Montreal @ Tampa Bay preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 3, 2018 ) Tampa Bay 4, Montreal 1

Captain Steven Stamkos looks to add to his historic scoring month and the Tampa Bay Lightning attempt to extend their point streak to 14 games on Saturday, when they host the Atlantic Division-rival Montreal Canadiens. Stamkos broke the franchise record for goals in any month with his 13th and 14th of December on Thursday as the Lightning edged Philadelphia 6-5 in overtime, improving to 12-0-1 in their last 13 contests.

“He has a lot of goals and a lot of points in this league,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper told reporters of Stamkos. “He has that because he has the ability to do that and he can sniff out offensive situations. There’s certain guys, and every team has one or two of them, and we have another few of them. Pucks have eyes for him.” Stamkos has recorded 15 of his 22 goals in the last 13 games and has scored 17 times in 34 career regular-season contests against Montreal, which dropped a 4-1 decision to the Lightning on Nov. 3 in the opener of their four-game season series. The Canadiens come to Tampa with nine wins in 13 games this month after outlasting Florida 5-3 on Friday for their third straight victory on a five-game road trip that ends in Dallas on Monday. Antti Niemi turned aside 23 shots for his first win in four contests and could receive back-to-back starts as former Hart Trophy winner Carey Price was placed on injured reserve Friday with a lower-body injury.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, Sportsnet, TVA (Montreal), FS Sun (Tampa Bay)

ABOUT THE CANADIENS (20-13-5): Tomas Tatar (28 points) scored twice on Friday to snap his seven-game goal-scoring drought and pull within one tally of Brendan Gallagher (15) for the team lead. Max Domi notched an assist on the first leg of the trip to the Sunshine State to push his team-leading total to 36 points - four more than Jonathan Drouin, who scored an empty-net goal and set up another tally on Friday. All-Star defenseman Shea Weber registered an assist against the Panthers for his ninth point in 14 games since returning from a knee injury.

ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (29-7-2): Stamkos has put up impressive goal-scoring numbers, including a five-game streak during which he recorded seven, and Nikita Kucherov has moved to the top of the NHL scoring list with 61 points. Kucherov has amassed two tallies and seven assists in his last two contests and is riding a nine-game point streak (19) while Brayden Point is tied with Stamkos for the team lead in goals. J.T. Miller (upper body) is questionable after leaving Thursday’s game and missing the following day's practice, but Mathieu Joseph (lower body) is eligible to return from injured reserve.

OVERTIME

1. Montreal D Victor Mete has recorded half of his six assists on the season over his last six contests.

2. Tampa Bay LW Alex Killorn has scored eight of his 10 goals in the last 15 games, including the game-winner on Thursday.

3. The Lightning have earned at least one point in each of their last eight meetings with the Canadiens (6-0-2).

PREDICTION: Lightning 5, Canadiens 2