The Tampa Bay Lightning are set to open their 2014-15 season tonight at the Amalie Arena, as the Florida Panthers are in town for the first of four meetings between the state rivals this season.
Per the NHL’s pre-game report, the Bolts won all four meetings against the Panthers last season and outscored them by a 22-10 margin. Things likely won’t be as easy this time around, as the Panthers’s roster looks a lot better now than it did for most of last year. The re-addition of Roberto Luongo combined with the continued development of some quality young players should ultimately make the Panthers competitive this season.
With news breaking today that Richard Panik was claimed off waivers by the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Bolts’s roster is now completely set. That’s not to say that there isn’t a crowd; Jon Cooper has a lot of bodies to fit into a limited number of lineup spaces. From Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times, here are the team’s lines from practice this morning:
Ondrej Palat-Steven Stamkos-Tyler Johnson Alex Killorn-Valtteri Filppula-Ryan Callahan Brenden Morrow-Brian Boyle-J.T. Brown Nikita Kucherov-Vladislav Namestnikov-Brett Connolly
Victor Hedman-Anton Stralman Matt Carle-Andrej Sustr Jason Garrison-Radko Gudas Eric Brewer-Mark Barberio
Ben Bishop Evgeni Nabokov
Jon Cooper indicated that Eric Brewer, Mark Barberio, and Jonathan Drouin will be scratched tonight; Drouin is still nursing a minor injury, but should be good to go very soon.
While the Kucherov line is listed as the fourth line in Smith’s lineup tweet, I would imagine that it will be used as a 3a/3b sort of line. My guess is that you’ll see Kucherov, Connolly, and Namestnikov suit up in offensive situations, while the Boyle trio will be tasked with more defensive assignments.
I’ll reiterate that the Bolts will be dealing with a different Florida team tonight than the one they saw last year. The addition of Aaron Ekblad and the continued development of guys like Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Erik Gudbranson gives the Panthers some very potent weapons. Look for them to come out with a youthful energy tonight.
Given that we haven’t seen anything from either the Panthers or the Lightning in 2014-15, there’s just not much more to talk about. If you’re going to be in attendance tonight, enjoy the atmosphere at the Amalie Arena. There’s a lot to be excited about in Lightning Land right now.
As always, thanks for reading.
Michael Stuart has been the Tampa Bay Lightning writer for HockeyBuzz since 2012. Visit his archive to read more or follow him on Twitter.