Lightning lineup for Friday against Atlanta

Posted Sep 17, 2009 by Erik Erlendsson

Updated Sep 17, 2009 at 01:36 PM

Tampa Bay will showcase its top stars for the home crowd in their only home preseason game.

The Lightning released their roster for Friday’s game against Atlanta which includes top stars Vinny Lecavalier, Marty St. Louis, Steven Stamkos, Ryan Malone and free agent acquisition Alex Tanguay. The game will also feature the return of goaltender Mike Smith, who has not played since suffering a concussion that cost him the final two-plus months of last season.

“I’m not nervous right now, but I’m sure I will be tomorrow and that will be a good thing,” said Smith, who is scheduled to play the first two periods. “I’m probably just more excited than anything to get into a game; it’s been six, seven months now and that’s a pretty long time.”

The game will also feature the team’s two first round draft picks from 2009, defenseman Victor Hedman and forward Carter Ashton, the No. 29 overall pick who is slated to play on a line with Lecavalier and Tanguay.

“It’s pretty amazing to even practice with those guys the past couple of days,” Ashton said. “It’s been a great experience and if I get the chance (to play with them) it would be something to remember.”

Hedman will be making his second consecutive preseason appearance having logged over 27 minutes in his debut Wednesday in Dallas.

“It was great, it was good to get started,’’ Hedman said of Wednesday’s game. “I didn’t expect to play that much, but it was great to play so much. I feel that I play better when I play a lot, so it was a good experience to play a lot.’’

The rest of the forward combinations are schedule to look like this: Stamkos between St. Louis and Malone; Paul Szczechura will center Stephane Veilleux and Richard Panik while Ryan Craig will play in between Zenon Konopka and Blair Jones.

The defense is slated to include Mattias Ohlund, Lukas Krajicek, David Hale, Kurtis Foster, Mike Lundin and Hedman, the later four all having played on Wednesday as well.

In addition to Smith in goal, Dustin Tokarski is scheduled to dress and play the final period.

After Friday, the team will not play at home until the home opener on Oct. 8 against New Jersey. Tampa Bay will depart on Sunday for an eight-day, six-game road trip to conclude the exhibition season. Beginning Monday the Lightning play in Regina, Saskatchewan; Everett, Washington; Loveland, Colorado; Winnipeg, Manitoba and Norfolk, Virginia in five consecutive nights before ending the preseason on Sept. 27 in Atlanta. The team returns home for four days before departing town to get ready for the Oct. 3 season opener in Atlanta.