Happy Halloween, everyone! The first month of the regular season is almost behind us and today we will look at what’s ahead of us. It wasn’t the start many fans expected from the Tampa Bay Lightning: the team is still trying to find new combinations after offseason moves and losing some of their best forwards, but as the recent games indicated, the Bolts are heading in the right direction. After the first eight games of the season, the Lightning currently are holding the fourth position in the Atlantic Division with 4-3-1 balance and 9 points.
Out of 13 total games in November, the Lightning will play eight of them at Amalie Arena and just five games on the road. Amongst these road games will be a quick trip to Canada at the beginning of the month: the Lightning will play in Canada for the first time since March 2020 in a regular season game, and will return to Toronto for the first time since August 2020, where they started their 2020 Stanley Cup run.
Most of the games are scheduled for the usual 7:00 PM EST start, however there are some afternoon games, including a game against the Ottawa Senators on November 6 at 2:00 PM EST and against the Minnesota Wild on November 28 at 2:00 PM EST.
The quality of competition is also pretty strong. Out of 11 total opponents, just three of them have a lesser point percentage than .500% at the start of the season. The Bolts will also face the two best teams in the league — the Carolina Hurricanes and the Florida Panthers — in two consecutive games in mid-November. In the second half of the month, the Lightning will play a back-to-back against the Philadelphia Flyers and the Minnesota Wild.
During the next month, the Lightning will play their first game ever against the Seattle Kraken, the new 32nd franchise. The Kraken, including former Lightning forward Yanni Gourde, will travel to Tampa Bay on November 26.
Lightning Links
Some photos of the Lightning players from Helloween
The Syracuse Crunch won their third consecutive game. This time it was the the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, who were beaten in overtime. Jimmy Huntington scored a deciding goal.
🗣 JIMMY 🗣 JIMMY 🗣 JIMMY pic.twitter.com/xomOfenB8U
— Syracuse Crunch (@SyracuseCrunch) October 31, 2021
Before the game, the Crunch announced signing defenseman Kevin Lohan to a PTO.
We have signed defenseman Kevin Lohan to a PTO.https://t.co/VV6QZUutv6
— Syracuse Crunch (@SyracuseCrunch) October 30, 2021
Lightning prospect Declan Mcdonnell scored twice for the Kitchener Ranger against the Windsor Spitfires in the OHL. Another Lightning prospect Roman Schmidt recorded an assist.
Declan McDonnell gets another off a great feed from Pinelli!@OHLRangers #RTown #OHL pic.twitter.com/kHcBh4C9tf
— Caitlin Berry (@caitlinsports) October 31, 2021
Hockey News
The results of the previous day. The Florida Panthers suffered their first loss of the season.
The @StLouisBlues and @NHLFlames each posted shutouts while the @NHLBruins ended the Panthers’ perfect start. Call it a wrap on Saturday.#NHLStats: https://t.co/T90Xyi8Yee pic.twitter.com/kNtpMp0XF2
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) October 31, 2021
The Vegas Golden Knights are emerging as a potential landing spot for forward Jack Eichel
All indications are Vegas and Buffalo are well down the track in discussions of what framework of a Jack Eichel trade would look like.
Where does it stand now? Many moving parts: roster, cap and injury complications. Amadio waiver claim was interesting.
Will it get done? 🤷🏼♂️
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) October 30, 2021
Several San Jose Sharks players entered a COVID protocol.
Andrew Cogliano, Jonathan Dahlen, Erik Karlsson, Jacob Middleton, Matt Nieto, Radim Simek, Marc-Edouard Vlasic & Bob Boughner in COVID protocol for SJ. Logan Couture “under the weather” and not playing, but not in COVID protocol.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) October 30, 2021
