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Fresh off defeating them by a score of 3-0 on Thursday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning will take to the ice against the Florida Panthers again on Saturday for what will be their final preseason outing.
Thursday’s game was really a microcosm of what has been a very successful exhibition schedule for the Bolts. With Evgeni Nabokov in net for the whole game, the Lightning were able to control play essentially from start to finish. They outshot the Panthers by a 33-21 margin, and certainly deserved the victory.
Ondrej Palat opened the scoring only 2:43 into the first period with help from Tyler Johnson and Brett Connolly. That was all the Lightning would need to seal the deal on their fourth preseason win. Nikita Kucherov added two third period goals, including an empty net marker; Vladislav Namestnikov assisted on both.
Seeing those names up on the board, specifically Connolly, Kucherov, and Namestnikov, is a good sign for Jon Cooper and the Lightning. It’s further proof that there is even more young talent on the way, more young talent to complement guys like Palat, Johnson, and Alex Killorn. And we haven’t even seen Jonathan Drouin play yet.
I noted in my last blog that Connolly is doing a lot of the little things right. He looks like a much more complete player now than he did at this time last year, a sentiment echoed by the team’s head coach. While the numbers haven’t been coming in droves like they were in the 2013 preseason, it’s hard to argue that Connolly doesn’t look poised to grab a roster spot with the big club in 2014-15.
In the cases of Kucherov and Namestnikov, the fact of the matter is that you can’t ignore results. Kucherov sits alone atop the preseason goal scoring leaderboard with five tallies, while Namestnikov leads the assists category with seven helpers. In addition, each looks adept at handling the defensive responsibilities that come with being an everyday NHL player. They’ve both done more than enough to warrant consideration for a roster spot.
With so many young players playing so well here in the preseason, Cooper and Steve Yzerman have some tough decisions to make prior to the commencement of the regular campaign. They’ll get one more shot to look at guys tonight against the Panthers. As Erik Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune notes, there’s certainly a lot of intrigue heading into this contest.
Based on the expected lines for tonight's tilt, it looks like all three of those aforementioned young players will get one last audition, one last chance to impress.
#tblightning lines at skate: Palat-Johnson-Stamkos/Killorn-Filppula-Callahan/brown-Boyle-morrow/Kucherov-Namestnikov-Connollly
— Joe Smith (@TBTimes_JSmith) October 4, 2014#tblightning defensive pairings: Hedman-Stralman/Garrison-Gudas/brewer-Carle
— Joe Smith (@TBTimes_JSmith) October 4, 2014Michael Stuart has been the Tampa Bay Lightning writer for HockeyBuzz since 2012. Visit his archive to read more or follow him on Twitter.