I don’t know about you, but I love me some Spider-Man. (Photo: Joe Shlabotnik/flickr)
Some things you should know before tomorrow’s game:
- It’s a matinee, which means it’s that really weird time in the afternoon like in a movie theater, except your tickets may not have been that much cheaper. Puck drop is at 1 p.m.
- It’s Super Hero Celebration Day. Captain America, Thor, Spider-Man and more will be on hand to greet all of the kids who have off from school in honor of the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (okay, yeah, and all the overgrown children dressed as grown men).
Okay. On to the game itself, shall we?
The Lightning are 1-0 after embarrassing the Capitals 6-3, and they aren’t going to slow down. They split last year’s series with the Islanders, but this year it’s a best-of-three with the shortened schedule. The winners last year scored at least four goals each time, so expect it to be either lopsided or high-scoring overall. Martin St. Louis got off to a hot start with a three-point night against Washington, and newcomer Anders Lindback was solid with 27 saves.
The Isles, meanwhile, dropped their season opener 2-1 against the Devils. They had good chances, but (as usual) didn’t finish on them, and while their special teams excelled, they still have some things to iron out. Jack Capuano is apparently going to try to be back on the bench after missing Saturday’s game with kidney stones (ouch), but if he isn’t, it’ll probably be up to Doug Weight and Brent Thompson once more. No word on who’s starting in net yet — I’d expect that tomorrow morning.
That’s all from my end. The preview’s a bit early, I know. Here’s the Lightning’s take on the game before I leave you. Enjoy!
UPDATE 1/21/13: The Islanders posted their preview as well. You can view that here. Also check out Lighthouse Hockey’s take, complete with Tampa Bay’s new additions to the lineup.
