Arizona Coyotes (25-16-4, first in the Pacific Division) vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (25-13-4, second in the Atlantic Division)
Tampa, Florida; Thursday, 7 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Tampa Bay comes into a matchup with Arizona as winners of eight games in a row.
The Lightning are 13-7-2 on their home ice. Tampa Bay averages 10.0 penalty minutes per game, the sixth-most in the league. Patrick Maroon leads the team serving 56 total minutes.
The Coyotes are 14-6-3 on the road. Arizona serves 6.6 penalty minutes per game, the least in the NHL. Jakob Chychrun leads them averaging 0.6.
The matchup Thursday is the first meeting of the season for the two teams.
TOP PERFORMERS: Brayden Point leads the Lightning with 18 goals and has collected 39 points. Nikita Kucherov has recorded 12 points over the last 10 games for Tampa Bay.
Nick Schmaltz has collected 35 total points while scoring seven goals and totaling 28 assists for the Coyotes. Clayton Keller has scored five goals over the last 10 games for Arizona.
LAST 10 GAMES: Coyotes: 6-4-0, averaging 3.6 goals, 6.3 assists, 3.3 penalties and 6.9 penalty minutes while allowing 2.8 goals per game with a .914 save percentage.
Lightning: 8-1-1, averaging 4.2 goals, 6.8 assists, four penalties and 8.9 penalty minutes while giving up 2.3 goals per game with a .922 save percentage.
INJURIES: Lightning: Jan Rutta: day to day (lower body), Ryan McDonagh: day to day (upper body).
Coyotes: Antti Raanta: day to day (lower-body).
