(SportsNetwork.com) - A pair of clubs riding three-game winning streaks will try to stay hot on Thursday when the Tampa Bay Lightning welcome the Calgary Flames to Amalie Arena.
Tampa Bay has not only won three in a row, but also has come out on top in five of its last six games. The Bolts hope to keep up their winning ways tonight when they shoot for their fourth win in the last five meetings versus the Flames.
Tampa has claimed five of seven, seven of 10 and nine of the past 13 matchups in this series, though the Flames did halt a two-game road skid in this series when they recorded a 4-1 triumph on April 3 of last season.
Tampa's last two victories have come via 4-3 regulation victories and the club is 3-0 on a four-game homestand that ends tonight. The Lightning began the residency with a 7-3 rout of Arizona before edging both Philadelphia and Washington.
The Lightning were tied 3-3 with the Capitals after 40 minutes on Saturday, but Jason Garrison provided the winning marker by scoring early in the third period.
Garrison's go-ahead score came after Steven Stamkos won a faceoff in the offensive zone. The defenseman sent a slap shot past Braden Holtby at the 2:27 mark of the third period.
Nikita Kucherov, Ondrej Palat and Ryan Callahan also lit the lamp for the Lightning. Callahan returned to the lineup after missing five games with a lower-body injury.
Ben Bishop stopped 35-of-38 shots in the victory, and Lightning head coach Jon Cooper credited his goaltender with bailing out his club during a lackluster defensive effort.
"We were pretty loose on defense tonight, probably as loose as we've been all season," Cooper said. "We needed some big saves and we did the most with our chances on offense."
Tampa, which begins a three-game road trip Saturday in Columbus, is 5-1-1 as the home team this season.
The Flames, meanwhile, are 2-0 so far on a five-game road trip and the club is on its first four-game winning streak since taking four straight from April 3-9 of last season.
Like Tampa, Calgary's most recent victory came over Washington, as the Flames notched a 4-3 overtime victory in D.C. Sean Monahan's goal 4:17 into the extra session gave Calgary the two-point decision.
Monahan ended a back-and-forth game by beating Holtby from the low left side off a pass from Josh Jooris that was tipped by a Washington player.
The Flames trailed 3-2 heading into the third period, but Markus Granlund evened the contest with 5:10 remaining in regulation. Granlund's goal went off an opponent's skate to tie the score and eventually send the game to OT
Lance Bouma and Mark Giordano also scored for Calgary. Jonas Hiller, who also let in an own-goal during the game, had 31 saves -- none better than a pad stop on Tom Wilson in the final seconds of regulation.
"It was one of the weirdest games that I've seen," said Flames coach Bob Hartley. "But that's the beauty of our sport."
Hiller improved to 6-0-1 in his last seven outings and Calgary moved to 5-1-2 in its last eight. He expects to start again tonight and is 4-3-0 with a 2.51 goals against average in his career versus the Lightning.
Bishop will likely face Hiller despite owning a 1-3-0 record in his career versus the Flames.
