The Buffalo Sabres will face the Tampa Bay Lightning Saturday night at the St. Pete Times Forum, and by any measure, the Lightning (2-3-3) will be up against a hot team. Buffalo (5-1-0) has sprinted out to the lead in the Northeast Division and, coming off a shutout win against the Florida Panthers in Sunrise, Fla., on Thursday are undefeated on the road this season with four wins.

But hot or not, the sight of the Sabres arriving has rarely been a welcome one to the Lightning.  The last time that Tampa Bay posted a winning record for the season against the Sabres was the season they won the Stanley Cup, 2003-04, when the Lightning went 3-0-0-1 against them.

Since then, Tampa Bay has compiled a 5-15-4 mark, though the teams did split the four meetings last season.

For Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, the reason for the Buffalo domination of the Lightning is a mystery.

"That's tough to figure," Ruff said. "We've been on the opposite side of that with some teams like Pittsburgh. When you look at it, we've won games here lots of different ways."

Almost all of those winning ways have included goals by Sabres forward Thomas Vanek, who has acquired a reputation as a Lightning killer with 22 goals in 24 games against Tampa Bay. Vanek, who has recorded points in all six of Buffalo's games, has no explanation for his success against the Lightning.

"It's just a coincidence," Vanek said. "I've gotten the chances and the puck has gone in."

Buffalo's success against his team was less a mystery to Lightning coach Guy Boucher.

"They are a very well-coached team," Boucher said. "A lot of set plays are working for them. Teams that react faster than their opponents find success and that's what they have, they react very fast. They have smaller forwards and they are very evasive and that creates a lot of problems for slower defensemen."

The Lightning, coming off a 4-1 win against the Islanders on Thursday that snapped a five-game losing streak, are counting on duplicating that effort tonight.

"We know it's going to be a challenge," Lightning forward Steven Stamkos said. "If we play like we did last game we'll give ourselves a chance to compete and that's the game plan today."

Coming off the win Thursday night, Mathieu Garon will get his second consecutive start in net for the Lightning against Ryan Miller for Buffalo.

Here's the projected lineup for both teams:

TAMPA BAY

Martin St. Louis - Steven Stamkos - Steve Downie
Ryan Malone  - Vincent Lecavalier - Teddy Purcell
Tom Pyatt - Dominic Moore - Brett Connolly
Blair Jones - Nate Thompson - Adam Hall

Victor Hedman - Eric Brewer
Brett Clark - Pavel Kubina
Marc-Andre Bergeron - Matt Gilroy

Mathieu Garon
Dwayne Roloson
 
BUFFALO

Thomas Vanek  - Luke Adam - Jason Pominville
Tyler Ennis - Derek Roy - Drew Stafford
Cody McCormick - Ville Leino - Brad Boyes
Nathan Gerbe  - Paul Gaustad  - Patrick Kaleta

Robyn Regehr  - Tyler Myers
Jordan Leopold - Christian Ehrhoff
Andrej Sekera - Marc-Andre Gragnani

Ryan Miller
Jhonas Enroth

TAMPA BAY -- Mathieu Garon will be in the goal for Tampa Bay when the Lightning host the New York Islanders tonight.

Garon will get the call in lieu of Dwayne Roloson after Roloson stopped only 32 of 39 shots during a 7-2 defeat at the hands of the Florida Panthers on Monday night.

"Physically, the challenge is there," Roloson said, reflecting on his current 5.09 goals-against average. "Mentally, the challenge is there. It's the execution that has been missing."

And if Roloson's recent performance was not enough to prompt Lightning coach Guy Boucher to call for the backup, there is this: Garon is 3-0-1 lifetime against the Islanders with a 1.61 goals-against average and a shutout.

But Garon isn't counting on past success as any indication of future results.

"I've done well against the Islanders, but honestly I haven't faced them too often," Garon pointed out. "Every day is different and every game is new."

The Islanders arrive for their first road test of the season, with four days off since they defeated the New York Rangers on Saturday.

"I'm not concerned about the long layoff," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. "We've worked on keeping our focus and the break gave the team time to heal and condition. I'm happy with the three days of practice that we have had."

Tonight's expected lineups:

LIGHTNING
Martin St. Louis - Steven Stamkos - Steve Downie
Ryan Malone - Vincent Lecavalier - Teddy Purcell
Tom Pyatt - Dominic Moore - Brett Connolly
Blair Jones - Nate Thompson - Adam Hall

Victor Hedman - Eric Brewer
Brett Clark - Pavel Kubina
Marc-Andre Bergeron - Matt Gilroy

And as mentioned, Garon gets the start with Roloson backing up.

