Columbus Blue Jackets (33-22-15, sixth in the Metropolitan Division during the regular season) vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (43-21-6, second in the Atlantic Division during the regular season)
Toronto; Tuesday, 3 p.m. EDT
EASTERN CONFERENCE FIRST ROUND: Tampa Bay and Columbus begin series
BOTTOM LINE: The Tampa Bay Lightning play the Columbus Blue Jackets. The teams meet Tuesday for the second time this season.
The Lightning are 28-12-3 against conference opponents. Tampa Bay has scored 243 goals and leads the Eastern Conference averaging 3.5 goals per game. Nikita Kucherov leads the team with 33.
The Blue Jackets are 10-7-5 against opponents from the Metropolitan Division. Columbus serves 6.5 penalty minutes per game, the fewest in the Eastern Conference. Nick Foligno leads them averaging 0.9.
TOP PERFORMERS: Kucherov leads the Lightning with 52 assists and has 85 points this season. Brayden Point has four goals and five assists over the last 10 games for Tampa Bay.
Pierre-Luc Dubois has 49 total points while scoring 18 goals and totaling 31 assists for the Blue Jackets. Gustav Nyquist has three goals and one assist over the last 10 games for Columbus.
DURING THE PLAYOFFS: Lightning: Averaging 2.0 goals, 3.7 assists, 6.0 penalties and 14.0 penalty minutes while giving up 2.7 goals per game with a .921 save percentage.
Blue Jackets: Averaging 2.4 goals, 3.0 assists, 3.2 penalties and 7.0 penalty minutes while giving up 2.0 goals per game with a .947 save percentage.
INJURIES: Lightning: Steven Stamkos: out (lower body).
Blue Jackets: Zach Werenski: day to day (upper body).
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by , and data from ,.
