The Avalanche will have to play a more complete game tonight in Tampa than in Friday's 3-2 win against Florida for a number of reasons:
* Rookie goalie Sami Aittokallio will make his first start of the season and second in the NHL because Jean-Sebastien Giguere is having back problems again. Aittokallio, 21, was recalled Friday from the AHL's Lake Erie Monsters. He needs his teammates to rally around him.
* The Avalanche has made a habit of squandering leads in the past few weeks, and the Lightning has a lot more firepower than the Panthers. Colorado did it again against Florida, playing terrific hockey for two periods while building a 3-0 lead before hanging on for dear life in the third. Florida outshot the Avalanche 20-6 in the final 20 minutes and only the work of goalie Semyon Varlamov prevented a complete collapse.
* The Avalanche has been outscored 45-40 in the third period this season. The Lightning has outscored teams 44-36 in the third. Tampa Bay has eight players with at least 10 goals, an NHL high.
Aittokallio was a fourth-round pick (107th overall) in the 2010 NHL draft. A 6-foot-1, 174-pounder, he is from Tampere, Finland. He went 14-12-1 with one shutout, a 3.00 goals-against average and .899 save percentage with Lake Erie last season. He had an 8-9-1 record this year with one shutout, a 2.89 average and .900 save percentage.
Aittokallio made his NHL debut last season when he stopped 23 of 25 shots in Los Angeles before leaving with leg cramps in the third period.
Alex Tanguay won't play tonight as coach Patrick Roy wants to give him time to rest after playing Friday for the first time since sustaining knee and hip injuries Nov. 2. Tanguay logged 17:10 in ice time against the Panthers and played on a line with Gabriel Landeskog and Paul Stastny. He played the point on power plays, had one shot on goal and one assist.
John Mitchell's status will be a game-time decision. He missed Friday's game to stay in Denver to recover from an illness and hadn't skated for a couple of days. Mitchell has rejoined the team in Tampa.
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The game will feature the NHL's top two scoring rookies in the Avalanche's Nathan MacKinnon and Lightning's Tyler Johnson. MacKinnon has 33 points with 17 goals and 16 assists. Johnson has 31 points with 13 goals and 18 assists.
The Lightning has done remarkably well without forward Steven Stamkos, who sustained a broken tibia Nov. 11. He's skating again and hopeful of being able to play for Canada in the Olympics next month. Martin St. Louis is having another terrific season with 25 goals and 51 points. He has eight goals and five assists in a nine-game point-scoring streak.
Tampa Bay is getting strong goaltending from Denver-born Ben Bishop, who has never played against the Avalanche. A former St. Louis Blues draft pick, Bishop has a 25-6-4 record with four shutouts, a 1.96 goals-against average and .934 save percentage. He covers plenty of net with his 6-7, 214-pound frame.