Panthers at Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning tied the NHL record for wins in a regular season (62) while Nikita Kucherov took home the Hart Trophy and Andrei Vasilevskiy won the Vezina in 2018-19, but they finished without a victory in the playoffs. The Lightning begin the quest to make amends for their postseason failure when they host the Sunshine State-rival Florida Panthers on Thursday night in the season opener for both teams.
“We could sit and pout in the corner, but it’s not going to change anything that happened last year,” Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos told reporters. “I’m hoping guys come in with that extra motivation and a little chip on their shoulder, because I know I will.” The Lightning added some size to their forward corps with Patrick Maroon and Kevin Shattenkirk joins the defense - among other minor changes - as they prepare to take on a Florida team that has high expectations with a new coach, a burgeoning group of forwards and a top flight goalie. Emerging star Aleksander Barkov leads the way up front after scoring a team-high 96 points last season and the Panthers signed goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who won 115 games with Columbus the last three years, to backstop a defense that must improve if they are to make the postseason. “We feel that we’ve made some progress and we’re looking to push through that hurdle and be a playoff team, and from there hopefully can get better off of that level and that experience as well,” Florida coach Joel Quenneville, who is second all time in the NHL with 890 wins, told NHL.com. “There’s a lot to be excited about.”
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Florida, FS Sun (Tampa Bay)
ABOUT THE PANTHERS (2018-19: 36-32-14): Florida gave up the fourth-most goals in the league last season and Bobrovsky, who helped sweep the Lightning in the first round of the playoffs last spring, should stabilize a defense that also adds former Tampa Bay standout Anton Stralman. Right wing Brett Connolly, another former Lightning player, was also signed by the Panthers after scoring a career-high 22 goals with Washington last season and adds some depth up front along with fellow free agent Noel Acciari. Left wings Jonathan Huberdeau (92 points) and Mike Hoffman (team-high 36 goals) will be major factors in the top nine forwards and Keith Yandle led the defense with a career-best 62 points last season.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (2018-19: 62-16-4): Tampa Bay gave up the 11th-most shots per game (32.1) and finished seventh-best in goals-against in 2018-19, primarily due to the heroics of Vasilevskiy (39-10-4, .925 save percentage), and the hope is to make it easier on the Russian star. Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh lead a capable defense group while young blueliners Mikhail Sergachev and Eric Cernak are expected to take another step forward in their development. Kucherov scored more points than any Russian in a regular season in NHL history (128) while Stamkos added 98 and the Lightning received another 92 from Braydon Point, who is likely to miss the first few games recovering from double hip surgery.
OVERTIME
1. Florida, which hosts Tampa Bay on Saturday, plays eight of its first 10 games against 2018-19 playoff teams.
2. The Lightning have won the last six meetings, scoring 31 goals combined, but three ended after regulation.
3. Tampa Bay C Cedric Paquette is out indefinitely after suffering an arm injury against the Panthers in the preseason.