Other side of the series; Tampa Bay Lightning at Buffalo Sabres preview

by John Fontana on Oct 25, 2011 2:04 PM EDT in '11-'12 game previews

WHERE: HSBC Arena, Buffalo, New York
WHEN: 7:30 PM EDT | | TICKETS: Check Availability
MEDIA: Versus / NBC Sports Net* (cable), 970 WFLA (radio)
OPPONENT COVERAGE: Die by the Blade

* Versus will become NBC Sports Net on January 2nd, 2012. Listing both names now is to prevent confusion later.

Tonight's the flip-side of the home-and-home series between the Lightning and teh Buffalo Sabres. This time around, the Bolts aren't playing against a team that had played the previous night. Both teams are rested, both teams should know damn well what to expect from their adversaries.

Are both teams ready though?

The Lightning are 11-22 with 2 ties all-time in Buffalo, according to MCubed.net. The Lightning also split the season series in Buffalo last season,

With six points in 8 games played so far this season, Lightning team captain Vincent Lecavalier has 799 for his career. If you haven't noticed, he's also been reunited with Martin St. Louis on the top line, with rookie Brett Connolly on the opposing wing. The trio have put up 7 points between them over the past two games, with Vinny and Marty scoring and Connoolly assisting. Will tonight be #800?

Or, perhaps the question to ask is,will it be #1 for Mr. Connolly? Brett has not yet scored his first NHL goal, though he does have 2 assists so far this season. You have to figure it's just a matter of time if he's playing next to (and keeping up with) the likes of St. Louis and Lecavalier. That's not just a privledge that people get from time to time, you gotta earn your chance to play on that spot.

Speaking of top-line production, Die By the Blade leads with a feature today about production from Thomas Vanek, Luke Adam and Jason Pominville (aka Vanadmville).

What should you take from that? Quite simply, don't think a shutout win against the likes of the Sabres this season is easy to come by. Saturday's silencing of the Sabres offense was abnormal for the season thus far (counterpoint: The Lightning playing well the past two games is abnormal from their season up until this point).

Mathieu Garon gets his third consecutive start in net for the Lightning tonight, Ryan Miller will likely get the nod for the Sabres.