Bolts at Bruins preview: On the road again

Lightning (13-8-1) at Bruins (11-10-0): Game 23

Time: 1 pm Eastern Time

Location: TD Garden in Boston

Broadcast/Streaming: SUN and NESN

Opponent SBNation Site: Stanley Cup of Chowder

Don’t forget it’s an early one this afternoon in Boston.

Both teams may be without their captains. Steven Stamkos, of course, is recovering from knee surgery, while Zdeno Chara remains day to day because of a lower body injury that’s made him miss the last two games. Brad Marchand’s status is also up in the air after he did not return to practice on Saturday. He was “dropped by an Adam McQuaid shot,” Boston Globe reporter Fluto Shinzawa tweeted.

While the Bruins are ailing on the backend, the Lightning are seeing improvement. Anton Stralman took part in his first full practice Saturday following an upper-body injury that’s kept him out of the last seven games. Head coach Jon Cooper said there is a “possibility” Stralman could return to the lineup by the end of the trip. The Bolts take on the Blue Jackets on Tuesday and the Blues on Thursday.

The Lightning, which has won the last four of their five games on the road, are facing a Bruins team that has lost three straight games in four days. In this span, they’ve only scored four goals, including just one on five-on-five. Two of those five goals have come from David Pasternak.

This is the Lightning’s second of five games against the Bruins this season. In the first meeting earlier this month, the Lightning fought back from being down 3-1, but ultimately lost in the 10th round of the shootout.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Forward Lines

Alex Killorn - Vladislav Namestnikov - Nikita Kucherov

Brayden Point - Tyler Johnson - Ryan Callahan

Ondrej Palat  - Valtteri Filppula  - Jonathan Drouin

Cedric Paquette  - Brian Boyle  - J.T. Brown

Defence Pairings

Victor Hedman  - Andrej Sustr

Nikita Nesterov  - Braydon Coburn

Jason Garrison - Slater Koekkoek

Luke Witkowski

Goaltenders

Ben Bishop

Andrei Vasilevskiy

Boston Bruins

Forward Lines

Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron -  David Pastrnak

Matt Beleskey - David Krejci - David Backes

Tim Schaller - Riley Nash - Austin Czarnik

Ryan Spooner - Dominic Moore - Jimmy Hayes

Defence Pairings

Torey Krug  - Adam McQuaid

John-Michael Liles  - Brandon Carlo

Joe Morrow - Kevan Miller

Goaltenders

Tuukka Rask

Anton Khudobin

Line information will be updated in the Game Day Thread.