San Jose @ Tampa Bay preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 19, 2019 ) San Jose 3, Tampa Bay 6

The Tampa Bay Lightning are still one of the best offensive teams in the league, but are giving up goals at an alarming rate as they prepare to host the San Jose Sharks on Saturday night. The Lightning entered Friday allowing the sixth-most goals in the league per game after surrendering three in the first period for the second straight home contest Thursday in a 5-4 setback against Minnesota.

“The pride we’re taking in our (defensive) zone is unacceptable right now,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper told reporters after the loss. “We throw some good games together of late here where we’ve played pretty well, but (when) you’re giving up goals like this in this league, you’ve got no chance. … There’s going to have to be a little bit of urgency here about defending and not trying to score your way to wins.” The Lightning fought back to tie twice against Minnesota only to give up a goal in 36 and eight seconds, respectively, and hope for a sharper effort against the Sharks, who opened a four-game trip with a 3-2 shootout loss at Carolina on Thursday. San Jose battled its way back into the playoff chase by winning 11 of 13 games before dropping its last two, but rallied back to tie the game twice Thursday to earn a point. “It’s a tough trip,” Sharks captain Logan Couture told reporters of their trek that continues through Florida and Nashville. “If you lose a bunch in a row right now, you’re going to fall out of place in the (Western) Conference because everyone is bunched up. Good to get one (point). Now we’re looking to get some more the rest of the trip.”

TV: 7 p.m. ET, NBCS California (San Jose), FS Sun (Tampa Bay)

ABOUT THE SHARKS (15-13-2): Couture scored his fourth goal in four games Thursday and leads the team in points with 29 - six more than fellow forwards Evander Kane and Tomas Hertl. Defenseman Erik Karlsson registered four of his 19 assists in the past four contests while former Norris Trophy winner Brent Burns is mired in a six-game point drought and hasn’t scored a goal in 10 straight contests. San Jose leads the league in penalty killing (91.4 percent) after going 25-for-26 in the past eight games, but is scoreless in its last nine contests on the power play (0-for-19) after going 0-for-2 on Thursday.

ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (13-10-3): Reigning Hart Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov continues to round into form, recording at least a point in seven straight games (13 in all) to lead the team by a wide margin with 31. Captain Steven Stamkos, who missed three contests with a lower-body injury late last month, has not scored in six games since notching the 400th of his career Nov. 16 and owns a club-worst minus-11 rating. Defenseman Victor Hedman is second on the team in points with 24 points after scoring on the power play Thursday for the 100th goal of his career - exactly 10 years after scoring his first in the NHL.

OVERTIME

1. San Jose F Patrick Marleau is three goals behind Hall of Famer Guy Lafleur (560) for 26th on the NHL’s all-time list.

2. The Lightning are 9-for-14 on the penalty kill the past five contests after a nine-game stretch in which they went 28-of-29.

3. Sharks F Joe Thornton recorded his 1,075th assist Thursday and sits four behind Adam Oates for seventh in league history.

PREDICTION: Lightning 4, Sharks 2