Times Palace Premiere

So the regular season for the Lightning at home gets underway tonight with Zdeno Chara returning to the scene of the crime in downtown Tampa where he and the Ottawa Senators piledrove the Lightning into the ice (not that the refs had anything to do with stopping the better team from winning... Nope, they just prevented a regulated hockey match from occurring). He's back, yet with a new team as the Boston Bruisn come into town as the Lightning's second opponent of the season.

Things to keep an eye out for remain Marc Denis and the Lightning offense -- will Denis further underline his cool play in net? Will anyone on the roster besides Ryan Craig score before the shootout? Will Dmitry Afanasenkov please shoot the puck?

I want to underline that -- Afanasenkov must learn to play more selfishly and shoot the puck. Opening night, he seemed to keep trying to play center and pass, pass, pass the puck in hopes of getting assists for others scoring goals.

I'd expect that from Brad Richards... Not from Afanasenkov.