Florida Panthers at Tampa Bay Lightning preview

by John Fontana on Oct 12, 2009 3:00 PM EDT in Game Previews

WHERE: Times Palace
WHEN: 7:30 PM EDT
MEDIA: Sun Sports TV (Cable), 620WDAE (Radio)

The Bolts broke a 12 game winless streak dating back to last season on Saturday night, defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2. Ryan "Bugsy" Malone had a hat-trick and Antero Niittymaki improved his record versus the Southeast division to 28-6-4 all time.

He'll have another chance to add a notch to his belt versus Southeast tonight versus the Panthers. The Panthers have lost their last three and are looking for a spark to just about everything - which is what usually happens when they face off against the Lightning.

The Bolts have a 19% conversion rate on the power play but have the 5th worst PK percentage in the NHL (66.7%). On the other side of the fray, the Panthers have allowed 4.25 goals per game on average over their first four games, have a 70.6% penalty kill. Their power play, however, is an atrocious 6 percent this season so far -- by far the worst in the league. The Panthers have also averaged over 23 shots a night while giving up 40 shots. The Bolts, on the other hand, are 2nd in the league with 38 SOG a night, while giving up 29 shots-against on average (14th in NHL).

The Malone-Stamkos-St. Louis line has a combined 15 points on the season... six players on the Bolts roster have a negative plus-minus (-2 for Paul Ranger and Stephane Veilleux are the worst on the team) whiel the Panthers have 13 players iwth a negative plus-minus, led by Bryan Allan's team-high -6. This is the first of eight matchups between the teams this season.