Over the next month, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Carolina Hurricanes will see each other quite a bit. Tonight, they host the Metro Division team to open up their preseason schedule.The two teams will meet up again on September 30th to close out the exhibition portion of the year, and then square off a week later with a home-and-home series to start the regular season. We’re dialing the clock back to the old Southeast Division days.
So, what will we see tonight? With decisions needing to be made on the second and fourth lines, the coaching staff has put together a roster with many of the bubble-players who will be completing for those open spots. At the morning practice, these were the lines that were on the game-day end:
Forwards
Gage Goncalves – Anthony Cirelli – Conor Sheary
Cam Atkinson – Nick Paul – Mitchell Chaffee
Zemgus Girgensons – Logan Brown – Lucas Edmonds
Kaden Pitre – Ethan Hay – Lukas Svejkovsky
Defense
Emil Lilleberg – Darren Raddysh
Declan Carlile – Max Crozier
Roman Schmidt – Dyllan Gill
The two netminders listed on the roster were Brandon Halverson and Matt Tomkins. Chances are they will split time in net tonight.
It’s a really intriguing line-up considering the spots that are up for grabs. Other than Raddysh, none of the defensemen are guaranteed a spot on the opening night roster, but with the exception of Dyllan Gill, they are all in the running for the 6th/7th spot.
As for the forwards, more than a full year after signing with the Lightning Logan Brown will finally get to suit up in the Tampa Bay line-up and show the coaching staff what he can do on the ice. It’s been a long road back from injury, and he’s hoping to turn his current PTO into a contract with the team.
It will also be the first chance for Lightning fans to see newcomers Zemgus Girgensons, Lukas Svejkovsky, and Cam Atkinson in Lightning blue. Recent draft pick Kaden Pitre will get a start before being reassigned to the Flint Firebirds.
Most of the recognizable stars like Brayden Point and Victor Hedman will likely make their pre-season debut tomorrow in Orlando. There is no need to start players back-to-back in the preseason and there are plenty of games over the next two weeks to get some work in for everybody.
One thing we are sure to see are the new jersey patches that the team revealed last week. The “Patch with a Purpose” program will have the Lightning featuring a YMCA in support of Tampa Metropoliton Area YMCAs on the home sweater while they will sport an AdventHealth patch on the road uniforms. The team announced that they are funding the program with an initial investment of $1 million and are billing it as the NHL’s “first-ever purpose-driven patch”.
In lieu of receiving advertising money for a sweater patch, the Lightning are using it further their commitment to making an impact in their own community. The million dollars will fund the first five years of the program, in which all of the dollars raised will stay within the local community.
The game should be streaming on the Tampa Bay Lightning website as well as the Lightning app. It’ll be on the radio on 102.5 FM.