ISLANDERS
Matt Moulson - John Tavares - PA Parenteau
Michael Grabner - Frans Nielsen - Kyle Okposo
Blake Comeau - Josh Bailey - Brian Rolston
Trevor Gillies - Marty Reasoner - Matt Martin

Andrew MacDonald - Travis Hamonic
Mark Streit - Steve Staios
Mark Eaton - Mike Mottau

Al Montoya is expected to get the start in goal with Evgeni Nabokov serving as his backup.

The Tampa Bay Lightning have their home opener on tap tonight, after beginning the season with five straight road games, a stretch which marked their longest road trip of their season.

The delayed homecoming was a result of a $40 million dollar renovation to their home arena, the St. Pete Times Forum, which is still underway.

After the surprising success of 2010-11, the team departed confidently, but after compiling a 1-2-2 record they return to Tampa a bit humbled, toting a four-game losing streak -- which equals the longest winless streak of last season.

"It's tough -- five games on the road and two final preseason games away," forward Martin St. Louis said. "It's hard to win in this League."

Coach Guy Boucher also commented on the frustrations inherent in an early road trek.

"We've just played seven games on the road (including the final 2 preseason games). That's very difficult. We could have returned here 0-5," Boucher said. "It's tough to be on the road and be in experimental mode. That's what we are in -- we've got some new guys trying to find where they fit in. That all funnels down. There is a process and we respect the process and also try to accelerate it."

Here are the projected lineups for Monday night's game between the Lightning and the Florida Panthers:

LIGHTNING
Martin St. Louis - Steven Stamkos - Steve Downie
Ryan Malone - Vincent Lecavalier - Teddy Purcell
Ryan Shannon - Dominic Moore - Brett Connolly
Adam Hall - Nate Thompson - Mattias Ritola

Victor Hedman - Eric Brewer
Brett Clark - Pavel Kubina
Marc-Andre Bergeron - Matt Gilroy

Dwayne Roloson is expected to start in goal with Mathieu Garon serving as the backup.

PANTHERS
Tomas Fleischmann - Stephen Weiss - Kris Versteeg
David Booth - Tomas Kopecky - Scottie Upshall
Sean Bergenheim - Marcel Goc - Jack Skille
Shawn Matthias - Ryan Carter - Matt Bradley

Ed Jovanovski - Erik Gudbranson
Brian Campbell - Mike Weaver
Jason Garrison - Dmitry Kulikov

Jose Theodore is expected to start in goal with Jacob Markstrom serving as the backup.
   

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla -- The 2011 Florida Rookie Tournament gave prospects for three teams -- Nashville, Florida and Tampa Bay -- a chance to impress their organizations before NHL training camps commence this weekend.

Here's a look at six players who stood out the most during the tournament:

1. Craig Smith, F, Nashville Predators -- Appearing in two games with the Predators, Smith dominated the offensive zone in each contest. Smith collected four goals and an assist against the Tampa Bay Lightning rookies on Monday night. To prove that performance was not a fluke, he followed up the next game on Tuesday against the Panthers by adding an additional two goals. No one else in the tournament came close to his offensive production.

2. Eric Gudbranson, D, Florida Panthers -- The Panthers played in three tournament games, but Gudbranson only played in two, sitting out the finale against the Lightning. No matter, his two appearances were enough to demonstrate how dominating Gudbranson can be. He's 6-foot-4 and hits big, too. He was never out of position and his passes were precise, resulting in two assists.

3. Ryan Ellis, D, Nashville Predators -- A smooth skating offensive defenseman, Ellis controlled the puck seemingly at will, made several end-to-end rushes, and ran the power play with confidence. Although he finished the tournament with only one assist in the two games Nashville played, he always made his presence known.

The Florida Panthers defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 today in the finale of the 2011 Florida Rookie Tournament.
 
The game was closer than the score showed, however, as both teams wrapped the tournament with a spirited, back-and-forth battle.
 
The Panthers got goals from forwards Jonathan Hazen and John McFarland, along with a power-play score from defenseman Adam Comrie. Late in the game, with Lightning goaltender Jaroslav Janus on the bench in favor of an extra skater, Panthers forward Josh Birkholz was awarded the final goal after Tampa Bay defenseman Mark Barberio pulled him down from behind on a breakaway.
 
Brian Foster, who is signed to an AHL contract, was in the net for Florida. He stopped 32 of 33 shots as Tampa Bay outshot the Panthers 33-29. Foster's only misstep came in the final period, as Lightning forward Tyler Johnson stole the puck in front of the Florida net and scored unassisted.
 
Pat Nagle started in the net for Tampa Bay and stopped 12 of the 14 shots he faced. He gave way to Janus at the halfway point of the second period, and he was successful on 14 of the 15 shots that came his way.

