Steven Stamkos is back. Stamkos set up the go-ahead goal in his return from a right knee injury and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Florida Panthers 5-3 on Friday night in the season opener for both teams.
It all begins for real tonight at Amalie Arena. The Tampa Bay Lightning open the 2017-18 season against the Florida Panthers, the first of four meetings between the two teams. For the Lightning, they seek a return to the playoffs after missing the post season by a single point last year. If they can avoid significant injuries to key players, always a big “if,” they have every reason to expect to be playing hockey well into the spring.
The best-of-seven Eastern Conference Finals series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning is now a best of three. With the series tied at two games each, the pivotal Game 5 is in Pittsburgh on Sunday. The way Friday night’s game ended, with the Lightning surviving the third period to prevail, 4-3, some significant questions emerged for Sunday’s game. Pittsburgh has three important questions that will officially be answered by the time the puck drops, but preliminary answers have…
Three leads, and the Lightning lost. A three-on-three overtime, and the Lightning lost. A shootout, and the Lightning lost. In all, it was a hard evening for Tampa Bay, which lost its third game in the last four. The Lightning lost 5-4 when Nashville’s Filip Forsberg scored the only goal in the shootout. The Lightning led 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3 in the evening, but still lost to the Predators, who have a 5-0 record over Tampa Bay since 2008. Tampa Bay scored…