Nashville (9-8-1) at Tampa Bay (5-7-6) 7:30 p.m. EST
TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- A new coach has not brought new
results to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Interim coach Rich Tocchet tries to earn his first win with the
Lightning when they host the Nashville Predators on Friday.
Tocchet took over for Barry Melrose, who was dismissed last
Friday after Tampa Bay struggled to a 5-7-4 record in 16 games.
The Lightning hoped Tocchet could fix one of the league's
floundering squads, but Tampa Bay has struggled to a pair of
shootout losses in two games under his leadership.
The Lightning jumped to a 2-0 lead against Carolina on Sunday
but allowed the Hurricanes to score twice in the second period
en route to a 3-2 shootout loss.
It was the complete opposite on Tuesday as Tampa Bay fired a
franchise-record 52 shots and rallied from a three-goal deficit,
but it wasn't enough as it suffered a 4-3 setback to the Florida
Panthers, falling to 0-3-2 during its last five games.
Tocchet hopes the Lightning can snap their slide against the
Predators, who had their three-game win streak snipped with a
4-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Monday.
Dan Ellis made 28 saves and David Legwand scored a shorthanded
goal for Nashville in the loss.