Tampa Bay Lightning Assistant General Manager Tom Kurvers talked about which players have impressed him here at the Florida Rookie Tournament.
 
"I've been really impressed with Cory Conacher (5-foot-8, 180 pounds)," Kurvers said of the training camp invitee. "He has some things small men need to play in the NHL. He has speed, puck skill, hockey sense and determination. When we open training camp he has a pretty good role model to see across our locker room, Marty St. Louis. Lots of under-sized guys have tried to get there (NHL), but not that many have made it, but Marty's been the best ever, perhaps.
 
"I wasn't familiar with Conacher until this spring and then again at this tournament, but he's made a great impression."

Conacher had 23 goals and 19 assists last season with Canisius College. When his college season ended, he saw time in the AHL with Rochester and Milwaukee, and Cincinnati in the ECHL.
 
Kurvers also talked about the size of the Lightning squad here, which is noticeably smaller than the opposition they've faced.
 
"Small teams can beat big teams with structure and synergy, but we really just scrapped a team together and threw them on the ice here," he said. "You'd like to win these games, sure, but there's a lot of things to factor in. Winning the games are secondary to individual performance of our young players -- we're assessing players on an individual basis. GM Steve Yzerman has been very clear in what we, as an organization, are looking for in hockey players, and hockey sense and competitiveness top the list; not at the expense of size, but when we are looking at potential players, these factors have to be present in order to argue the case for a player.
 
"Other teams have other criteria -- size is something some other teams may go after first. There are different ways of going after the prize."

In the hardest-fought, most physical battle staged to date at the 2011 Florida Rookie Tournament, the Nashville Predators fought back from a 1-0 deficit to defeat the Florida Panthers 3-1.
 
Taking center stage for the second consecutive day was Nashville rookie Craig Smith. Smith scored a pair of goals, which follow the 4 goals he scored Monday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

In three games here, he has 6 goals and an assist.

Florida took an early lead behind a goal by Jonathan Huberdeau off a rebound of a hard shot from the point by Erik Gudbranson. Panthers goalie Jacob Markstrom stopped 34 of 37 shots, including several of the challenging variety.
 
For Nashville, the goaltending tandem of starter Atte Engren and Chet Pickard, who took over at the halfway point of the second period, produced their second consecutive win. Engren stopped 16 of the 17 shots he faced, including a highlight-reel glove save on a wide-open Quinton Howden from in front of the crease, and Pickard was perfect on all 20 of his chances.
 
The final game of the tournament is Wednesday at noon, when the Lightning try to break into the win column against the host Panthers.

The surprise of the Florida rookie tournament so far has been Nashville Predators forward Craig Smith.

Smith had 2 goals today against the Panthers, which follows the 4 goals he scored Monday against the Lightning. Smith, who played three seasons of junior hockey with the Waterloo Black Hawks of the United States Hockey League, has spent the last two seasons at the University of Wisconsin.

Goal scoring is something Smith has proven he can do in the past. He had 19 goals in 41 games with Wisconsin last season, and 28 in 54 games in 2008-09 in the USHL. He was taken by the Predators in the fourth round (No. 98) in the 2009 Entry Draft.

In the second period today, Smith ripped a slap shot from the right faceoff circle to beat Panthers goaltender Jacob Markstrom for his first score, and then pounded home a rebound from the slot in the third.

Mike Santos, Florida Panther Assistant General Manager, commented on the play of his tournament prospects so far:
 
"All-in-all, we're happy with all our prospects. It's been a big jump from last year and I think that has to do with the commitments we've made as an organization, like with our development camp this summer -- things that haven't been done in the past that now we're doing the right way."
 
One thing that stands out is the size of the Panthers youngsters, as 16 of the 27 skaters on the Rookie Tournament roster are 6-foot-2 or taller. According to Santos, that is no coincidence.
 
"Size is one of the things we look for," he said. "Character is the most important thing to us, but after that, size is something you can't teach. You can expand their skills and do things to help them be a better hockey player, but you can't stretch them out. So when they're big, they're good."

After Lightning goaltender Pat Nagle misplayed a puck behind the net resulting in a Nashville Predators goal, Tampa Bay goaltending coach Frantz Jean had Nagle and fellow netminder Jaroslav Janus on the ice early this morning, working on handling the puck and playing behind the net.
 
"Puckhandling and positioning on plays like that are typically not worked on by goaltenders during the summer," Jean said.

Although Nagle didn't get much defensive help in the 7-3 loss to the Predators, Jean didn't think he did much to help himself.

"He was fighting the puck all night, but of course, it was his first game after a college career. It's an adjustment and takes time," Jean said.
 
Sharing the ice with the Lightning trio was Panthers forward David Booth, working with his long-time skating coach Jennifer Matras.