The Nashville Predators may have lost in Tampa last night, but the result was entirely negligible. The Lightning dressed players like Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, and Chris Kunitz. Meanwhile, the Predators’ composed a first line of Miikka Salomaki, Colton Sissons, and Frederick Gaudreau. No disrespect to the latter group, but that’s a serious imbalance of power.
The Lightning came out strong in the first period, with Victor Hedman tallying his first of the preseason after just 33 seconds. At 15:37, Tampa doubled their lead via Nikita Kucherov.