Tampa Bay @ Arizona preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 9, 2020 ) Arizona 0, Tampa Bay 4

The Tampa Bay Lightning saw several streaks come to an end last time out and look to avoid consecutive losses for the first time since mid-December when they visit the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night. The Lightning won a franchise-record 11 games in a row and had not allowed more than three goals in 22 straight outings before suffering a 5-3 loss at Vegas on Thursday despite a pair of goals from captain Steven Stamkos.

“We’re going to bounce back as a team here,” Stamkos told reporters after pulling within one of his seventh season with 30 goals. “. … We played so much good hockey. All everyone’s going to talk about is that we lost this game, but we put a great stretch of hockey together. We’ll refocus, work on some things and play better next game.” Tampa Bay, which also lost for the first time in seven road contests Thursday, blanked the Coyotes 4-0 at home Jan. 9 after splitting two meetings last season - including a 7-1 defeat at Arizona. The Coyotes are averaging two goals despite managing seven points over their past seven games (3-3-1), but were outshot 46-14 in a 1-0 loss at St. Louis on Thursday and entered Friday in a virtual tie for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference. “It’s very tight and close in the standings, but we just have to focus on our own performance, get a little better, find some energy and try to have a big push here,” Arizona defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson told NHL.com.

TIME: 8 p.m. ET. TV: FS Sun, FS Arizona Plus

ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (40-16-5): Stamkos is tied with points leader Nikita Kucherov (74) for the top spot on the team in goals (29) and has 12 to go along with eight assists in his last 13 contests. Kucherov has made the scoresheet in the last 15 games (12 goals, 25 points) he participated in while center Brayden Point missed Thursday’s loss because of illness and is day-to-day after putting together an 11-game point streak (three goals, 12 assists). Andrei Vasilevskiy (league-high 32 wins), who also saw his point streak come to an end at 21 contests Thursday, stopped all 25 shots last month to improve to 4-1-0 with a .955 save percentage lifetime versus Arizona.

ABOUT THE COYOTES (30-26-8): Antti Raanta (13-14-3) took a hard-luck loss with 45 saves in Thursday’s setback and allowed one goal in each of his last three starts, posting a .953 save percentage over the past five appearances. Nick Schmaltz leads the team with 41 points, but has not added to his eight-goal total in 11 February contests, while fellow forward Conor Garland has scored 20 times to lead the club - 13 of them coming on home ice. Left wing Taylor Hall scored in Thursday’s 3-2 loss at Dallas and boasts 23 points in 29 games since being acquired in a blockbuster deal from New Jersey and has 48 combined this season.

OVERTIME

1. Arizona D Jacob Chychrun (lower body) missed his first game of the season Thursday and is considered day-to-day.

2. Stamkos has 297 career power-play points, tied with Vincent Lecavalier for second and three shy of Martin St. Louis for the franchise lead.

3. Coyotes C Carl Soderberg has managed one of his 30 points in the last 10 contests.

PREDICTION: Lightning 4, Coyotes 1