Game 27: Tampa in New Jersey Preview

I never keep up with how the Devils are doing. I know that Brodeur will likely be the starting goalie for Team Canada...but I'll be the first to admit that I don't exactly keep up with the Devils.

Enemy blog: Although I don't keep up with them, I know someone who does, check out Running with the Devils

The Devils played against the Canucks at home on Wednesday and lost to Vancouver 5-2. The Lightning have lost their first two games against the Devils already this season back in October and need to beat the Devils to stop this current slide. It's not sure if Brodeur will start in net tonight as the Devils haven't released any official word yet.

Line-up Notes:

• To be updated
  

Game time: 7:00pm ET on SUN.

Game 26: Tampa in Boston Preview

*Updated*

The Bruins just signed Savard to a seven year extension...cue the rumors of Kovalchuk to the Leafs now please....

Enemy blog: Check out Something's Bruin where they are currently dissecting the contract extension that has Savard on the team till he's 40 years old (clearly front loaded).

The Bruins have won five of their last six games, and the Lightning have now been losing more than they've won in the past few games. The Lightning need to turn this around. With the new contract announcement, I expect Marc Savard to have a good game tonight, of course with any new contract, he may begin sucking next game for the rest of the year....

The plus for the Lightning is that Ohlund has returned back to the lineup last game which will give the D some leadership direction. It wasn't that the defense played horribly while Ohlund was out, it just looked like they were lost during some games.

Line-up Notes:

• Mike Smith in goal
• Smaby finally gets to play tonight
  

Game time: 7:00pm ET on SUN.

Game 25: Colorado in Tampa Preview

It's Swedish Night! Featuring: Swedish meatballs! and chips, and hot dogs and Pepsi?!? The last 3 are definitely not Swedish...

Where is the pickled herring? the vörtlimpa (Christmas rye bread)? the gravad lax (lox)? or my favorite: the Glögg? That last one not only sounds cool, it's the nordic term for mulled wine and I would recommend it as your beverage of choice while you watch tonights game.

Enemy blog: Check out Jibblescribbits whose mother considers him as "handsome" or Anyone but Detroit whose mother may or may not consider him as "handsome".

The Avalanche were awesome coming out of the gate surprising everyone, largely due to Craig Anderson's oustanding play. They have since slowed down a little, but are still in 4th place in the West, only 2 points back from the NW division leader. In the beginning of the season, Matt Duchene's name was being thrown around a lot for a possible rookie of the year...yeah, now, not so much but he does show flashes of great skill, but how about that Ryan O'Reilly kid?

Craig Anderson has been 3-6-3 in his last 12 starts. Like the Lightning's loss to Dallas, the Avalanche lost on Saturday in a shootout to Minnesota. What hurts more for them is that also lost David Jones for the season with a torn ACL. Milan Hejduk and TJ Galiardi did not play due to injury.

Line-up Notes:

• Our big Swede, Mattias Ohlund is still out
  

Game time: 7:30pm ET on SUN.

Note: I am a bit of a foodie, and have a thing for local European foods...so I am a little dismayed that Swedish night only has Swedish meatballs.

Game 24: Tampa in Dallas Preview

Second weekend in a row for back to back games. The Lightning take on the Dallas stars tonight in Dallas.

Enemy blog: Check out SBN's Defending Big D

Both teams were in action last night, the Lightning won 5-1 over the Rangers, and the Stars lost 5-2 to the Coyotes. Both teams travelled to Dallas for tonights game. Both of our records are pretty close in number, the Lightning at 10-6-7 and the Starts at 11-7-7. There was a lot of 'both teams' in that paragraph, but what I'm trying to get at is that the teams are well matched up, and are in the same position in tiredness. Dallas has the edge with it being a home crowd, though fan turnout for Dallas has been pretty suspect lately.

The Lighting will not make any line-up changes to tonight, which means that Mike Smith will start in goal. Smith and Halpern return to Dallas to face their old team, from which they got traded from for Brad Richards.

The Lightning have had help in scoring from their D men during the last couple of games which is great to see. Stamkos clearly is continuing his campaign to crack the Team Canada roster. Players to watch from Dallas beside Brad Richards is James Neal, Louie Eriksson and their rookie, who is a former Kelowna Rocket, Jamie Benn.

