vs. Senators: Projected lines, injuries and storylines

[HockeyLady]

Tampa Bay's road trip continues with their first trip to Ottawa this season. The two team's last met in Tampa before Christmas, with Tampa Bay rallying to pull out a 4-3 shootout win. In the shootout, the Lightning got goals from Brayden Point and Steven Stamkos, while Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped both shots he faced to preserve the win. 

The Senators will take on the Lightning on short rest after hosting San Jose on Friday night. 

Lines from Thursday's game. Subject to change.

Forwards
Vladislav Namestnikov - Steven Stamkos - Nikita Kucherov

Ondrej Palat - Brayden Point - Tyler Johnson

Alex Killorn - Yanni Gourde - Cory Conacher

Chris Kunitz - Cedric Paquette - Ryan Callahan

Defensemen
Victor Hedman - Jake Dotchin

Mikhail Sergachev - Anton Stralman

Braydon Coburn - Dan Girardi

Goaltenders
Andrei Vasilevskiy or Peter Budaj

Tonight's Matchup
The Lightning and the Senators are playing their second of four meetings and the first of two at Canadian Tire Centre...Tampa Bay defeated Ottawa 4-3 in a shootout 16 days ago, Brayden Point and Steven Stamkos both converting their shootout attempts and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopping both of Ottawa's attempts...The Lightning won both of their games in Ottawa last season, defeating the Senators 4-1 on Oct. 22 behind Andrei Vasilevskiy's 27-of-28 save effort and following up with a 2-1 overtime win on March 14, Victor Hedman supplying the game-winner 4:06 into the extra session...The Bolts have won three-straight games in Ottawa and are 5-2-1 in their last eight trips to Ottawa...Tampa Bay is 14-4-3 over its last 21 games overall vs. OTT...Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy has won his last three starts vs. OTT, allowing five goals combined in those three wins...Tyler Johnson is on a three-game point streak (1-3--4) vs. OTT...Nikita Kucherov has points in five of his last six games vs. OTT (4-5--9) and recorded his second career hat trick (all three goals coming in the second period on a power play) and his fourth career four-point night in a 5-1 Lightning win Feb. 27, 2017.... Steven Stamkos has tallied 11-8--19 and three game-winning goals in his last 12 games vs. Ottawa...Brayden Point has points in four of five career games vs. OTT (3-1--4) and tallied the shootout game-winning goal Dec. 23 vs. OTT.

Tonight's Storylines
Tampa Bay has the top road points percentage (.700) in the NHL and owns a League-best +26 road goal differential (team record: +23 in 2003-04)...The Lightning have posted two shutouts on their current five-game road trip and have never posted more than two shutouts during a multi-game road trip in franchise history...The Bolts continue to pace the NHL for wins (29), points (61), ROW (27), points percentage (.762) and goal differential (+52)...Tampa Bay is off to its best start in franchise history with 61 points through 40 games, eight points better than the 53 points put up by the 2010-11 team (24-11-5) through 40 games...The Lightning lead the NHL for goals (145) and goals per game (3.63) and rank second for goals allowed per game (2.33), just one one-hundredth of a goal behind League-leading LAK (2.32)...The Bolts are the only team in the NHL in the top six in both goals per game and goals allowed per game.

Injuries
2017-18 Regular Season Man Games Lost: 48
Current injuries
Peter Budaj - Lower body (out indefinitely) 3 Games

Transactions
Dec. 31 - Recalled G Louis Domingue from AHL Syracuse

In the Nik of Time
Tampa Bay right winger Nikita Kucherov scored his 26th goal of the season Jan. 4 at MTL, giving him at least one goal in 23 of 40 games this season...Kucherov scored his NHL-best 23rd even strength goal on Thursday; he scored 23 even strength goals all of last season...Kucherov pulled into a tie for the NHL goal lead with his marker Thursday.

Kucherov has recorded points in 11 of his last 12 games (7-10--17)...Kucherov's 57 points are second most through the first 40 games of a season in Lightning history (first: Vincent Lecavalier 26-32--58 through 40 games to start 2007-08)...Kucherov has tallied six multipoint games in his last 10 contests and 20 total this season...Kucherov continues to pace the NHL for scoring.

Kucherov (97 career power-play points) can move past Roman Hamrlik and into sole possession of ninth place on the Bolts' all-time power-play scoring list with one more power-play point...Kucherov ranks tied for third in the NHL for power-play points (3-18--21) and tied for second for power-play assists...Over the last two seasons, Kucherov leads the NHL for goals with 66 (second: WSH's Alex Ovechkin - 59) and ranks second for scoring with 142 points (first: EDM's Connor McDavid - 146).

Andrei the Giant
Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy saw his five-game win streak and career-best shutout streak, stopped at 184:49, come to an end Jan. 4 at MTL after saving 37-of-38 shots in a shootout loss...Vasilevskiy has allowed two combined goals over his last six appearances dating to Dec. 23, going 4-0-1 with a 0.38 GAA, .986 save percentage and three shutouts over that stretch...Vasilevskiy has won five of his last six starts and 10 of his last 12...Vasilevskiy continues to pace the NHL for wins.

Vasilevskiy has recorded three shutouts in his last five starts and four in his last nine...Vasilevskiy leads the NHL for shutouts (6) and is one shutout from tying the Lightning franchise record for most shutouts in a season set previously by Nikolai Khabibulin (7) in 2001-02...Vasilevskiy has allowed just two combined goals in the first periods of his last 11 starts...Vasilevskiy has allowed two or fewer goals in 15 of his last 20 starts and a NHL-best 22 starts overall...Vasilevskiy leads the NHL for GAA (1.92) and save percentage (.939) among goalies with 15 or more games.