Tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Tampa Bay Lightning (13-5-2, 28 points) and Toronto Maple Leafs (9-8-2, 20 points) face-off live from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto for the first of four meetings against each other this season. The game can be live streamed here. Tampa Bay fans can hear all of the action on WDAE 620 while Toronto fans can do the same on TSN 1050.
Tampa Bay has won two of its last three games but lost last time out and sits in second place in the Atlantic Division while Toronto is on a three-game skid.
The Maple Leafs are coming off of an embarrassing 9-2 loss to the Nashville Predators, but the Lightning isn't taking their opponents lightly tonight despite the fact that Tampa Bay leads the league with 72 goals this season.
Tampa Bay is also coming off of dropping a 5-2 decision to the New York Islanders on Tuesday,
"You expect the Maple Leafs to come out hard tonight because they weren't pleased with their effort [against Nashville] and we know we'll get a good start from them," Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said via NHL.com. "We didn't have a good loss last game either. We're coming off a tough one, so we'll want to rebound ourselves."
Stamkos leads the Lightning with 12 goals (ranked third in the league) and 22 points (tied for fourth). Tyler Johnson is second on the team with 21 points off of six goals and 15 assists which ranks tied for fourth in the NHL, while Valtteri Filppula has four tallies and 14 helpers for 18 points.
The Maple Leafs will look to bounce back from an atrocious effort against Nashville on Tuesday that saw the team trail 8-0 before falling 9-2 by the final buzzer.
"I think what we have to focus on is the process and block everything else out," Toronto coach Randy Carlyle told NHL.com. "We have to block out anything else that is going on and focus on our task at hand."
Phil Kessel leads the Maple Leafs in scoring and is tied for fourth in the league in goals (12) and points (22). James van Riemsdyk (seven goals, eight assists) and Tyler Bozak (six tallies, nine helpers) are tied for second on the team with 15 points.
In net, Toronto is likely to turn to Jonathan Bernier, who is 5-5-2 with a 2.72 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage thus far this season.
Tampa Bay, meanwhile, will likely have Ben Bishop in the crease and he is tied for second in the league with 11 wins while adding a 2.26 GAA and a .919 save percentage.
The Lightning look to bounce back from a tough loss and stay near the top of the standings while the Maple Leafs hope to halt a three-game skid and bounce back from a terrible outing when the puck drops tonight live from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
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