Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET, the Tampa Bay Lightning (31-16-5, 67 points) and Toronto Maple Leafs (27-21-6, 60 points) faceoff for the first of four meetings against each other this season live from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. The game can be live streamed here. Tampa Bay fans can hear all of the action on WFLA 970 while Toronto fans can do the same on TSN 1050.
Tampa Bay is on a three game winning streak and has won four of its last five road games while Toronto has lost two straight and will try to avoid their third consecutive set-back.
The Lightning surged to a 5-2 road win over the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday and the team now embarks on a four-game road trip starting tonight.
"We've got an eight-game stretch -- six against divisional opponents. We want to keep this distance we have away from other teams," coach Jon Cooper said after practice Monday via NHL.com. "We haven't played Toronto yet -- we have four coming up with them in the next two months. Pivotal games."
The Maple Leafs rattled off six straight wins before losing their last two in a row, and saw their top two scorers Phil Kessel (27-27-54) and James van Riemsdyk (20-20-40) get injured in practice, though they're expected to play.
"I've [been] told as of this morning, they will be available for tomorrow," coach Randy Carlyle said after practice, according to NHL.com. "We've got people with taped elbows and taped wrists and ankles. Those things happen over the course of the season."
Kessel has five goals in his last five games, and aside from him and Van Riemsdyk, Nazem Kadri is also in the top three on the team in scoring and has points in five of six games for a total of 33 points off of 12 goals and 21 assists.
Martin St. Louis has paced the Lightning with 52 points off of 25 goals and 27 assists while Valtteri Filppula has 19 markers and 21 helpers for 40 points and Tyler Johnson has four tallies and four helpers in his last five games for a total of 16 goals and 18 assists for 34 points.
In net, Tampa Bay will likely turn to Ben Bishop, who is 26-6-4 with a 1.96 goals-against average and a .934 save percentage this season while Toronto's Jonathan Bernier will likely man the crease and is 17-15-5 with a 2.61 GAA and a .925 save percentage.
The Lightning look for their fourth straight win while the Maple Leafs try to avoid a three-game losing streak when the puck drops tonight at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
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