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Lightning in St. Louis for Third Game in Three Nights

September 20, 2013, 3:21 PM ET [28 Comments]
Michael Stuart
Ottawa Senators Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
After beating the St. Louis Blues just two nights ago in Orlando, the Tampa Bay Lightning find themselves in the Gateway to the West for another tilt against the Bluenotes.

In Wednesday’s contest, the Lightning fell behind early but managed to recover from a three goal deficit before snatching a 4-3 victory in a shootout. Adam Erne, who was assigned to his Junior club this afternoon, notched two goals and the shootout winner. If the Lightning want to remain unbeaten in the preseason, they’ll need a new hero to step up tonight.

Unlike the Blues, who will ice a lineup full of NHL-caliber players, the Lightning will once again dress a very young group. Teddy Purcell was supposed to play on the Lightning’s top line with Alex Killorn and Valtteri Filppula, but he came down with an injury that will keep him out. The Lightning will send Brett Connolly, the star of last night’s 5-1 victory over the Nashville Predators, to take his place. If Connolly can follow up on his strong camp and start to the preseason with another stellar performance tonight, he'll make it very hard for the coaching staff to leave him off the opening night roster.

Since the start of camp, it’s been clear that the Lightning’s coaching staff wants to get a good look at some of the many young ‘Tampacuse’ players in the system. Tonight, Jon Cooper and Co. will get another great opportunity to do just that. In addition to the aforementioned players, Tyler Johnson, P.C. Labrie, Ondrej Palat, Richard Panik, Mark Barberio, Slater Koekkoek, and Andrej Sustr are all set to play. Ben Bishop and Anders Lindback will suit up in net.

The Lightning’s young guns will certainly have their hands full tonight, as the Blues will send out stars David Backes, T.J. Oshie, and Alex Pietrangelo to complement a deep, talented roster. Alex Steen, Jay Bouwmeester, Patrik Berglund, Vladimir Tarasenko, Barret Jackman, and Kevin Shattenkirk are also featured on tonight’s lineup sheet.

One question on the minds of many is whether or not the Blues will seek retribution after Adam Erne knocked Vladimir Sobotka out of Wednesday’s game. While Erne is no longer with the Lightning, it be a surprise if the Blues still look to make a physical impact early on in front of their home crowd.

Regardless, through two preseason games, it’s been abundantly clear that the Lightning is a different team now than it was to end last season. Jon Cooper, Rick Bowness, Steve Thomas, and George Gwozdecky have done a masterful job of implementing a new, simple system. The Lightning have been using their speed and maximizing offensive opportunities without giving up on the defensive side of the puck. The 2013-14 Lightning won’t have any problems scoring goals this season. If the defense and goaltending holds up, this group could surprise a lot of people. Let's hope the guys surprise the Blues tonight.

As always, thanks for reading.
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