Two teams on the rise meet Saturday when the Tampa Bay Lightning visit the Pittsburgh Penguins, each with the bright lights of the upcoming playoffs in their eyes.
For the Lightning (43-26-7, 93 points), getting into the postseason, while not official, seems to be pretty much a done deal. Pittsburgh (35-30-10, 81 points) will have to continue its late-season surge just to qualify.
Tampa Bay still could have some upward mobility by moving out of a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and into third place in the Atlantic Division if it can overtake the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Lightning beat the Leafs 4-1 on Wednesday before making it five wins in six games by topping the Montreal Canadiens 7-4 on Thursday.
“We’re inching our way toward a playoff spot, so I’m pretty (darn) happy about that,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said.
The Lightning reeled off four straight goals in the second Thursday against a desperate team. Montreal was eliminated from playoff contention with the loss.
“I think our game’s rounding out,” said Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos, who had two goals and an assist against the Canadiens. “I don’t think it’s perfect by any means, but we’ve put together a really solid stretch where we really needed those points.”
The Lightning boast the leading scorer in the NHL going into Friday’s games, Nikita Kucherov, who had a goal and two assists Thursday to reach 133 points.
Tampa won Thursday behind goaltender Matt Tomkins’ 26 saves. He was recalled on an emergency basis because backup Jonas Johansson has a lower-body injury and the team was playing on back-to-back nights. However, it’s expected that No. 1 goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy will start against the Penguins.
Pittsburgh, meanwhile, has been riding the goalie who most of the season has been considered the backup, Alex Nedeljkovic, while Tristan Jarry, who signed a five-year, $26.875 million contract last summer, sits.
Nedeljkovic has started the past seven games — although one of them was because Jarry was ill — and he and the Penguins are 5-0-2 in those games.
“(Nedeljkovic) has been phenomenal,” said Pittsburgh winger Bryan Rust. “You can see how calm and confident he is in the net. I think that’s kind of going … throughout our lineup. I think guys are realizing that, and that just breeds a whole bunch of confidence throughout the lineup.”
The Penguins also have been relying heavily on team captain Sidney Crosby, who had a six-game scoring streak snapped on Thursday but leads the team with 39 goals and 84 points.
But the Penguins also have been getting depth scoring and improved defensive play as they have risen from nearly being dead in the water to knocking on the door of a playoff spot.
“I couldn’t be happier for the players,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “I think they’re having a lot of fun right now. They’re competing. They’re battling hard.
“It’s not perfect, but I love our energy, our enthusiasm. Our compete level is fun to watch. … I certainly have been proud of them here the last little while just trying to dig in and give ourselves a chance.”
–Field Level Media