If you can get the FS Southwest feed instead, I would highly recommend watching that one instead of the SUN one. By far, the Dallas guys are the most hilarious announcers in the NHL.

Line-up Notes:

• Mattias Ohlund is still out with a lower body injury (day to day)
• Mike Smith is in goal
  

Game time: 8:30pm ET on SUN.

No recap of the game tonight, because I will be out hitting the town tonight for some celebrations...so instead to make up for it, please enjoy the Lecavalier and Richards NHL promo video

Game 23: Rangers in Tampa Preview

Black Friday. I don't really understand all the hoopla about Black Friday....though I'm the type of person that will buy shoes at the beginning of the season because I don't like to deal with being told they don't have my size during a sale. I don't do large crowds at sales, I don't do boxing day sales, so I don't think I would do Black Friday well. I do like the concept of getting another day off, even if it is without pay.

Enemy blog: I don't respect many Ranger fans, except Scotty Hockey



So for Black Friday, the Lightning will have an open skate for fans from 6-8:45am (who is up at that ungodly hour on a day off, I don't know) which if you are reading this, you have already missed. Followed by an open Lightning morning skate from 10am-1pm and a discounted equipment sale. Terrace level tickets are on sale for $10. Seriously. Click here for all the Black Friday details.

There is also some discount on tickets for a "Lingerie Football League". I'm afraid to type that into the google machine and see what pops up.

On the hockey front, the Ranjuhs are 13-10-1 and have won the last two in a row. The Lightning on the other hand, well defence at least look like they've lost all sense of direction since Ohlund has been out with injury.

Tonight is the return of John Tortorella for the first time back to face the Lightning as a coach for the Rangers, and really it's not a big deal. He still lives in the Tampa Bay area (at least he did last year when he was an analyst on TSN) and is part of the community. Yes he did have a bit of a feud with Vinny when he coached the team, but Vinny is a big boy and will get over the drama.

What is a big deal is that Marian Gaborik is still healthy. And Wade Redden is injured.

Line-up Notes:

• Mattias Ohlund is still out with a lower body injury (day to day)
• Mike Smith is in goal
  

Game time: 7:30pm ET on SUN. Updates to follow.

Game 22: Toronto in Tampa Preview

Gobble Gobble, Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers. Tronna is in town.

Enemy blog: There really are so many. Check out my favorites:

• Eyebleaf's blog Sports and the City for all things Toronto
• Pension Plan Puppets
  
• Down Goes Brown for the funniest blog written

And check out this gem of a post by Archimedies I missed the last time we played the Leafs, analyzing the suits that our boys wear as they walk into the arena. I agree with him/Wrap on Hedman's suit analysis.




I hate when people call the Leafs the Laffs. It just sounds stupid and kinda redneck. I'm not a Leaf fan or anything, though I may know 2 or 3 (or realistically maybe about 10 of them), and of course, I like toss out a few Leaf jokes when they come in to town, but the people who call them the Laffs, they are just terrible and not creative at all.

Plus, I don't hate on the Leafs just because they suck, hell, we sucked more for the last 2 years, and if we don't stop losing games in OT we might be in the same position in a few months. In fact, I may have a soft spot for some of their players: The Monster, Schenn and Stalberg.

So positives for the Leafs? They now have Phil Kessel playing. Unfortunately for the Leafs (and my hockey pool), they can't clone like 30 of him.

The not so positives? They still have Jason Blake et al. on the team.

Vesa Toskala is back on the IR after tweaking his groin, along with John Mitchell (on the IR that is, not involved in the going tweaking) so they can hang out with Mike Komisarek and Mike Van Ryn. They have recalled Joey Macdonald and Christian Hanson from the Marlies yesterday as replacements. And the Leafs are tied with Carolina in points for the bottom of the East at 15 a piece.

