Based on the game-day roster the Tampa Bay Lightning released this morning, it appears that tonight’s line-up against the Florida Panthers will have a little more regular season flavor to it compared to what we’ve seen so far. Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman, and Ryan McDonagh are all slated to make their preseason debut. Jake Guentzel is also projected to be in the line-up for his first game as a member of the Bolts.
According to Gabby Shirley, the lines at practice were:
Jake Guentzel – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov
Cam Atkinson – Nick Paul – Conor Sheary
Gage Goncalves – Conor Geekie – Ethan Gauthier
Jesse Ylonen – Zemgus Girgensons – Max Groshev
While the defensive pairings were:
Victor Hedman – JJ Moser
Ryan McDonagh – Erik Cernak
Emil Lilleberg – Nick Perbix
In net it will be a combination of Matt Tomkins and Jonas Johansson as the team continues to take it’s time with getting Andrei Vasilevskiy ready for the season.
After shipping out 18 players yesterday, it’s no surprise that the regulars are seeing their first game action. The regular season begins in less than two weeks so it’s an ideal time for the players to start getting into actual game action. Besides, it also breaks up the monotony of practice a little as well.
There are still a few starters not in the line-up, most notably Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli, to go along with the still-injured Mikey Eyssimont and Luke Glendening. In their absence, some of the bubble players like Max Groshev and Gage Goncalves are getting a look with the regular talent (I’m not going to lie, if that third line is a peek at the future, I’m perfectly fine with that combination).
Logan Brown is also not in the line-up. The veteran appeared to suffer an injury in practice on Sunday and had to leave the ice early. According to Coach Jon Cooper, Brown is “not okay enough to skate.” He is hoping that it is a short-term injury and Brown can get back to earning a contract with the team.
Defensively, the Lightning are going to debut the Hedman/Moser duo to see how the newly acquired defenseman does on his off-side. If it works, the pairings they put on the ice could be pretty close to what they will have on opening night.
One final bit of roster news, it appears that there were no waiver claims today so Derrick Pouliot and Tobie Paquette-Bisson have cleared. Expect them to be assigned to Syracuse to help bolster a completely re-worked defensive group.
