The Tampa Bay Lightning will look to pull even in points with the Atlantic Division-leading Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday when the teams meet in Tampa, Fla.
The Lightning (45-26-6, 96 points) have lost all three previous meetings this season with the Maple Leafs (47-26-4, 98 points), who have scored five goals in each victory.
“It’s tight,” Tampa Bay’s Brayden Point said. “It’s home ice and that means a lot in a seven-game series. We’re just really working on trying to get our game right for the playoffs and that’s going to be a big test against Toronto.”
The Lightning, however, are coming off a 5-1 road win against the New York Rangers on Monday, while the Maple Leafs fell 3-1 to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.
Tampa Bay entered its contest on a two-game losing streak, falling 2-1 in Ottawa on Thursday and 3-2 in a shootout in Buffalo on Saturday. Point (two goals, assist), former Hart Trophy recipient Nikita Kucherov (goal, two assists) and Jake Guentzel (three assists) each registered three-point performances in the win over the Rangers.
Point eclipsed the 40-goal plateau for the third straight season, tying him for the franchise high with Steven Stamkos, and fourth time in his nine-year career.
Point and Guentzel each have netted 16 power-play goals to match the output by Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl for the league high.
“It’s nice to get some (power-play) goals,” Point said after the club went 3-for-4 on the power play. “They haven’t gone in for us as of late in the last six or seven games.”
In the previous nine contests, the Lightning were 4-for-24 with the man advantage.
Facing the Stanley Cup champion Panthers for the second time in a week on Tuesday night, Toronto lost in the first of back-to-back matches in the Sunshine State.
The Panthers, who were 0-4-1 in their past five games, received 17 saves from goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky to hold the Maple Leafs at bay.
Netminder Joseph Woll was strong in net for the Leafs, stopping 34 of 36 shots and giving his teammates a decent opportunity at splitting the season series.
John Tavares notched his 37th goal on a nasty snipe over Bobrovsky that rang off the post and in.
In the regular season, Toronto is 1-6-0 against the Panthers and Ottawa Senators, the two clubs that coach Craig Berube’s squad most likely could meet in the postseason’s first round.
“(Florida) wanted it more than us,” Berube said. “It starts in the faceoff circle. They were 70 percent tonight. To me, it comes down to competitiveness and digging in more. They seemed like a more desperate team than us.”
Even without Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett and defenseman Aaron Ekblad suiting up, Berube saw in the Panthers the possibility of another tough playoff tussle.
“You’re going to have to get in there and win battles against this team, that’s for sure,” he added. “They are on you. They are tight (defensively).”
–Field Level Media