There's some Thanksgiving tailgate party you can go to in Tampa tonight, where for $25 you can have unlimited food, beer, wine and soda! Did I seriously write that? Unlimited beer and wine? Where I live, I think that $25 may cover your parking, and that's not even talking about food and drinks. Back to tailgating: I've never been to a tailgate party, they don't have those here where I live, so I don't really understand what goes on at them, but I would really love to go. Click here for details on the one going on tonight in Tampa.

Line-up Notes:

• Niitymaki is expected to start
  
• Mattias Ohlund is out with a lower body injury, but skated during practice yesterday
  
• Mike Lundin has already been sent back to Norfolk,
  
• update: Mike Lundin has been recalled back from Norfolk
  

Game time: 7pm ET SUN and TSN!!

I found this while looking up Lightning/Leaf picture for my preview, and came across this from last year when the Leafs and the Lightning played. It's from the Believe in The Goal Foundation that was founded by Todd Davison (WHL player) who was diagnosed with cancer. He started the foundation to help in the fight to end cancer. Check out some pictures of the Lightning hanging out with12 year old cancer survivor, Mason Sesak who got to hang out with some of the team last year in Toronto. Love this.

Game 21: Tampa in Atlanta Preview

Guh. What a lack of effort yesterday. We lost to the second worst team in the league, who is missing a goalie and E Staal. Let's forget about it.

Enemy blog: Pay your respect to Laura at Wazzupwitchu for some Thrashers love




When the NHL designed schedule, did they say to themselves: "gee, no one will care about this game, so let's just stick it on a Sunday afternoon and not televise it". Well if they wanted people not to care about the game, I think they've achieved what they were looking to do.

So even though this game may not seem to even matter, it does. The Lightning look better in the standings than they have been playing due to the 7 points they've picked up from their OT losses. The loss last night against Carolina was really 4 points because the Hurricanes are in the same division as the Lightning and tonight the Lightning are in the same situation with the Thrashers.

Line-up Notes:

• Niitymaki is in net
  
• Mattias Ohlund is out with a lower body injury
• Mike Lundin 'should play' according to Tocchet

Game time: 5pm ET, no tv feed, but you can listen to it on 970 WLFA if you have nothing to do on a Sunday afternoon.

Game 20: Tampa in Carolina Preview

After that win over the Leafs, the Hurricanes are no longer the worst team in the league, don't worry they still suck

Enemy blog: The Life and Times of a Caniac



Nice of the folks at the Lightning website to use a photo of a player (E Stall) that is not even playing. Half of the Canes are out with injury: Eric Staal, Cam Ward, Michael Leighton, Scott Walker, Joni Pitkanen and Michael Ryan.

The Lightning are now 4-0-2, and are tied with the Islanders for the most pity points awarded: 7 FYI.

Line-up Notes:

• Mike Smith in net
• Mattias Ohlund is out with a lower body injury
• Mike Lundin and Matt Smaby have been called up from Norfolk
• Lundin is not expected to play tonight, but maybe tomorrow in Atlanta
• Smaby's call up may have to do with an upper body injury that he has gotten
  

Game time: 7pm ET on SUN

Game 19: Tampa in Anaheim

I cannot love the Ducks, in fact I think I may hate them. The hate I feel for them feels like it has gotten stronger over the years. It's something about the players on the Ducks that I just don't like. Ryan Getzlaf makes me want to kick kittens.

Enemy Blog: Check out Anaheim Calling, because although I may hate the Ducks, Arthur and Daniel are actually nice guys.




And because I don't like the Ducks, it makes me pleased to see them at the bottom of the Pacific division. The Ducks have lost 10 out of the last 13 games which has put them at 6-10-3. During their roadtrip out east, which they just got back from, their record was 0-3-1, and that has dropped them back to the bottom of the West.


With rumors swirling last week that Randy Carlisle's coaching job was on the line, the GM came forward and squashed those rumors. So, if it's not the coach being fired, will we see some players traded soon? Perhaps. The Ducks' defense haven't looked as good since Pronger was traded last year and although they have scoring from Getzlaf and Perry, the need more scoring from their other players.

I'm going to enjoy this fabulous feeling of the Ducks sucking while I can.

