Tampa Bay @ Colorado preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 19, 2019 ) Colorado 6, Tampa Bay 2

The Tampa Bay Lightning look to make some more history during their magical run as they go after a franchise-record 11th straight victory Monday night against the Colorado Avalanche to open a three-game road trip. The Lightning became the third team in NHL history to register winning streaks of 10 or more twice in the same season when they held off Philadelphia 5-3 on Saturday.

“We’re feeling confident, that’s for sure,” Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos told reporters after recording a pair of assists Saturday in his 799th NHL contest. “That’s a very delicate thing in the world of sports is having confidence, I think in life in general. We’re feeling good about ourselves coming in. For the most part, we’re playing the right way and the right brand of hockey.” The Lightning are 22-2-1 in their last 25 games and reside within three points of Boston for first place in the Atlantic Division, but lost to Colorado 6-2 at home on Oct. 19 to snap a five-game winning streak against the Avalanche. Colorado has dropped two straight after winning five in a row and sit in third place in the Central Division after suffering a 3-1 loss to Los Angeles on Saturday night in the NHL’s Stadium Series game outdoors at the Air Force Academy. “The crowd was amazing, so it makes it even more disappointing to not get the two points for the (fans),” Avalanche right wing Mikko Rantanen told reporters after registering an assist Saturday. “It’s cold out there, and they were still cheering for us. It’s a great experience, but an unfortunate ending.”

TIME: 9 p.m. ET. TV: FS Sun, Altitude, Sportsnet, TVA

ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (39-15-5): Reigning Hart Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov returned after missing one contest with a lower-body injury and made the scoresheet in his 13th straight game with a goal and an assist to push his team-best total to 72 points. Stamkos sat out three consecutive contests with the same injury and returned to notch a point for his 10th straight game against Philadelphia while center Brayden Point scored his 21st goal Saturday and boasts a 10-game point streak. Andrei Vasilevskiy (NHL-best 32 wins) continues to extend his franchise-record point streak, improving to 19-0-2 in his last 21 games.

ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (33-18-6): Center Nathan MacKinnon (team-leading 32 goals and 80 points) saw his six-game point streak come to an end Saturday night, but he has eight points in the past seven contests. Rantanen scored in two straight games before the loss to Los Angeles and goes into Monday with 99 goals along with 249 points (40 this season) in his career, while Andre Burakovsky has two goals and an assist in his last three contests. Goalie Pavel Francouz (13-5-2) is likely to get the start Monday and Hunter Miska was recalled to back him up after Philipp Grubauer left Saturday’s game with a lower-body injury.

OVERTIME

1. Colorado D Cale Makar has 42 points, second among all rookies in the league behind Vancouver D Quinn Hughes.

2. Tampa Bay acquired F Blake Coleman (21 goals) from New Jersey on Sunday for a first-round pick and last year's first-round selection F Nolan Foote.

3. The Lightning are just 1-for-32 on the power play the last 12 games while the Avalanche have allowed five in the last five contests.

PREDICTION: Avalanche 4, Lightning 2