The Bolts
The Lightning started the season off right with a 5-2 win over the Florida Panthers. The free agent signings made an immediate impact with both Kevin Shattenkirk and Pat Maroon scoring goals. Nikita Kucherov started with a two point game. They didn’t play a perfect game and Florida controlled most of the play through the first two periods but they were dominant on the power play and took over the game in the third period. Matt has the full recap.
After seeing the Panthers dictate the pace of play for 40 minutes, the Lightning dominated the final 20. They controlled 66% of the shots at 5v5, generated eight scoring chances and six high danger chances while only allowing three in total for Florida, and they tilted the expected goals factor back into their favor with an absurd xGF% of 80% in the third period.
The Prospects
Lindsay Kramer at Syracuse.com shared some thoughts on the Syracuse Crunch as they get closer to kicking off their season. The article also included a big piece of news with the team saying that Alex Volkov will miss 2-4 weeks with an upper body injury that likely happened on the hit from Mike Hoffman late in the second to last preseason game.
“I feel for Volky because he’s had a great camp in Tampa Bay. The plan is for him to come here and be a good player and continue to where he was in Tampa Bay and have a great start,” said Crunch coach Ben Groulx. “But it’s an opportunity for somebody else.”
Down in the ECHL, the Solar Bears made a round of cuts reducing the roster to 28 players. The most notable here is Clint Windsor who figured to have a spot before the Lightning went on a goalie signing spree that has now rippled through all levels of the organization.
Forward Darian Romanko has been released from his contract
Forward Alex Schoenborn has been released from his contract
Forward Ryan Tait has been released from his contract
Goaltender Clint Windsor has been released from his contract
Defenseman Petr Stindl has been released from his tryout
Forward Nick Pastorious has been released from his tryout
Defenseman Jake Cardwell has left the team to pursue opportunities in Europe; Orlando has subsequently placed Cardwell on suspension in order to maintain his ECHL playing rights
The Game
Chicago made some unexpected early season news by announcing a contract extension for forward Alex Debrincat. The high-scoring youngster won’t be a restricted free agent until next summer but both sides apparently agreed to get the deal out of the way now.
The Cat is BACK!
Alex DeBrincat has signed a 3-year contract extension that runs through the 2022-23 season, with an AAV of $6,400,000. #Purr #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/rF4ztP9YON
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 3, 2019
Things haven’t been going well in Edmonton for, well, about 25 years now I guess and that continued with an injury to Adam Larsson on opening night against the Canucks. He’ll miss at least a month and possibly more.
The #Oilers have announced that defenceman Adam Larsson will be out of action for six to eight weeks with a fractured right fibula.
Here’s to a speedy recovery for Larss. pic.twitter.com/r8cXSHiAEg
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) October 3, 2019
Forward Joshua Ho-Sang has struggled to get an opportunity with the New York Islanders and after being sent back to the AHL again this season, he requested a trade. Given that he was available to every team for free two days ago, a team paying to acquire him now seems doubtful but we’ll see.
Lamoriello: Ho-Sang’s rep asked for a trade, so we told him not to report for a few days while we worked on that.
— Arthur Staple (@StapeAthletic) October 3, 2019
Lias Andersson started of his season by…well, just watch the gif.
It’s not about how you start the night, it’s how you finish it… pic.twitter.com/P0ectwnJv4
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) October 3, 2019
The Dog
Humans said it was game day but now we still have to wait all the way until tonight… ⚡️🐾 pic.twitter.com/KnNg4lZSwN
— Bolt ⚡️ (@boltspup) October 3, 2019
