Florida @ Tampa Bay preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 10, 2019 ) Tampa Bay 2, Florida 1

Red-hot Noel Acciari and the Florida Panthers hope to go into the Christmas break with four straight victories when they visit their Sunshine State-rival Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night. Acciari’s hat trick streak ended at two games, but the versatile forward added another goal Saturday as the Panthers won 4-2 at Carolina for a third consecutive win after losing seven of their previous 10 contests.

Acciari boasts 12 goals - already two more than his career high of 10 in 60 games with Boston in 2017-18 - and has warmed up since being put on a line with leading scorer Jonathan Huberdeau (47 points) and crafty center Vincent Trocheck. “I’m fortunate to be playing with those guys,” Acciari told reporters after Saturday’s win. “Those guys are special out there and it’s a pleasure to play with them. It’s working out for us right now.” The Lightning have won eight of the past nine meetings, including two of three this season, but continue their inconsistency against the rest of the league in 2019-20 with one win in the past four games (1-2-1) after going 0-for-7 on the power play - including 1:26 of a 5-on-3 in the third period - in Saturday’s 3-1 loss at Washington. “We got our looks, but we’ve got to execute better,” Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman told reporters of the second-ranked power play in the league (28 percent). “You get that many opportunities, you want to make it count. We’re a proud group. We’re not happy with our performance on the power play tonight.”

TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Florida, FS Sun (Tampa Bay)

ABOUT THE PANTHERS (18-12-5): Backup goalie Chris Driedger made 42 saves Saturday in his first start in nearly three weeks and coach Joel Quenneville told reporters: “Over the course of the season you get some goalie wins, and that was one of them.” Sergei Bobrovsky, who owns a .943 save percentage this month, will likely be back in net against Tampa Bay and hopes to get the same offensive support as Florida has provided during its win streak (5.7 per game). Huberdeau has two goals and eight assists over his past three games and captain Aleksander Barkov is second on the team with 40 points - four in the last three contests.

ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (17-13-4): Reigning Hart Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov scored the only goal Saturday - the 200th of his career - and has six of his team-high 37 points in the past five games to pull within one of becoming the fourth player in franchise history with 500. Center Brayden Point, Kucherov’s linemate, has scored three times and set up two others in the past five games while captain Steven Stamkos (13 goals) has cooled off with just one point in his last four contests. Reigning Vezina Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy (14-9-2, .906 save percentage) will likely be back in net after giving up four goals on 20 shots in Thursday’s overtime loss to Dallas.

OVERTIME

1. Tampa Bay LW Ondrej Palat has a goal and two assists in the last two contests after a seven-game point drought.

2. Florida D Keith Yandle (98 career goals) has scored once and set up three others over the past four games.

3. Undrafted Lightning F Tyler Johnson (seven goals, 15 points) is slated to play his 500th NHL game Monday.

PREDICTION: Lightning 4, Panthers 1