CANADIENS (35-36-6) at LIGHTNING (44-27-5)
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET; RDS, SNE, SUN, NHL.TV
Season series: The Montreal Canadiens have won two games against the Tampa Bay Lightning, including a 4-3 shootout win at Amalie Arena on Dec. 28. Montreal center Tomas Plekanec has three goals and one assist. Tampa Bay forward Valtteri Filppula has one goal and three assists.
Canadiens team scope: Montreal signed free agent goalie Charlie Lindgren to a two-year, two-way contract Wednesday. Lindgren, who will back up Mike Condon on Thursday, was 30-9-1 with five shutouts, a 2.13 GAA and a .925 save percentage for St. Cloud State this season. The 22-year-old from Lakeville, Minn., was 51-29-3 with eight shutouts, a 2.21 goals-against-average and a .921 save percentage in 88 games during three NCAA seasons with the Huskies. "Lindgren was in our mind the best free agent goaltender available coming out of the U.S. college level," Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin said in a statement Wednesday. Goalie Ben Scrivens was placed on waivers and did not make the two-game trip to Florida. Injured goalie Carey Price, defenseman P.K. Subban and forwards Brendan Gallagher, Daniel Carr and Brian Flynn are among the 26 players on the trip. Price, who won the Hart and Vezina trophies, has been sidelined by a lower-body injury since Nov. 25. He will not dress Thursday and might not practice with the team, Montreal coach Michel Therrien said after the Canadiens' 4-3 win against the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday.
Lightning team scope: Tampa Bay, which did not practice Wednesday, leads the Atlantic Division despite being tied with the second-place Florida Panthers in points with 93. Tampa Bay and Florida each have six games remaining, but the Lightning have six more regulation/overtime wins. Goalie Ben Bishop made 34 saves for his sixth shutout in Tampa Bay's 3-0 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday. After facing Montreal, the Lightning will complete their six-game homestand against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday before ending the season with four straight road games. "We've got two more teams coming into town with the same scenario, they've got nothing to lose, they're playing for jobs, they're just kind of having fun out there and we've got to kind of turn it up a notch out here and get ready for the playoffs," Bishop said Monday in a video on the Lightning's website. "We've got six games left, and you talk about the regular season kind of being a dress rehearsal for the playoffs, well that wasn't very good [Monday], so we'll watch the video and hopefully be better."
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