Game 1: Tampa Bay Lightning (0-0-0) at New York Rangers (0-0-0)
Time: 7:00 PM EST
Location: Madison Square Garden
TV/Stream/Radio: The Spot, MSG, ESPN+, 102.5 The Bone
Odds: Lightning -135
Know the Opponents: Blue Shirt Banter
Four seasons ago, the Tampa Bay Lightning opened their season with a 3-1 loss on the road to the New York Rangers. The Bolts were coming off their third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final and there was no reason to think they wouldn’t be in the running for a fourth straight trip. Instead, the season ended with a first-round loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, starting an annoying trend that continued through last season. At the time the Rangers were in the midst of a run that would see them hit the Eastern Conference Final in two out of three seasons before their fortunes went askew.
The two teams that meet tonight have undergone changes since that season-opening game back in 2022-23, but one thing remains the same for both teams – the man in net. For the Rangers it’s Igor Shesterkin and for the Lightning it’s Andrei Vasilevskiy. As those two go, so go their teams. They are both charged with leading their teams back to the playoffs. For New York, they hope to take advantage of a Metro Division that is up for grabs outside of the defending champion Carolina Hurricanes while the Lightning need to make it to the playoffs in order to break their first-round streak.
The Lightning start their 34th season of play having tinkered around the edges of their line-up. They did a good job of shoring up the key players they lost (Darren Raddysh, Nick Paul) by signing John Carlson and Ilya Mikheyev. One of their weaker spots, the back-up goaltender, was shored up with a trade for Dennis Hildeby, and they hope that a return to glory for Victor Hedman and Brayden Point helps keep them atop of the division.
With limited playing time together in the preseason, it wouldn’t be a surprise if tonight’s game is a little rough for the Bolts. As a skill team, their timing is important to them and that is something that only comes through game play. That being said, they don’t want to get off to a start like they did last year and spend the season chasing the top of the standings. The Atlantic Division is already off to a hot start as the teams that have played went 3-1 on the first night of the season with the only team that lost, the Toronto Maple Leafs, losing to the Montreal Canadiens.
Meanwhile, the Rangers have shuffled things around quite a bit in front of Shesterkin. Their big move was to acquire Pavel Dorofeyev and Marcus Petterson. Their first-round pick, defenseman Alberts Smits made the roster and should give them some additional depth on the blueline. They rounded out the team with some value signings in old friend Oliver Bjorkstrand and Eeli Tolvanen. Is it enough to compete for a playoff spot in the Metro? Their fans are hoping so.
Forwards:
| Ilya Mikheyev | Brayden Point | Nikita Kucherov |
| Brandon Hagel | Anthony Cirelli | Jake Guentzel |
| Pontus Holmberg | Zemgus Girgensons | Jeff Viel |
| Gage Goncalves | Jansen Harkins | Conor Geekie |
Defense:
| J.J. Moser | John Carlson |
| Ryan McDonagh | Erik Cernak |
| Victor Hedman | Charle-Edouard D’Astous |
Goaltenders:
| Andrei Vasilevskiy |
| Dennis Hildeby |
New York Rangers
Forwards:
| Gabriel Perreault | Mika Zibanejad | Alexis Lafreniere |
| Oliver Bjorkstrand | J.T. Miller | Pavel Dorofeyev |
| Will Cuyelle | Noah Laba | Eeli Tolvanen |
| Tye Kartye | Joe Veleno | Matt Rempe |
Defense:
| Vladislav Gavrikov | Adam Fox |
| Marcus Pettersson | Sean Durzi |
| Albert Smits | Braden Schneider |
Goaltenders:
| Igor Shesterkin |
| Jonas Korpisalo |
