Washington @ Tampa Bay preview

Last Meeting ( May 23, 2018 ) Washington 4, Tampa Bay 0

The NHL-best Tampa Bay Lightning lead the league in scoring and could end up boasting three players with 40 goals, but it is still difficult for them to forget being shut out in Game 6 and 7 of the Eastern Conference finals by the Washington Capitals last May. The Lightning look for a little revenge when they host the Capitals on Saturday night in the first of three contests between the division leaders in 15 days before another postseason begins.

Tampa Bay right wing Nikita Kucherov has taken his game to a new level this season with a league-high 115 points to lead a Lightning team that averages 3.82 goals per game and is an NHL-best 7-10-0 when behind going into the third period after rallying from three down for a 5-4 win at Detroit on Thursday. “I think it’s kind of a quiet calm,” Tampa Bay forward Tyler Johnson told reporters after the Lightning matched the franchise record with their 54th victory Thursday. “I think we know we’re never out of a game. We know we can come back. … We just had to play the way that we know we can play. We got some breaks, and some guys stepped up.” The Lightning won’t want to test that comeback ability against Washington, which is 8-1-0 in its last nine games to take over first place in the Metropolitan Division after knocking off red-hot Philadelphia 5-2 on Thursday. “You’ve got teams that are desperate, you’ve got teams playing their best hockey,” Capitals forward Tom Wilson told reporters. “You’ve got to be ready. I thought from the drop of the puck we were playing a really good team game and made it difficult for them early on and kept it going.”

TV: 7 p.m. ET, NHL Network; NBCS Washington, FS Sun (Tampa Bay)

ABOUT THE CAPITALS (42-22-7): Right wing Brett Connolly, a 2000 first-round pick of Tampa Bay, is having his best season in the NHL with 19 goals and 39 points after scoring twice and setting up another in Thursday’s win. “He’s had an extremely consistent year,” coach Todd Reirden told reporters of Connolly. “I’m happy for him for the work he’s put in. He’s had a really positive effect on our team.” Captain Alex Ovechkin leads the league with 46 goals despite a four-game drought and has scored 43 times and totaled 85 points in 66 regular-season games against Tampa Bay.

ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (54-13-4): Captain Steven Stamkos scored Thursday to tie Vincent Lecavalier for the franchise record with 383 goals and Kucherov’s 115 points are the most in a season since Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby had 120 in 2006-07. Center Brayden Point leads the team with 38 goals, including a league-leading 19 on the power play, and is on pace to give Tampa Bay two 100-point scorers with 86 after recording a goal and four assists in the last three contests. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy is among the league leaders with 33 wins despite missing a month because of injury and is 13-1-2 in his last 16 starts - allowing 29 goals combined.

OVERTIME

1. Washington D John Carlson boasts a five-game point streak in which he scored once and set up four other goals.

2. Kucherov is the first NHL player to reach 80 assists in a season since Henrik Sedin posted 83 for Vancouver in 2009-10.

3. Capitals G Braden Holtby stopped all 53 shots in the final two games of last season’s Eastern Conference finals against the Lightning.

PREDICTION: Lightning 3, Capitals 2