Tampa Bay @ New York preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 13, 2019 ) Tampa Bay 1, NY Islanders 5

The NHL-best Tampa Bay Lightning showed some rust during their first game since Jan. 19 and look to get back into top form when they visit the Metropolitan Division-leading New York Islanders on Friday in Uniondale, N.Y. The Lightning gave up three goals in the first 8:21 of the contest en route to a 4-2 defeat at Pittsburgh on Wednesday after the 11-day break, giving them a third loss in five games.

"It’s dig your heels in time now. It’s the same for us,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper told reporters after the setback in which his team had a 35-22 edge in shots. “We’ve got to take this to the finish line. It’s about honing our game. Some good things come out of this? There’s no question. But in the end, we didn’t get any points out of it, and now we’ve got to move on and play a tough Islander team.” Lightning captain Steven Stamkos scored a late power-play goal Wednesday to extend his point streak to seven games and Nikita Kucherov added an assist for his league-leading 79th point, but the Russian right wing was held off the scoresheet in the Islanders’ 5-1 victory Jan. 13. That victory ignited a six-game point streak (5-0-1) for New York, which has allowed seven goals in its past seven contests after a 3-2 shootout loss at Chicago on Jan. 22 in its last outing before the break. Center Mathew Barzal recorded six points to help the Metropolitan Division win the All-Star Game tournament and leads the Islanders with 45 points - 18 of them coming in the last 16 contests.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Sun (Tampa Bay), MSG Plus (New York)

ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (37-11-2): Stamkos boasts four goals and seven assists during his streak and sits third on the team in scoring with 58 points behind only Kucherov along with center Brayden Point (65, team-high 30 goals). Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy had little chance on three of the four goals allowed Wednesday and owns a .920 save percentage in January, which included the loss against the Islanders when he stopped 23 of 27 shots. Defenseman Victor Hedman added an assist against Pittsburgh and owns five of his 34 points in his last three games.

ABOUT THE ISLANDERS (29-15-5): New York was 28th in save percentage last season (.900) and has climbed to first in 2018-19 with Robin Lehner (15-7-4, 2.02 goals-against average, .931 SP) leading the way. Lehner boasts a .955 SP in his past five games and Thomas Greiss (14-8-1, 2.50, .920) has won three of his last four in net, including a victory over the Lightning earlier this month when he turned aside 38 shots. Captain Anders Lee (37 points) has been kept off the scoresheet in his last three games after posting 10 points in the previous eight outings.

OVERTIME

1. New York D Scott Mayfield leads the team with a plus-17 rating this season after being a minus-14 his first 83 NHL games.

2. The Lightning are 4-of-10 on the power play in their last three games and leads the league at 29.8 percent while the Islanders are 22nd in penalty killing (78.7).

3. New York recalled D Devon Toews, who was sent to the minors during the break after posting five points and a plus-9 rating in his first 15 NHL games.

PREDICTION: Lightning 4, Islanders 2