Rogers, Andy

Eric Erlendsson of the Tampa Tribune is reporting that the Tampa Bay Lightning have made six training camp cuts following Saturday night's first preseason game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. All six are being sent the Norfolk Admirals training camp and will join the current roster which starts on Monday. The six players include Lightning prospects Blair Jones, Brandon Segal, Chris Lawrence, and Andy Rogers. The remaining two cuts include free agent invitees Jamie Heward and Sean O'Connor.

Heward had previously said that he if he could not make an NHL roster, he would return to Europe instead of playing North American minor league hockey. It is unknown if Heward will report to the Admirals training camp.

Norfolk defeats Pittsburgh.

TB-5
PIT-4 (SO)

First Period
Pittsburgh 0:51, Jordan Staal 1 (Evgeni Malkin, Ben Lovejoy)

Second Period
Tampa Bay 3:50, Janne Niskala 1 (Brandon Bochenski, Jussi Jokinen)
Tampa Bay 7:06, Wyatt Smith 1 (Matt Smaby)
Tampa Bay 8:40, Brandon Bochenski 1 (Radek Smolenak, Jussi Jokinen)
Pittsburgh 15:18, Petr Sykora 1 (power play) (Miroslav Satan, Jordan Staal)

Third Period
Pittsburgh 10:11, Petr Sykora 2 (power play) (Janne Pesonen, Alex Goligoski)
Pittsburgh 17:06, Sidney Crosby 1 (shorthanded) (unassisted)
Tampa Bay 18:41, Brandon Bochenski 2 (Janne Niskala)

Overtime
NO SCORING

Shootout
Tampa Bay- Jokinen, Stamkos
Pittsburgh- NONE

Karri Ramo stopped 26 of 30 shots in regulation and overtime before stopping both shooters he faced in the penalty shot session.

This is as significant a win as you can get in the first matchup of preseason in September. The Lightning iced a team that basically represented the bulk of their players ticketed for Norfolk of the AHL while the Pens essentially iced their NHL regulars. This is a Pens team that made it to the Stanley Cup Finals last season and the Lightning prospects and AHL pros gave them all they could handle and more en route to victory. It speaks volumes for the future of this franchise.

Lots of prospects in this game:

TBL.com sat down with the Lightning's Brian Lawton following this week's Prospect Camp to get a feel for which prospects not named Stamkos raised some eyebrows. Getting special props from Lawton were Andy Rogers and Chris Lawrence.

“Chris Lawrence really surprised us, as did Andy Rogers. They are the perfect example of guys who just needed a fresh start and both responded very well. You can expect to see them in our main camp in Tampa and in exhibition games this year. We expect both of them to take a dramatic upswing in their careers.”

Lawton also praised new defensive prospect Ty Wishart acquired in the trade with San Jose for Dan Boyle. “Ty’s been a terrific surprise – he’s got such good size and mobility with strong stick and puck skills. He’s a lot further along than we thought when we made the trade for him.”

Other prospects specifically called out by Lawton include Riku Helenius, Mitch Fadden, Alex Killorn, Scott Jackson, Justin Courtnall, and Norfolk blueliner Darryl Boyle.

This one seems to have flown under the radar...

The Sun Herald reported last Thursday that defenseman Andy Rogers and goaltender Ryan Munce have been reassigned from the Mississippi Sea Wolves of the ECHL to the Norfolk Admirals of AHL.