Lightning vs. Capitals: Projected lines, storylines, injuries

The Lightning return to Washington with a chance to close out the Capitals in Game 6.
After falling behind 2-0 in the series, Tampa Bay has rallied with three straight victories, including a 3-2 win over the Capitals in Game 5 on Saturday.

Lines from Monday's morning skate. Subject to change.
Forwards
Ondrej Palat - Steven Stamkos - Nikita Kucherov
Yanni Gourde - Brayden Point - Tyler Johnson
Alex Killorn - Anthony Cirelli - J.T. Miller
Chris Kunitz - Cedric Paquette - Ryan Callahan
Defensemen
Victor Hedman - Dan Girardi
Ryan McDonagh - Anton Stralman
Braydon Coburn - Mikhail Sergachev
Goaltenders
Andrei Vasilevskiy expected to start
Monday's Matchup
Tampa Bay can close out the Eastern Conference Final against Washington and advance to the Stanley Cup Final with a victory tonight in Game 6 in D.C....The Lightning are trying to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the third time in franchise history (also: 2004 & 2015)...The Bolts have never lost a playoff game in Washington, D.C., going 7-0, including a 2-0 record in these playoffs...Tampa Bay has won five straight on the road this postseason and owns a 5-1 road record for the best road playoff win percentage (.833) in the 2018 NHL playoffs...The Lightning have won three-straight games in the Eastern Conference Final after dropping the opening two games of the series at home and can match their longest playoff win streak this postseason (4 games from Games 2-5 in Second Round vs. Boston) with a win in Game 6...The Bolts sit one win shy of becoming the first NHL team to lose Games 1 and 2 at home and rally to win a Conference Finals/Semifinals series (since 1974-75)...The Lightning are 5-3-0 against Washington this season (reg. season and playoffs) and 3-1-0 on the road versus the Caps...Tampa Bay is 5-0 this postseason when the line of Chris Kunitz, Cedric Paquette and Ryan Callahan starts the game, including wins in three-straight contests... Nikita Kucherov has tallied points in 11 of his last 12 games vs. WSH (7-7--14)... Steven Stamkos has scored a goal in four of his last five games vs. WSH.
Monday's Storylines
The Lightning are 6-6 all-time in Game 6s and 3-2 in Game 6s on the road...Tampa Bay is 2-3 in Game 6s under head coach Jon Cooper...The Lightning are 1-3 in Eastern Conference Final Game 6s...The Bolts are 2-0 with a chance to clinch a series this postseason, winning both games by a 3-1 score...The Lightning are 14-7 all-time with a chance to clinch a series and 5-4 with a chance to clinch a series on the road...The Bolts own an all-time playoff record of 73-58, including a 37-27 mark on the road...Tampa Bay is 36- 26 in the postseason under Jon Cooper...The Lightning are 14-8 all-time in playoff series and 10-2 in playoff series when holding home-ice advantage (the Bolts' last playoff series loss when holding home-ice advantage was the 2015 SCF vs. Chicago)...The Lightning enter Game 6 with 1,428 games of playoff experience on the roster... Chris Kunitz has played in more playoff games (176) than any NHL player remaining in the 2018 playoffs and is looking for his third-straight Stanley Cup and fifth overall...Kunitz is the only current member of the Lightning to win a Stanley Cup...Following Game 5, Kunitz pulled into a tie with Mike Modano for 39th place in the NHL for all-time playoff games...The Lightning rank second in the NHL for playoff wins (36) since the start of the 2015 playoffs, behind only Pittsburgh (39)...The Bolts set franchise records for wins (54), road wins (25), points (113), road points (53), goals (290), home goals (145) and road goals (145) in 2017-18.
Injuries
2017-18 Regular Season Man Games Lost: 132
2018 Playoff Man Games Lost: 17
Current injuries
Adam Erne - Lower body (out indefinitely; injured March 26) - 21 games (15 playoff games)
The Big Cat
Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 28-of-30 shots in Game 5 vs. WSH to win his third-consecutive game in the Conference Final and improve to 11-4 this postseason...Vasilevskiy is tied with Vegas' Marc-Andre Fleury for most wins in the 2018 playoffs...Vasilevskiy has stopped 100 of the last 106 shots he's faced over the last three games and has given up just two goals in each of those three games...Vasilevskiy has given up two or fewer goals in nine of his 15 starts this postseason...Vasilevskiy is 5-1 on the road this postseason, including wins in five-straight playoff road stats, and he led the NHL for road wins (18) during the 2017-18 regular season...Vasilevskiy is a finalist for the Vezina Trophy along with NSH's Pekka Rinne and WPG's Connor Hellebuyck
In the Nik of Time
Lightning right winger Nikita Kucherov tallied an assist in Game 5 at WSH, giving him points in four of the five Eastern Conference Final contests...Kucherov paces the Lightning for scoring (7-10--17) during the 2018 playoffs...Kucherov is tied for first on the Bolts with Victor Hedman for assists and tied for first with Steven Stamkos and Brayden Point for goals during the 2018 playoffs...Kucherov ranks tied for ninth in the NHL for scoring, tied for seventh for goals and tied for 10th for assists...With his assist in Game 5, Kucherov passed Brad Richards and Steven Stamkos and moved into sole possession of third place among Tampa Bay's all-time playoff assist leaders.
Since the start of the 2015 postseason, Kucherov ranks second in the NHL playoffs for scoring (58 pts.) behind only PIT's Sidney Crosby (71 pts.) and ranks first for goals.