The Lightning on the other hand 4-0-1 in their last 5 games. Last game in Phoenix, the Lightning had goals from all the players that really had to deliver: Lecavalier, Tanguay and St. Louis. Smitty also had a solid game in net, which has earned him the start tonight against Anaheim. Does this make sense? Winning one game gets you the start in the next one even though Niity has played so well in a string of games before? Well it does when Tocchet is your coach, who may or may not want Smith to succeed and Niity to fail (which is completely based on no fact whatsoever). But neverless, it's a good reward for Smith after playing a good game.

Now all this has sounded like the Lightning are perfect, um not so much. Cristodero raises a great point, that the boys have been outshot in eight straight games, and in 13 of its past 14. Which really does say that the goaltending by primarily Niitymaki, and that last game from Smith has really bailed them out.

Tocchet rattles on about having the players going hard to the net, which is good advice for the players that can do it, though I don't agree about his view that he doesn't want perimeter players. Some players are perimeter players, who, yes, need to get pucks on net, but I think you need to play your strengths by shooting and if the initial shot doesn't go in, well then there need to be players who are at the net to put in the rebound.

Line-up Notes:

• Mike Smith in net
• Mattias Ohlund is expected to play, but spent the Wednesday in a walking boot
  

Game time: 10:00pm ET on, um nothing locally, but it is broadcasted on Prime for Anaheim fans.

Game 18: Tampa in Phoenix Preview

"After the longest scheduled flight of the 2009-10 season, the Lightning arrive in Phoenix more than four hours after leaving Tampa"-@TBLightning

Oh cry me a river. A 4 hour flight and whoever is writing for the Lightning twitter account is sounding like they have it bad with travel. They do not.

Enemy Blog: Coyotes blogs? They do actually exist. Check out Hipchecks for your fix of the desert dogs.

This is the first of two meetings between the Lightning and the Coyotes, and is the 1st of a 4 game roadtrip The roadtrip consists of the Coyotes tonight, the Ducks on Thursday and a back to back game starting on Saturday against Carolina followed by the Thrashers on Sunday.

The Coyotes are playing better than people expected this year. People think that just because financially you suck and will be sold soon have been sold, well your season probably sucks too. Not so, the Coyotes are 11-8-0.

The official Lightning website game preview says that the big story is: "The Lightning have surged into the Eastern Conference playoff picture by picking up at least one point in nine of their last 10 games."
Which is not quite the way I look at it. In fact if the playoffs started today, because we only got 1 point last night, we are NOT in the picture. Points from OT losses are pity points, not exactly something you want to get excited about in November. That is not called surging.

The Lightning hope to improve their road record, which already looked better on the last trip out, going 2-1-1. They will meet former Bolt Radim Vrbata tonight, who has 5 goals and 4 assists so far this season. He got the game winner against Dallas on Saturday night.

Line-up Notes:

• Ryan Craig and Matt Smaby have been assigned to the Admirals
• Mattias Ohlund is questionable for tonight's game with a lower body injury
  

Game time: 9:00pm ET on....no where. That's because nobody cares about the Lightning/Coyotes games enough to even have a feed. Fantastic.

Game 17: LA in Tampa Preview

The Kings have surprised a lot of people this year. Kopitar has shocked people this year, and been a dream for fantasy owners who picked him up as he is leading the leading the league with 14 goals and 30 points.

Enemy Blog: Check out The Royal Half for a Kings perspective or Battle of California for RudyKelly's hilarity

The Kings play back to back games and got hammered by the Thrashers last night in Atlanta, losing 7-0. Kovy was back from injury and Pavelec had a great game earning him the shutout.

The Kings have Kopitar and Ryan Smyth leading the scoresheet and goalie Jonathan Quick is in a 4 way tie for second place with 10 wins. But they have lost the last 3 out of 4 games, with the last win coming over Carolina last Wednesday.

I'm sure the Lightning are trying to forget their performance against the Wild, though they sneak away with a shootout win. The Lightning have played better at home (so far) and since the Kings should be tired as this is the 2nd of back to back games for them, the Lightning should have the edge coming into tonight. Niitymaki gets the start tonight, and we'll need another great performance from him. Stamkos has had 10 goals in the last 10 games.

