Kucherov/AndersenThis matchup pits Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov, the leading Hart Trophy candidate, against Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen, who has been in the Hart and Vezina conversations. Kucherov scored two goals in the Lightning’s 3-1 win over Edmonton on Sunday and now has a league-leading 93 points, four more than Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin, Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon and the Oilers’ Connor McDavid. Andersen is expected to return to the Leafs net Tuesday after missing the past two games with an upper-body injury. NEED TO KNOWTampa Bay punched its playoff ticket with Sunday’s win, and has earned a playoff berth in four of the past five seasons, reaching the East final two years ago and the Stanley Cup final in 2015 ... When the Lightning were blanked by Boston last week, it was just the second time they had been shut out this season ... Tampa Bay has gone 5-2 on an eight-game homestand that wraps up Tuesday.

Source: thestar March 19, 2018 19:41 UTC