Tampa Bay Lightning @ Carolina Hurricanes
7:00pm at PNC Arena, Raleigh
Broadcast: Streaming on Lightning website
The Bolts are getting their (pre)season underway against the Carolina Hurricanes tonight in Raleigh for the first of eight warmup games during training camp before the 82 game regular season and somewhere between 4 and 28 games in the playoffs.
The Lightning have a large group practicing in training camp, including the expected NHL players, AHLers hoping to get noticed, and some prospects mixed in. We’ve only heard about the main group of NHLers from practice reports, but this lineup is thick with prospects and NHL hopefuls. Credit to Walt Ruff for the roster.
Here is a tentative lineup that is purely my guessing.
Brandon Hagel – Anthony Cirelli – Conor Sheary
Alex Barre-Boulet – Nick Paul – Tanner Jeannot
Gabriel Fortier – Ilya Usau – Gage Goncalves
Bennett MacArthur – Ethan Hay – Ethan Gauthier
Haydn Fleury – Zach Bogosian
Declan Carlile – Darren Raddysh
Emil Lilleberg – Philippe Myers
Hugo Alnefelt
Evan Fitzpatrick
Preseason isn’t by reputation the most competitive hockey, but for the players trying to make a name for themselves, these are the only moments we (and possibly even the coaching staff) will see them playing in real scenarios before they have to make cuts. Historically, the Lightning have cut their roster down to the NHLers pretty quickly so they can focus on cohesion and chemistry, with the AHLers and ECHLers getting started with AHL training camp sometime in early October. That means those players might only get one or two chances to show what they can do.
We will update the correct lines once they come out.
The Carolina Hurricanes have also released their roster for the game. It’s a lot of prospects, with about half a dozen real NHLers in the mix. Hey, Cory Conacher!
Overall, this looks like an evenly competitive match. Good for both sides.
Lightning Links
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