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Lightning pregame: St. Louis with last opportunity to sweep Tampa Bay

Only two teams have beaten the Lightning twice, and the Blues are also one of the few to notch a shutout.
 
St. Louis Blues center Brayden Schenn (10) celebrates his winning goal as Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov (86) skates off during overtime in on Feb. 7. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
St. Louis Blues center Brayden Schenn (10) celebrates his winning goal as Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov (86) skates off during overtime in on Feb. 7. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Published March 23, 2019|Updated March 23, 2019

ST. LOUIS — Only two teams have swept the Lightning and St. Louis is the last team with a chance to do so.

Not only did the Blues beat the Lightning 1-0 in overtime back on Feb. 7, they were the first of two teams to shut out Tampa Bay (the other being the Wild, one of the two sweeps).

It’s unsurprising that all three teams with a chance to sweep the Lightning are in the Western Conference (Nashville, Minnesota, St. Louis), meaning they only play twice.

That loss to the Blues came during a rough stretch for the Lightning, and was the second loss in a row and fifth in nine games.

But it, coupled with a shootout loss to Vegas two nights before, sparked the Lighnting’s longest win streak of the season.

“As a team, we found out a lot about ourselves during that stretch there,” Jon Cooper said Saturday morning. “It was not too long after that we went on quite a win streak. Learning from that game was really good for us.”

Now, the Lightning has won seven straight and is looking to prevent the last possible sweep.

The lineup

With Yanni Gourde suspended for two games, Adam Erne is back in the lineup, but there are no other changes.

Forward lines:

Palát-Stamkos-Miller

Johnson-Point-Kucherov

Killorn-Cirelli-Joseph

Erne-Paquette-Callahan

Defensemen pairings:

Sergachev-Hedman

McDonagh-Černák

Coburn-Rutta

Goalie:

Vasilevskiy