In Ben Bishops return to Tampa Bay the former Lightning star got a standing ovation from the crowd and a video played in his honor. Signs of we miss you Bishop strung about some fans in the arena and well, he showed them in that first period what they were missing from him. Both goalies stepped up and both teams got physical in the first period of play.
In a tightly contested first period neither team could take the edge and provide a spark but both teams tempers were flaring. Dan Hamhuis and Vladislav Namestnikov grabbed hold of each other and agreed upon dropping the gloves.