McDonagh and Cernak are game-time decisions on Saturday

The Tampa Bay Lightning hope to be healthier on the blue line when they host the Dallas Stars tonight at AMALIE Arena (7 p.m. puck drop) to conclude a two-game homestand.
Ryan McDonagh and Erik Cernak are both game-time decisions for tonight's contest against the Stars, Lightning head coach Jon Cooper told media Saturday following the team's morning skate, although he added McDonagh is more likely to play than Cernak.

"Probably Mac has got a little better chance of potentially playing than Cernak, but I'm not ruling either one of them out," Cooper said.
McDonagh has missed the last three games with a lower-body injury sustained in Tampa Bay's 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames January 6. He practiced fully with the team Friday at the TGH Ice Plex and was also one of the 12 skaters on the ice for the Lightning during their optional morning skate Saturday.

"It's progressed really well the last couple of days," McDonagh said about his injury. "Getting in a practice yesterday helps and a morning skate here today. We'll just kind of see how it goes this afternoon, come back and give it a shot here in warmups and kind of go from there. It's progressed really well the last couple of days, so that's encouraging."
McDonagh ranks second on the Lightning for average time on ice (22:38) and fourth overall in the NHL for average shorthanded time on ice (3:17). He's so valuable to the Lightning because he can play in all situations. In addition to comprising one half of Tampa Bay's shutdown defensive pairing, he's a mainstay on the penalty kill, can fill in on the power play when needed and is always on the ice at the end of games with the Lightning holding a lead and trying to preserve a win.
Cernak, his defensive partner, is hoping not to miss any time after blocking a shot off his foot in the third period of Thursday's 4-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks and not being able to finish the game. Cernak didn't practice Friday but was on the ice for Saturday's morning skate.
Cernak has missed significant time twice already this season with two separate stints on the injured list, sitting eight games with an upper-body injury November 13-28 and 10 games December 5-31 with a lower-body injury. But it doesn't appear this go-round anyway he'll be out for an extended period.
The Lightning will be facing a ticked-off Dallas team tonight as they continue their stretch of games against Western Conference foes, tonight the second of five-straight contests against the West. The Stars fell 7-1 last night at the Florida Panthers and saw starting goalie Jake Oettinger pulled midway through the blowout loss.
McDonagh said the Lightning definitely noticed the Stars' result against the Panthers and will plan accordingly when they face them tonight knowing they'll be desperate to get back in the win column after a demoralizing result.
"You know where they were, how they did against their recent opponents, whether they're on a win streak or a losing streak," McDonagh said. "It factors a little bit into your preparation. Ultimately, you've got to control what you can and that's our group and our effort, our execution. You've got to match it and be above theirs. You're getting to the middle ground of the season here where the standings are getting noticed a little bit more and guys and teams are just trying to get points any way they can. It's going to be a hard night every night to earn two points and no different here tonight."

The Lightning have seen a lot of the Stars in recent seasons. Of course, Tampa Bay won the first of back-to-back Stanley Cups by defeating Dallas in the Edmonton bubble in September of 2020. And last season, Tampa Bay and Dallas were division opponents as both were placed in the reconfigured Central Division due to restrictions surrounding travel because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Lightning went 6-2-0 against the Stars last season, three of those victories coming via shutout. Andrei Vasilevskiy has five career shutouts versus the Stars, more than he has against any other NHL team.
"It's always fun to play Western Conference teams," Mathieu Joseph said. "I think we have a stretch of playing a couple of them in the next couple games. It's fun to play teams you don't see often. Dallas is one example here this year. Good team coming in. Lots of depth in every position. Big, heavy team that skates. We're excited for the challenge tonight for sure. It's always fun to get to see those teams and those players in another conference or division that you don't get to see that often for sure."