Preseason game 1: Tampa Bay at Pittsburgh

The Tampa Bay Lightning won their first preseason game in a shootout 5-4 last night. The much heraled Steven Stamkos put in the game winning shootout goal. Not a bad way to start the season.

For those of you who didn't listen to this game on the radio - or over the internet like I did - you missed an interesting game. Sure, it's preseason and Lecavalier, St. Louis, Malone, Recchi, Roberts, or Kolzig did not make the trip, but did you take a look at the Pittsburgh roster? The Lightning fielded a bunch of guys I'd barely heard of, but Pittsburgh had basically their starting roster on the ice - including Crosby, Malkin, and Fleury.

You know, that's not a bad deal for a bunch of guys who were only thrown together about 5 or 6 days ago. They beat almost the same bunch of guys who made it to the Stanley Cup Finals - and without the members of that team that ended up with Tampa Bay. That's something to think about, even if it is preseason.

It started off a little shaky. Ramo had one go by in within the first 30 seconds of the game. And then, when they were up 3-1, they let Pittsburgh back in the game. But then buckled down and won it in the end, which is what matters.

Forwards, take note of the score. That's shades to come of your plus-minus this season. Not pretty, is it?

So it'll be interesting to see if these guys do better, or worse, with the big boys in or not. I realize that part of the reason that they did so well was because Pittsburgh wasn't familiar with most of those guys. Opposing teams pretty much know what to expect from Lecavalier, St. Louis, and Prospal when they're on the ice, after all. At least they should, by now. Still, it's a promising start, all the same.

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