The Lightning are collecting non-perishable food for the Metropolitan Ministries on the Plaza before tonight's game, strange how this is not up on the official Lightning website.

Line-up Notes:

• Niitymaki is starting
• Matt Walker is a game time decision (if not it's Kurtis Foster)
  

Game time: 7:30pm ET On SUN

Game 15: Tampa in Montreal Preview

I was attempting to write this preview in french this morning, but my attempt at grammer was not happening. Lucky for you, please enjoy the english preview.

Enemy Blog: Check out the Four Habs Fans for your Habs centric perspective


The Lightning are in Montreal to face the Canadiens, which means the Lightning will face 10 times more media than usual (see above, pic from TBLightning twitter). Instead of questions about a possibly trade to Montreal, the questions that Lecavalier will be more along the lines of: "why do you suck these days?" or "how do you feel perhaps not being selected for the Olympics?". Oh please queue the Canadian media haters, but the fact is, there's lots of media and they have questions. Don't worry, the return of Tanguay will also be a topic for their stories.

Both teams last played on Thursday night, Montreal beating Boston in a shootout, and of course the Lightning losing to the Senators in OT. The Lightning are currently 1-1-1 on their 4 game road trip.

Hedman will not play tonight as he has a concussion from the hit from Chris Neil, since we have lots of defenseman, Kurtis Foster will slide in for him. Stamkos has has 9 goals in 8 games, and leads the team in scoring at 12 goals. Martin St. Louis is frustrated that he hasn't been able to score in 9 games. Lecavalier and Tanguay had a good game on Thursday, hopefully we'll see another good game tonight, just please don't let this one go into OT...

For Montreal, Carey Price will get the start tonight. Even thought the Habs have claimed Jay Leach off of waivers from the Devils, he will not play tonight. Ryan White and Tom Pyatt will both play tonight after being called up from Hamilton and playing well on Thursday.

According to Eyes on the Prize, the Habs will be wearing this jersey tonight, which is a step up from their where's waldo game last week:















As for some gossip, 25Stanley says the Lightning went partying at Globe on Thursday night...

Line-up Notes:

• Niitymaki will get his 3rd straight start
• Hedman will not play
• D Kurtis Foster is in tonight
• LW Todd Fedoruk is a healthy scratch
• Drew Miller is in
• D Matt Smaby is still a healthy scratch
  

Game time: 7:00pm ET. On HNIC (Quebec only), and SUN.

Game 14: Tampa in Ottawa

Do we play another other team besides the Senators these days? This is the third meeting between the two clubs this season, next meeting will be at the end of the season on April 8th

Enemy Blog: Check out Sens at Land's End or Scarlett Ice for your Ottawa perspective

Forward Ryan Craig cleared entry waivers today and could play tonight. And Paul Ranger has now been put on injured reserve to clear roster place, which will just fuel gossip about why he isn't playing.

The Senators have Volchenkov out, but Jason Spezza will play tonight after having missed the last two games with an "upper body injury".

The last two games went 7-1 for Ottawa, and 5-2 by Tampa, so we might be in store for another huge win for one team, hopefully this will be in the Bolts' favor. Expect to see some fights with Carkner, Ruutu and Neil in the lineup against Downie and Konopka. Both teams are coming off of wins.

Line-up Notes:

• Niitymaki is the starter in goal
• Ranger is on injured reserve
• Ryan Craig has cleared waivers
  

Game time: 7:30pm ET. On SUN, and TSN2

I will be dropping in on Scarlett Ice's live blog sometime during the night, maybe for the 2nd and 3rd period, if not, join me over at Raw Charge. Please come, but do bring the funny.

Game 12: Tampa in Philly Preview

Lookout! It's everyone's favorite mancrush!


















Why is the game early today?

The Flyers have moved the game time to 5pm in an effort to remove any potential conflict that the game would have had with the World Series. Baseball. Can't really say I care about baseball, so this is an annoyance to me because now I can't watch the game tomorrow.

The Lightning have not won a road game yet. They have been outscored 18-6 and have a road record of 0-3-1. Those stats are not pretty.

Mike Smith will be in goal tonight as opposed to having Niitymaki start against his old team. Philly has been 6-4-1 so far in the season but has been a little inconsistent. They also have Simon Gagne and Danny Briere out with groin injuries.

