Tampa BAE Lightning Game 2 Preview: Start Over

The Tampa Bay Lightning will take the ice tonight at 7 p.m. inside Benchmark International Arena to face off against the New Jersey Devils. It’s a chance for them to get right in front of their home fans before heading out on a four game road trip.

The home fans also get to welcome back a legendary Lightning forward that contributed so much to the team and quickly became a fan favorite. That’s right, we are talking about LUKE GLENDENING.

Glendening has signed a one year contract with the Devils and should be on the ice for them tonight.

So, what to expect from the Devils tonight? It’s interesting. They are starting the year on a three game road trip and won’t play in front of their fans until October 16th. They dropped their first game against the Carolina Hurricanes by a final tally of 6-3. That game was largely back-and-forth until the 3rd period when the Canes ripped off four goals.

Since we don’t have a ton of advanced stats yet, I watched a condensed review of the game and here’s what stood out to me:

Jacob Markstrom did not have a great night at shots from distance. Two of the goals he probably should have had, but he just did not track the puck well. I’d imagine he starts again tonight over Jake Allen. Maybe he fixes it? But if I’m the Lightning, I’m firing that puck at him as much as humanly possible. For what it’s worth, Markstrom is 4-4-1 in his last nine games against the Bolts. He has 2.96 goals against which isn’t bad, but his save percentage is .892. Not great.

The Devils defense was also pretty bad about clearing the ice directly in front of their goal tender. Two of the goals were redirects with someone standing on his door step, but the Canes had PLENTY of opportunities there—both on the power play and 5-on-5. I’d expect Sheldon Keefe to make a point of emphasis on that, but look for the Lightning to try and take advantage.

The Devils are really good at creating fast break opportunities. This is bad news for a Lightning defense that struggled in the 2nd half of their season opener. The blue line is going to have to be much more responsible and prevent that if they are going to stay in the game.

I think the Lightning have a real chance to win here. It’s tough to start on the road and I really think the Lightning are the better team. They need to win. One of these teams is going to start 0-2. It would really suck to be one of them.

I won’t be attending tonight, but you should totally watch. Especially cause USF isn’t playing (Oh, and congratulations to the Bulls!) Go Bolts!