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Tonight on NBCSN: Streaking Lightning square off with streaky Kings

Tampa Bay Lightning v Colorado Avalanche

DENVER, CO - DECEMBER 23: Steven Stamkos #91 of the Tampa Bay Lightning takes a shot against the Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center on December 23, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. The Avalanche defeated the Lightning 2-1 in overtime. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

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Both the Los Angeles Kings and the Tampa Bay Lightning come into tonight’s game (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN) on streaks of a different kind.

The Lightning are winners of six out of their last seven games and that run has them thinking about the playoffs once again. While they’re 11th in the Eastern Conference, they’re 10 points behind eighth place Ottawa. Fortunately for Tampa Bay, the teams they need to jump over to catch up to Ottawa are all in their division as they’re three behind Winnipeg and seven back of Washington.

Leading the charge for the Lightning are the usual suspects. Martin St. Louis netted a hat trick in the Lightning’s last win while Vincent Lecavalier is a 20-goal scorer once again and Steve Stamkos continues to be the NHL leader in goals.

Offense has never been Tampa’s issue, however, but they’ve gotten steadier goaltending of late from Mathieu Garon and with a host of their injured defensemen and other forwards returning, the Lightning are in a good spot right now.

The Kings’ streak is a bit different of late as they too have gotten points in the standings, but many of those thanks to overtime or shootout losses. L.A. is hoping to avoid a three-game losing streak tonight and they’re desperate to see their offense return. Over their last 10 games (4-3-3) they’ve scored just 21 goals and been shutout only once in that span. That’s not getting it done for anyone.

While goalie Jonathan Quick has been brilliant at times, the Kings need more offensively from Anze Kopitar, Mike Richards, and Dustin Brown. With Simon Gagne out of action with a concussion the Kings’ defense has tried to step up with Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson. With all those issues, you’d never know that Los Angeles was seventh in the Western Conference. Should the Kings ever start scoring goals, they’ll be a bear to deal with in the postseason.