Tampa Bay Lightning G Ben Bishop made his preseason debut Friday as the Lightning knocked off Florida 4-1 at Amalie Arena.
Bishop did not play in either of the first two preseason games but split time with G Kristers Gudlevskis, who had not played since suffering an upper-body injury in a prospect tournament game on Sept. 15.
Center Logan Brown, the son of former NHL puck-moving defenseman Jeff Brown, is also playing in the game, along with power forward Max Jones, the son of former NHLer Brad Jones and Luke McInnis, the son of former NHL player Marty McInnis. Others: Graham McPhee (son of George McPhee), Tage Thompson (son of Brent Thompson), Mitch Eliot (son of Darren Eliot) and Drake Rymsha (son of Andrew Rymsha).
“I think David Goodwin is actually the highest scoring returning player in the Big Ten,” said Gadowsky. “So I think not only are we looking towards him, I think everybody will understand that he’s a guy that will have to have a comparable year for us if we’re going to score as many goals as we did.”
Cam Janssen has made his name as one of the toughest players on the planet. Nottingham Panthers fans want to see him fight. That is inescapable.
The problem for the former New Jersey Devil has been finding someone willing to step up and put their well-being on the line in his first four games with the club.
“We’re a more experienced team, definitely bigger and (more) physical,” said Gamblers second-year defenseman Grant Frederic, who is one of three players remaining from last year’s opening-game roster.
Tkachuk, the son of former NHL player Keith Tkachuk, will play for Team Roenick. The 6-1, 195-pound left wing had 38 goals and 96 points in 65 games with the NTDP U-18 team last season. He also had a tournament-high 10 assists in seven games for the U.S. at the 2015 IIHF World U-18 Championship.
Ryan Pulock and Scott Mayfield came into training camp assuming they were fighting for an open spot on defense. That battle lasted less than a day, with the Islanders signing veteran Marek Zidlicky on Friday to essentially fill the last defense spo
Opilka plans to put a miniature version of the cross on his goalie mask when he gets it painted. The symbol reminds him of his roots and of the town he called home until Grade 6 when his family moved two hours west to St. Louis so he could pursue his passion of playing hockey.
“There is no hockey scene in Effingham,” he said. “It was either go to Chicago or St. Louis to play hockey.”
Kitchener is at a crossroads, too. But this one is in the crease.
Forwards Logan Brown and Luke Kirwan will not be in the lineup Thursday when the Windsor Spitfires open the Ontario Hockey League season.
Instead of being at the WFCU Centre for the 7:05 p.m. match with the Erie Otters, Brown and Kirwan will be in Buffalo to compete in the USA Hockey All-American Prospects Game (7 p.m., NHL Network).
Interestingly, Wideman was alongside Mark Borowiecki in a third pairing while the fourth pair was composed of Jared Cowen and Michael Kostka. Erik Karlsson-Marc Methot and Patrick Wiercioch-Cody Ceci were the first and second pairings, familiar from last season.
