On the one-year anniversary of their first back-to-back Stanley Cup Victories, the Tampa Bay Lightning opened their 2021-22 preseason on the road in Raleigh. After dispatching the Carolina Hurricanes in five games last postseason, the Lightning and Hurricanes showed little resemblance to the lineups they boasted back in June.
The preseason serves as a way to progressively reincorporate your NHL regulars into game action and help round out the fringes of the roster. This first contest of the preseason featured just four players seemingly locked into the Tampa Bay opening night lineup: Mathieu Joseph, Ross Colton, Mikhail Sergachev, and Jan Rutta.