The Lightning may have a chance as long as this game doesn't go to a shootout. They may also need to decide to show up to the game unlike Saturday afternoon.

The Lightning come off a light schedule of games that they've had for the last 2 weeks and begin a 4 game roadtrip that will occur over the next 6 days. They need to take advantage of the Flyers and their injuries early in the game, so that they don't get silenced by the difficult crowd in Philadelphia. Crowd-wise, this will be a tough roadtrip as the Lightning as they face the Flyers, Leafs, Senators and finish off with the Habs for HNIC on Saturday.

Line-up Notes:

• Mike Smith is starting tonight
• Vincent Lecavalier has been dropped to the 3rd line to play with Miller and Veilleux
  

Game time: 5:00pm ET on SUN

Game 10: Ottawa in Tampa Preview

The Lightning are hosting the 10th annual Tampa Fights Cancer Night which is part of a local initiative to raise awareness about the disease and to 'join in the act of putting cancer on ice'. Fans are encouraged to wear yellow to the game. This will be the end of a week-long collaboration between the Lightning and the Yerrid Foundation.

As per NHL.com:
Ten local organizations have been sponsored for the Lightning-Senators game: Children's Cancer Center; Children's Dream Fund; All Children's Hospital; Faces of Courage; Leukemia and Lymphoma Society; Moffitt Cancer Center; Pediatric Cancer Foundation; Ronald McDonald House; 1 Voice; and Tampa General Hospital.

On a personal note, cancer is a disease that has affected my family more than once. It is a terrible disease that discriminates against no one. I commend the Lightning and NHL for being so active and outspoken in their various Hockey Fights Cancer campaigns.

Interesting trivia to note: The Lightning have not lost a game on a Tampa Fights Cancer Night.

Just a thought.





Enemy Blog: Sens at Land's End

The Senators won against the Panthers last night 4-3. Three goals in the second period were too much for the Panthers to handle. They spanked us the last time they played us, I try to forget about that 7-1 drubbing, but it really hasn't been long enough.

I hope the players feel the same way. There's no reason I need to watch another terrible performance by the Lightning on TSN. No one believes me up here in the North that the Lightning can, well some days, they can look like a real NHL team.

Hopefully the Lightning have learnt from their loss against the Senators that they are going to need to play another 60 solid minutes tonight.

The Lightning are currently 2nd in the league in faceoffs at 54.2 percent which is right behind the Sharks' 57.1 percent. Zenon Konopka has a faceoff record of 70.2 % right now, that's winning 40 out of 57 draws he's taken.

Line-up Notes:

• Mike Smith is going to start in goal
• I'm unsure if Smaby is ok to play as per the Lightning twitter, or is not as per Lightning Strikes
  

Game time: 7:00pm ET. On SUN, and TSN!

Updates to follow if they happen.

Game 9: Buffalo in Tampa Preview

Did you watch Flashpoint last night?

One of the characters was named Ryan Malone. I don't know what this has to do with tonight's game, but I thought that was pretty cool. What else is cool? Flashpoint has Amy Jo Johnson in it. She used to be the pink power ranger. So cool (you know it is, don't deny it).

Oh this is a hockey preview, I'm sorry, back to your regular programming:

The Lightning have come off of a strong team effort against the Sharks on Thursday night. It's amazing what 60 minutes of (pretty) solid play can do for your faith in a team. Tonight is baby step number two, really, it's the chance the Lightning have to show that Thursday night wasn't a one shot deal. So tonight, the we welcome the Buffalo Sabres!













Their logo looks like a slug.

There are even a website, aptly named 'Sabres, Not Slugs'. They even have a section called Hate the Logo Haiku. I think that's pretty fantastic.

Enemy Blog: Check out Vance's blog Double Edged Sabres, he's one of the writers for the always hilarious Bangin Panger

Buffalo has been a team that, well has been acting a little like Colorado or Phoenix lately, they've been winning games, even though you don't really expect them too. They are one of those teams that are just there, like they may or may not make the playoffs any given year, but never seem to get better as a team. Kinda reminds me of the Leafs.













