Tampa Bay Lightning plays host to Carolina Hurricanes in the fourth of their six scheduled meetings
The final game of Friday will be played at the St. Pete Times Forum as Tampa Bay Lightning plays host to Carolina Hurricanes.
This will be the fourth out of the six scheduled meetings due to take place between the two teams during the course of the season.
Out of the three games that have taken place so far, Hurricanes won the second, 6-4, while Lightning emerged winners on two occasions, 5-1 and 4-3, respectively.
If Sabres lose their game and Hurricanes wins their game then Hurricanes would be within one point short of the final playoff spot.
Hurricanes will be facing Lightning three times out of the nine games they have left in the regular season.
Lightning is at the fifth spot in the East and not yet certain of a spot in the playoffs.
However, if Tampa Bay wants to assure themselves a spot in the playoffs, it needs to come up with wins every now and then to maintain a gap between themselves and the battle between the teams below them.
It looked as if Hurricanes would fall down the standing after they lost two consecutive games, but they were able to get back and combined very well to win the next two games to keep in touching distance of the eighth spot.
Hurricanes were losing their last game against New York Islanders. However, Erik Cole’s late equaliser saw Hurricanes levelling the score right at the death on 3-3.
The game went into overtime where Hurricanes managed to score and win the game 4-3 in the end.
All of the remaining nine games are against top teams that are in the playoffs and with wins Carolina can very well move into the playoff’s cut.
Hurricanes has played 73 games during the course of the season out of which it has won 34 games in regulation time and 10 games in overtime to score a total of 78 points.
Lightning has played 73 games as well out of which it has won 39 games in regulation time and 11 games in overtime to score 89 points.
Lightning was one of the hot teams in the league but it hasn’t been in form ever since the All Star weekend. It has seen a major drop in form, losing nine of its last 11 games.
"Concern is probably a little strong, but as a team, we are battling through some adversity right now, and it doesn't matter what type of team you are or how good you are, you are going to battle through adversity", Lightning’s goaltender, Dwayne Roloson,
said after a 5-2 loss to New York Islanders on Tuesday
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