• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Last two Cup winners meet in crucial battle

Mar 30, 2007 - 3:01 PM Tampa Bay (41-32-4) at Carolina (38-31-8) 7:30 pm EDT

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- The last two Stanley Cup winners will have to battle hard just to get into the playoffs.

The Tampa Bay Lightning and the Carolina Hurricanes try to break out of slumps when they meet in a crucial battle on Friday.

The Lightning have 86 points and are tied with Montreal (40-31-6) for seventh place in the Eastern Conference, one point in front of Toronto (37-29-11) for the final playoff spot. Carolina is two points back of the final spot.

Tampa Bay is picking the wrong time to struggle as it has lost five of its last seven games.

On Tuesday, the Lightning endured a 5-2 setback to Florida. They have surrendered 12 goals in losing their last two contests.

Vincent Lecavalier, who was held pointless against the Panthers, will be looking to get back on track. He leads the league with 49 goals and is third with 100 points. The superstar does have four goals and two assists in six contests against Carolina this season.

The Hurricanes are trying to avoid becoming the first team since the 1994-95 New Jersey Devils to miss the playoffs the season after winning the Cup.

Carolina endured a disappointing loss Wednesday, a 5-1 setback against Eastern Conference-worst Philadelphia.

Ray Whitney scored and John Grahame stopped just 20-of-24 shots for Carolina, which has been outscored, 11-2, in its last two losses.