Tampa Bay Lightning Topple Nashville Predators 4-2 in Pre-season Opener
Yesterday, the Tampa Bay Lightning opened the doors to the newly-renamed Amalie Arena to host Shea Weber and the Nashville Predators. Much to the delight of everyone here in Hockey Paradise, the Lightning kicked off the pre-season right by defeating the Predators 4-2.
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Unfortunately, if you were not one of the people lucky enough to have made it through the doors of the Amalie Arena then you were relegated to listening to the game on 970 WFLA.
Not that this is an inferior option as they have an amazing call on there, but there is just something about watching a game unfold that makes it all that much more special.
The good news is, thanks to the Tampa Bay Lightning and the NHL you can now get a look at the highlights of the encounter; and trust me…there are plenty of highlights.
It was the Predators who would draw first blood just over a minute into the second period with a goal by Filip Forsberg with an assist from center Colin Wilson.
Fortunately, it wouldn’t take long for the Lightning to get that goal back. Just over four minutes later, Nikita Kucherov would respond with a goal of his own with the assists from center Vladislav Namestnikov and left wing Jonathan Marchessault.
Not to be outdone, Nashville came back with another goal in the second from centers Craig Smith and Derek Roy. This gave the Predators a 2-1 advantage over the Bolts heading into the final period.
From there, it was all about the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Bolts would register three additional goals in the final period of play. It would seem like there was one particular line that stuck out among the rest.
Three of the four goals of the night were brought forth by the line consisting of Kucherov, Namestnikov, and Marchessault; two of which came in the final period.
As for the fourth – technically the third goal of the night – came at the hands of defenseman Mark Barberio. Barberio received the assists from center Valtteri Filppula and defenseman Luke Witkowski.
When the final buzzer sounded to end the game, the Tampa Bay Lightning would raise their sticks up high in appreciation of the home crowd after defeating the Predators 4-2.
As we mentioned before, the Bolts kicked off the pre-season in grand form. It is nice to see that the team has worked so much on their defense during the off-season. This has been one of the aspects of our game that has plagued us for so long.
There are a lot of new faces that will be making their Tampa Bay Lightning debut this season, which means that Bolts fans have plenty to look forward to when the first puck drops on the regular season on October 9th.
It is also nice to see that the new guys are able to step up and get the job even without the presence of our stereotypical “big guns.”
We don’t know about you, but if the rest of the season looks anything like what we saw on the ice last night, this is going to be a pretty exciting season.
What did you think of last night’s matchup between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Nashville Predators? What are you most looking forward to when the regular season kicks off? Which of the young players are you really pulling for to make the main roster? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Next up, the Lightning will travel to the Bridgestone Arena to face off with the Nashville Predators once again, this time on their home turf. The game kicks off at 8:00 p.m. EST and while the game will not be shown on television in the Tampa Bay area, you can listen to the game on 970 WFLA.
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