Ritola, Mattias

If a tree falls in the woods, and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? If the Panthers score six goals at their home opener... well... you get the point.

TB-0
FLA-6

Dan Ellis allowed 3 goals on 15 shots for the loss before being lifted for Mike Smith who allowed 3 goals on 23 shots the rest of the way. This loss was on the skaters, though.

First Period
01:50 FLA Stillman (1), McCabe (1), Dvorak (1)
14:25 FLA Booth (1), Matthias (1), Olesz (2)
15:13 FLA Reinprecht (1), Bernier (3), Santorelli (2)
18:15 FLA Wideman (1)(PP), Weiss (1), McCabe (2)

Second Period
NO SCORING

Third Period
07:49 FLA Booth (2), Olesz (3), McCabe (3)
17:25 FLAR Olesz (2), McCabe (4), Booth (3)

The Lightning may have been a little tired, or they may have been a little too pleased with themselves. Either way, they re-learned the valuable lesson that in the NHL, if you come out flat, you can get embarassed by anyone in the league on any given night. The good thing is that it's one of eighty-two games. Dallas Stars on Monday. Turn the page.

Mattias Ritola was -3 with 3 shots, 1 hit, and 1 blocked shot in 12:14. That +/- number looks terrible, but I thought he looked good in the offensive third and was one of the few Lightning players with any jump.

Michael Vernace was -1 with 2 shots, 2 hits, and 1 blocked shot in 16:33. If I were Vernace, or Dana Tyrell, I'd be sweating bullets. There are a lot of players down in Norfolk playing some damned good hockey.

Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.