I didn't expect Buffalo to be any good, but their record surprises me, as they are 5-1-1 so far. I do have Ryan Miller on my fantasy team so I haven't complained so far about his great play. He is 13-3-0 with a 2.79 GAA in his 16 career starts against the Lightning. But tonight, that really has to stop.

Last game Mike Smith got his first win of the season and he'll be back in net again tonight. St. Louis has a 8 game point streak going that I hope to see continue. Malone has has 6 goals in the last 5 games, and the crazy statistic is that he has an accuracy rate of 29.2% on his shots.

And of course, Vinny still hasn't scored his 1st goal of the season, do you think he is a bit overdue? Tocchet has some nice words for him after last game: “I think this was Vinny’s most solid game of the year,”, “I don’t care that he didn’t score, he was very solid.” I think the scoring will come. Like he's gonna score 3 goals in one night, and we're all just gonna forget about even having had this discussion. Relax people, the goals will come.


















Not quite as cool as when the Staals play against each other, and that's just because they have their own drinking game, but Ryan Miller will play against his brother Drew Miller tonight. Drew, 25 is the younger of the two, as Ryan is 29. Warm fuzzy story about their them growing up can be found here.

Line-up Notes:

• Mike Smith is starting tonight
• David Hale gets to start on D again
  
• Kurtis Foster is scratched from the game
  

Game time: 7:30pm ET. Updates to follow if they happen.

No recap of this game, because I'll be watching the Tronna vs Vancouver game instead. Head over to Raw Charge for a recap if you want a good one. Vancouver clearly has no say in their own local start time because when the center of the universe wants their game at 7pm ET, well then, they get it. 4pm start time, in my own city. Blasphemy!

Game 8: San Jose in Tampa

The Sharks are a scary team right now. On the offensive, the leaders in the pack right now are the Sharks and the Capitals. It's Green Night tonight where if you ride your bike in, this game is FREE? Full details of that madness can be found here in their presser.

















Enemy Blog: Check out the bloggers from Couch Tarts for their always fabulous hockey cartoons.

The Lightning are opening up a 4 game home stand with the Sharks tonight, though the schedule is still stupid with a Thurs/Sat game then no hockey for 5 days, then another Thurs/Sat game.

Chances of winning tonight, are well, slim in my opinion. The Sharks tore apart the Rangers the other night 7-3. And unless the media (twitter) melee of the strip shoot out game produced a miracle of a Lightning team that can actually play hockey, well, we may be the next team to be torn apart by the Sharks.

Rookie James Wright gets to move up to the top line to be the LW for Lecavalier and St. Louis. This is all being done in an effort to spark Lecavalier's scoring. I had hoped this would have been done sooner, as I never thought Downie looked good skating with Lecavalier. Wright's role will be to forecheck and work hard for the puck.

Mike Smith is still searching for his 1st win the season, and Tocchet thinks it will be him in starting in net cause he looked on in practice on Sunday.

Quote of the day is from Dan Boyle on the players that are on the Lightning team that he used to play with:

"Knowing some of the guys I know, I don't wish them anything bad," Boyle said. "I want them to succeed and stuff. Selfishly, part of me, obviously, still has a problem with the guys up top. I don't want the guys I know to be going through this. That's more important than those two guys up there."-St. Petersburg Times

Line-up Notes:

• Mike Smith is expected to start tonight
• James Wright is up on the top line with Lecavalier and St. Louis
• 2nd line: Malone, Stamkos, Downie
• 3rd line: Tanguay, Halpern, Miller
• 4th line: Fedoruk, Konopka, Veilleux
• Kurtis Foster is scratched from the game
  

Game time: 7:30pm ET on SUN. Updates to follow if they happen.

Game 7: Tampa in Pittsburgh

I just about cried last game. Mike Smith sucks. It's a good thing he's not playing tonight.

Enemy Blog: The Pensblog. Head over and check our their blog later when their game day post is up. Always a good read, or at least amusing.

Also check out the Puck Huffers for a recap of the game from their intern (who is such a natural PH writer) and their game awards.

