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Quick Strikes: Tampa Bay Lightning win over Detroit and more roster moves

The Lightning beat Detroit last night.

The Headline

The Tampa Bay Lightning played the Detroit Red Wings last night and won 3-1, with captain Steven Stamkos scoring his first of the season while trying to give his rather listless team a boost. A confident netminder and a blossoming PK made the difference.

The Lightning will take the wins in whatever way they can, and even though they didn’t play their best against an inferior opponent, they found a way to secure two points—that’s what matters.

That game, though, was almost dwarfed by several headlines that occurred earlier in the day. Most of those will be covered in other parts of this entry, but the most major thing that actually affected the game was the return of Ryan Callahan, a few weeks ahead of schedule.

Speaking of that game, you just have to love this shot of Brayden Point, who scored the first goal of the game.

Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos are just lovely together, aren’t they?

How can you not love the genuine joy Mathieu Joseph gets out of life?

Oh, Dan Girardi. You’re awesome.

Other Lightning News

Alan makes a strong case for playing Mikhail Sergachev on the Lightning’s second power play group. His charts are pretty. He’s my boss. I agree!

Taking into account all the available information, Sergachev seems to be the best fit to run the point for the Lightning’s second power play group. His results in his rookie season were better than any McDonagh has achieved under similar circumstances. Sergachev is at a point in his career where he is likely to improve rapidly while McDonagh is not.

Lightning forward Cory Conacher cleared waivers yesterday and was immediately assigned to Syracuse.

Cory Conacher played in the Lightning’s first game of the season and has been a healthy scratch for the past three games after Tyler Johnson returned from injury. Conacher played 8:35 with one shot on goal and two penalty minutes. He played in 36 games last year with 12 points after earning a two-year contract with the team for his 2016-17 performance, mostly with the Syracuse Crunch. The first year was a one-way contract, but this year it is a two-way contract so the Lightning would save some money by sending him to the AHL.

Sadly, he won’t be available tonight as the team takes on Binghamton, but should be available for their Saturday home tilt against Utica.

Do you miss our Andrei Vasilevskiy interview translation the other day that featured some prime quotes? The NHL’s Instagram didn’t! Congratulations on the feature, Igor!

The Eastern Conference is complicated. Hardev makes it easy!

Congratulations to our own Matt Esteves!

The Crunch

The Lightning assigned Danick Martel to the Syracuse Crunch yesterday for a conditioning stint. Most information has him staying the full two weeks he’s allotted. He should play four games before his time is up.

The Lightning could be trying to get Martel into game shape to let him play some games in the next few weeks for the Lightning. Or, they could just be trying to get the most out of him before placing him on waivers. Because he was claimed off of waivers from the Philadelphia Flyers during training camp, there are some intricacies involved with placing him on waivers again.

After he was assigned, he took some time to chat with Crunch media:

Jonne Tammela is the Crunch’s Player of the Week:

Former Syracuse Crunch captain and former Lightning player Zenon Konopka was in Syracuse yesterday, checking out the War Memorial’s renovations.

Some good news for the Crunch on the injury front - Kevin Lynch is almost ready to return. Also, Connor Ingram will start in net for Syracuse tonight.

The Solar Bears

The Orlando Solar Bears acquired rookie forward Mathieu Foget from the Florida Everblades in exchange for future considerations.

Other hockey news

Jake Dotchin cleared waivers yesterday with the Anaheim Ducks organization and was eventually assigned to AHL San Diego. Best of luck to him on his new start.

Former Lightning organizational goalie Peter Budaj is back in the AHL:

The New York Rangers switched their goalies yesterday, loaning Alexandar Georgiev to the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL and recalling Marek Mazanec.

Ottawa made some roster changes yesterday, activating forward Ryan Dzingel and placing forward Brady Tkachuk on IR.

It was a busy day for the IR list, with the Minnesota Wild also placing Joel Eriksson Ek on it.

I’m not sure what this drill was, but as a goalie fan I was both worried for them and intrigued about the nature of the drill. Fact is, goalies lose their sticks. I wonder how many other teams practice these kinds of scenarios on a regular basis?

Red Wing’s GM Ken Holland thinks that his team being at the bottom is part of the process and isn’t cause for alarm.

Discouraging? No. I understand the process. I’ve been in pro hockey since 1975 and I was in the Hartford organization and the Red Wing organization when they were going through tough times. I don’t think you can get discouraged or disappointed.

Fortnite controversy is apparently still a thing, because of course it is. Patrik Laine says his peace about it.

Yesterday’s waiver wire, in case you’re interested. Players will clear today at noon.

I am the last person to ever want to give the Columbus Blue Jackets any kind of credit, but...I can’t deny this goal by Anthony Duclair deserves a mention. It isn’t his fault he plays for them.

Former Crunch goalie Mike McKenna has issued a heartbreaking plea for the return of his daughter’s jersey, which was lost after his game in Belleville the other night:

Harrison Browne has been invited to play in the Eric Lindros Celebrity Hockey Classic.

You didn’t know you needed this in your life, but you need to check out the rookie cards for every NHL head coach for the 2018-19 season.

The American Hockey League’s official Twitter account went purple yesterday in honor of Spirit Day, a day meant to foster inclusivity and acceptance of LGBTQ peoples.

Last night was a very rare occasion in sports:

To be fair, MLS was also in play!

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