It’s the regular season finale at Amalie Arena. And with a visit from the New Jersey Devils on tap, and the Lightning just two points from tying the Florida Panthers for first place in the Atlantic Division, the Bolts are hoping for a bit of role reversal of sorts with their Sunshine State counterpart.

It was the Devils that fell to the Cats on Thursday night by a 3-2 final, while the Lightning came up short in a 3-0 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. But tonight, as mentioned, it’s the Devils in Tampa Bay, while it’s the Canadiens that are paying a visit to the BB&T Center for a head-to-head with Florida.

This is basically the night that determines whether or not the Bolts can overtake the Panthers for first in the Atlantic. A loss tonight coupled with a Florida win would put the Lightning four points behind the Panthers with four games to go, and with the Bolts skating in a back-to-back against the New York Islanders and New York Rangers while the Panthers do the same against the Canadiens and Maple Leafs.

That’s a lot of ground to make up, and with the assumption that the Panthers will lose those games.

It’s easy to point the finger at almost everybody on the heels of a 3-0 loss to a bad Montreal team, but there’s really no time for that. Everybody could have played better on Thursday, and tonight, with Ryan Callahan (on the third line) and Nikita Kucherov (on the Stamkos line) now fully back into the mix after both made their return on Thursday, they get that chance.

The Devils will give this start to Cory Schneider. This will be the Massachusetts native’s first start since Mar. 4, when he stopped 15-of-18 in an eventual loss to Dallas, but left early in the third with a knee injury. Schenider has 26 wins and a .923 save percentage in 55 games this season, and is just one victory away from setting a new single-season high (he had 26 wins last season). The 30-year-old Schneider has two wins and an .880 save percentage in four career games against Tampa.

Tampa Bay counters with Ben Bishop.

Bishop stopped 21-of-23 in Thursday’s loss, and comes into play with wins in five of his last seven games played. The 6-foot-7 goaltender stopped 21-of-21 in his only prior start against the Devils this year, and has five wins and a .952 save percentage in seven career games against New Jersey.

This is the second of three head-to-heads between the Bolts and Devils this season.

Stats of Note

- Kucherov has 17 goals and 37 points in 37 home games this season.

- Defenseman Jason Garrison has been held without a point in 19 of his last 21 games.

- Steven Stamkos has 15 goals and 26 points in 25 career games against New Jersey.

- The Devils are 6-2-0 this year when Reid Boucher scores a goal.

- NJ forward Kyle Palmieri has 14 goals and 31 points in 40 road games.

Other news and notes

Forwards Erik Condra and Mike Blunden and defenseman Nikita Nesterov were the healthy scratches for the Bolts on Thursday night, so we’ll see if that stays the same.

New Jersey’s injury list is absurd and lengthy. The Devils are without Mike Cammalleri, Patrik Elias, Jiri Tlusty, Jon Merrill, and David Schlemko.

Jordin Tootoo joined the list earlier this week with season-ending wrist surgery.

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