Now to start off, I like the Penguins, in fact I even adopted them as my playoff team last year. I watched a game at a bar with a die hard Pens fans last year when they got smoked by Detroit and still I cheered for them. I cheered when they won the SCF this year. But this is a new season, and they are playing my boys tonight, so now they are the enemy.

The Lightning need a game to forget about what happened in Ottawa. Having a game against the Pens tonight, well I don't know if this is gonna help the forgetting, but I hope the Lightning at least bring their gameface. The Penguins are 6-1-0, and this is the first of a five game homestand at Mellon Arena.

Since Mike Smith sucks, Niitymaki is back in net for the Lightning, so we should have an improvement at least on goals that the goalie 'should have gotten'. Last game Lecavalier played well, but still no dice on a goal with Tanguay. Steven Downie is back up on the 1st line as right wing. I think fans/media should really give up on making such a big deal about who Lecavalier and Tanguay need to have as a right wing, too big of a deal has been made for a position that neither Downie or Veilleux seems to be able to fill. Lecavalier and Tanguay need to make it happen with whoever gets put on their line.

The Times is writing that Tocchet isn't playing Nittymaki tonight just because Smith sucked last night. I care to disagree. Smith sucked, so he shouldn't start, in fact he should have been pulled after the 4th goal last game. Starting Niitymaki should challenge Smith is get his game back, then he can go back to being the starting goaltender when he is playing, um, at least reasonably.

Now, I'm not saying it was all Smiths fault last game, no Hedman sucked too. And the Tampa Bay powerplay as well. The boys need to focus on getting a shot from the point that get's to the net, and need a body in front of the goalie. The other teams know we like to shoot from the point, so we either need to make the puck get to the net or change up how we attack the pp.

After tonight no Lightning hockey until next thursday against the Sharks, enjoy it.

Game Time: 7:30 pm on SUN

Game 6: Tampa in Ottawa Preview

Our boys are up in Ottawa tonight to face the Senators.

Enemy Blog: Sens at Land's End

The Senators lost their game to the Pens on Tuesday night 4-1, ending their 3 game win streak. The Lightning have won the last two and are looking to make it three. There is a switchup in net tonight with Smith back in and Nitty on the bench. The Lightning keep saying that Smith is healthy, but he'll need a strong game to show me that. The stats for road games and games against the Senators is pretty awful, being 0-5-3 in their last eight road games, and 3-16-2 against Ottawa.

What do I know about the Senators these days? Um I know that Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher are still together. I like the addition of Milan Michalek, since I liked him in San Jose, but for in the trade for Dany Heatley, I guess Ottawa got the best they could get with his antics. Cheechoo doesn't count for me, because his stats was really a product of being on a line with Joe Thornton.

Quote of the day:
"The first two periods I don't think we played Tampa Bay hockey," Tocchet said. "A little bit too much river boat gambling and trading chances for chances."-Lightning website

Tocchet should really stay away from the gambling references, don't want to give anyone the wrong idea or anything.

Line-up Notes:
Mike Smith is back as the starter in goal for the Lightning, and Kurtis Foster is back on defense coming back from his lower body injury.

Game time: 7:30pm ET. On SUN, and TSN!

Updates to follow if they happen. This is the first game of their two game road trip before 5 days of no Lightning hockey, enjoy this while you can.

Game 5: Panthers in Tampa Preview

Sorry for no preview or recap for the Malone show of Game 4. It is the Canadian Thanksgiving here, so although I planned to write something, things didn't happen according to plan.

Enemy blog: Litter Box Cats

Quick bullet points before tonight's game:

• The Panthers have dropped three straight and the Lightning are looking to make it two straight wins at home. The Panthers have been struggling with their PK so far this season, and their powerplay is even worse, currently being ranked dead last in the NHL at efficiency of 6.2%.
• The Lightning on the other had a strong game against Carolina with 39 shots on goal. Niittymaki's solid performance in Saturday night's game has him getting the nod from Tocchet to start again tonight.
• Mike Smith says he was "healthy" and could have started on Saturday. Though I think the Lightning wanted to give Smith a little extra time to recover and be evaluated after being run over in the NJ game.

Game time: 7:30pm ET