Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Carolina Hurricanes preview

October 10, 7:06 PMTampa Bay Lightning ExaminerAlthea Pashman

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Antero Niittymaki
(TBL Media File)

The Hurricanes are making their first appearance at the St. Pete Times Forum but it’s the second time they are facing off against the Lightning. These teams met on October 6 in North Carolina where the Hurricanes came away with 2-1 win.

Carolina (2-2-0) enters tonight’s contest winners of two straight, and are looking for their ninth straight win over the Lightning. Carolina recorded their first win of the season against the Lightning, winning 2-1 in a shootout, then routed the Panthers on Friday night 7-2. The Hurricanes look to win their ninth straight over the Lightning.

Tampa Bay’s last win over the Hurricanes came on March 29, 2008 by a 2-1 score.

The Lightning (0-1-2) are looking for their first win of the year and enter the game having lost a heartbreaker in the shootout (4-3) to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night. New Jersey’s Travis Zajac scored with one second left in regulation to tie the game at 3-all sending the game into overtime.

Steven Stamkos netted the Lightning’s first two goals and Todd Fedoruk scored at 5:41 of the third period to put the Lightning ahead 3-2.

After a scoreless overtime period, Zach Parise and Jamie Langenbrunner added shootout goals for the Devils, leading them to victory.

Antero Niittymaki will get his first start of the season against the Hurricanes as Mike Smith is a bit stiff after getting crash into by Jamie Langenbrunner from a Ryan Malone hit. After the game, Smith said he thought he broke his back but expected to be stiff. "It was like I was in a car accident”, he said.

Defenseman David Hale has the flu and is out tonight, Kurtis Foster remains out with a lower body injury, and Lukas Krajicek gets his first start of the season.

Lightning Nutz and Boltz

In Thursday’s game against the Devils, the Lightning broke last season’s record for most shots on goal in a single period with 25. Last’s year’s mark was 24, set against the Atlanta Thrashers on December 20, 2008.

Martin St. Louis currently holds the seventh-longest active streak in NHL consecutive games played.
Tonight's game marks St. Louis' 312th consecutive game played for Tampa Bay.

Entering play tonight, Victor Hedman leads all NHL rookies in average ice time with 25:53 and in shifts per game with 32.3. He is also tied for first in shots on goal with eight, and is tied for second in points with three.

Linemates Martin St. Louis and Steven Stamkos currently are the only Lightning pair to have active point streaks this season. St. Louis has posted two goals, three assists, and five total points in three games this season, while Stamkos has recorded two goals and two assists for four total points in the same time span.

Milestone Tracker:

• Martin St. Louis reached career assist number 400 against New Jersey on October 8.
• Vincent Lecavalier is just ten games shy of the 800 career NHL games played mark. Lecavalier also needs three more game-winning goals to reach 50 for his career.
• Steven Stamkos totaled his 50th career total point in the Lightning's last game against New Jersey.
• Jeff Halpern needs just three more points to reach the 300 mark for his NHL career.
• Andrej Meszaros played in his 300th NHL game played against New Jersey on October 8 and is two shy of his 100th career NHL assist.
• Mattias Ohlund is seven goals shy of recording his 100th career goal.
• Paul Ranger is ten points away from totaling his 100th career point.
• Alex Tanguay is seven goals shy of his 200th NHL career goal total.
• Matt Walker must appear in seven more games to reach the 250 games played mark.
• Stephane Veilleux is seven shy of his 50th career goal, three shy of his 50th career assist, and a total of 10 points shy of his 100th NHL career point total.

The Lightning announced that they have claimed Radek Smolenak off waivers from the Chicago Blackhawks. Chicago claimed him from Tampa Bay on Sept. 25th after a training camp roster reduction. Smolenak, 22, was Tampa Bay’s second choice (75th overall) in the 2005 draft and made his NHL debut with the Lightning last year, posting one assist and 10 penalty minutes in six games. He also scored 24 goals last year for the AHL Norfolk Admirals.