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Apr 3, 2016 - 8:19 PM Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos delivered a harsh message about his team's effort prior to its last game. Ahead of the next one, he had words of encouragement for his team's push without him.

After learning Stamkos will miss one to three months with a blood clot in his right arm, the Lightning look to continue pressing for the Atlantic Division title when they open a season-ending road trip Monday night against the New York Islanders, who are scrapping for a playoff spot.

Tampa Bay (45-28-5) picked up a huge 3-1 win over New Jersey on Saturday to go 4-2-0 on its homestand and remain within two points of division-leading Florida.

The optimism surrounding the successful stretch was quickly forgotten, however, with the news that Stamkos will be out for the foreseeable future with a type of vascular thoracic syndrome near his right collarbone. He's scheduled to have a procedure Monday.

General manager Steve Yzerman said a full recovery is expected and the team doesn't expect the injury to be career threating.

It will be a couple weeks before it's clear if Stamkos' recovery time will be closer to one month or three. He voiced his disappointment Saturday, just days after telling his teammates to "look in the mirror" following a 3-0 loss to Montreal on Thursday.

"Obviously, this situation is extremely disappointing because I wanted to help my team clinch a playoff spot and prepare for the start of the postseason," Stamkos told the league's official website. "During my recovery, I will do all I can to help my teammates, and I hope to rejoin them soon in the Stanley Cup playoffs."

Stamkos leads Tampa Bay with 36 goals. Nikita Kucherov scored and had two assists against the Devils, but the Lightning totaled eight goals in the final four games of the homestand after scoring 13 in the first two.

They are also missing top-pair defenseman Anton Stralman, who's out indefinitely with a fractured left fibula.

Still, the victory over the Devils clinched the first tiebreaker for Tampa Bay over the Panthers with 42 regulation and overtime wins.

Seven Tampa Bay players scored in a 7-4 victory over the Islanders on March 25, snapping a three-game skid in this series. The Lightning have lost seven of the last eight road matchups.

New York (42-26-9) followed that ugly loss to the Lightning with three consecutive wins before falling 5-0 to Pittsburgh on Saturday. The Islanders are in a tight race for a wild-card spot and also trail the Rangers by two points for the Metropolitan's third automatic berth.

Captain John Tavares delivered his own strong message after Saturday's loss, which was lowlighted by two goals on power plays and three off turnovers.

''Considering where everything stands right now, that kind of effort is unacceptable," he said. "It's extremely disappointing.''

The Islanders, 24-10-4 at Barclays Center, are also banged up with defenseman Travis Hamonic, center Mikhail Grabovski and goaltender Jaroslav Halak out.

Thomas Greiss has handled most of the work in net in Halak's absence. He's allowed four goals on 51 shots his last two starts after surrendering six on 41 to the Lightning.

Tampa Bay's Ben Bishop allowed seven goals over this season's first two matchups.