Bryan Burns has one of his excellent game day updates about the Lightning prepping for tonight, and one of the notions centered on in the piece is the same concern that was touched on in our preview this morning. I’ll let Ondrej Palat’s words explain it:
“We know Buffalo’s always a tough team to play against,” Lightning forward Ondrej Palat said. “We can’t really look at the standings and stuff like that. Always when we play against them, it’s a tough game, and I expect tonight to be a tough game too.”
You’ve seen these games between Tampa Bay and Buffalo; Ted Nolan is doing a better job as head coach than the Sabres record indicates. Don’t get lost on the standings. Overconfidence could give way to embarassment… Especially knowing the Sabres had played the night before.
On the filp side, our friends over at Deie by the Blade aren’t exactly confident going into this one.
Ben Bishop will be the starter for the Lightning in goal with Michal Neuvirth confirmed to start for the Sabres. Also of note is that J.T. Brown will be a scratch at forward, Mark Barberio will sit out on defense.
