Merela's three points leads Bolts to third-straight preseason win

Following a 4-0 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes in the preseason home opener Friday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning won their third-consecutive preseason game Saturday with a 5-4 win over the Nashville Predators at AMALIE Arena.

The Bolts had multiple big names make their preseason debut Saturday afternoon, including Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Mikhail Sergachev and Steven Stamkos, but it was newcomer Waltteri Merela who stole the show with two goals and one assist, leading all skaters with three points.

After a strong start to the game, the Lightning surrendered the game-opening goal at the 14:25 mark of the first period when a turnover in the defensive zone ended with Yakov Trenin sending a pass to the front of the net, where Joakim Kemell was waiting to fire a perfect shot over the glove of Matt Tomkins and into the top right corner.

Trailing 1-0 after the opening 20 minutes, Tampa Bay opened the second period on the penalty kill and evened the score just 34 seconds into the frame with Brandon Hagel scoring a shorthanded goal, marking the second-straight game that Lightning have lit the lamp while down a skater.

Using his speed, Hagel burst from the Bolts end into the neutral zone, beat Filip Forsberg to a loose puck and fought through the backcheck of Roman Josi before making a beautiful move to the backhand and sliding the puck past Kevin Lankinen for his first goal of the preseason.

“There was kind of just a loose puck and I knew it was kind of a race for the puck and I knew I just had to push it forward to kind of get that edge,” said Hagel. “Then, I tried to get his stick out of the way and I was able to bring it back. The goalie slid and I just brought it back to the backhand.”

Nashville was able to answer back almost instantly when a clearing attempt by Tampa Bay took a wild bounce off a stanchion and went right to Ryan O’Reilly, who was able to send a pass to Philip Tomasino before he beat Tomkins with a backhand shot to make it 2-1 just 1:17 after Hagel’s tying goal.

As the back-and-forth action continued, the Lightning tied the game again with Austin Watson scoring his first goal of the preseason at the 8:12 mark of the second period.

Skating into the offensive zone with the puck, Merela showed impressive patience and vision when he bought himself some time and found a trailing Watson streaking into the Nashville end. Merela put a pass right on the tape of Watson, who evened the score with a nice shot to the far post.

The Predators continued to push and regained the lead with 2:09 remaining in the second after some nice puck movement ended with Tommy Novak beating Tomkins into the top left corner. His goal sent Nashville to the locker room with a 3-2 lead and a 22-18 shot advantage after 40 minutes.

Trailing by one, the Lightning tied the game up once again with Merela scoring his first of the preseason 4:26 into the third period. After a clean faceoff win from Stamkos, Nick Perbix sent a pass across the blue line to Hedman, who threw the puck towards the crease, where Merela was waiting to redirect it into the back of the net to make it 3-3.

“He's gotten better as he's gone on,” said Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper when asked about Merela after the game. “Playing in different sized ice rinks and different leagues, it's different. You've just got to let these kids get used to it.

“Whether you're coming from junior or coming from Europe, you've got to get accustomed to the style of play and how things go down here. I think he's improved with every practice, every game and I think he got rewarded tonight for some of the hard work of the past week and a half.”

With Forsberg in the penalty box for cross-checking, the Bolts got their first lead of the night with a power-play goal at the 12:57 mark of the third. Following a puck battle inside the Nashville zone, Point made a great play to stick lift Trenin and toe drag the puck right around him before sending a pass to a wide open Kucherov at the right circle. Kucherov quickly rifled a one-timer past Yaroslav Askarov for his first of the preseason to give Tampa Bay the 4-3 lead with 7:03 left in regulation.

Fifty-six seconds later, Merela blew the game open with his second goal of the night, an NHL-caliber play that saw the Finnish forward steal the puck off Fedor Svechkov at the Lightning blue line, fly into the Nashville zone, use his size to protect the puck, fight off a big body in Luke Schenn and beat Askarov to give the Bolts a 5-3 lead with 6:07 remaining. It would go down as the game-winning goal.

“Really good player,” said Hagel when asked about Merela. “I thought he was excellent tonight. He’s fast. He’s quick. He’s good with his stick, obviously.

“That breakaway goal, to put his left foot in front and get that shot off, that’s an NHL play right there. He was exceptional tonight, I thought.”

Fighting to make the NHL roster, the 25-year-old Merela was asked what kind of impression he thinks he’s made on the Lightning throughout training camp.

“I don’t know, hopefully the way I want them to see me,” Merela said. “Of course, we had the rookie camp and a lot of different style games, and I guess the younger guys. Hopefully they like my habits. I’ve been working on those a lot and just the player that I am. Hopefully that’s what they see.

“It’s an awesome hockey town for sure. I think it’s going to get even better, so hopefully this isn’t my last game here.”

Tampa Bay clearly sees something in Merela, evidenced by the roster moves made following the game when the team reduced their roster by 30 players. The Bolts now have 26 players remaining on the roster and Merela is one of them.

“You're looking for these diamonds in the rough and guys that can help you and sometimes those guys are older,” Cooper said after the game. “We're hoping that Merela is one of these guys, whether he is with us or is in the minors.

“He's a prospect. He's just an older prospect. But has he hit the prime of his career? Not even close. I still think his trajectory is pointing up and he's a long way from his ceiling.”

Earning his keep moving forward, Merela will continue to fight for a spot on the final roster. With three games left in the preseason, the Lightning’s next contest will take place Tuesday at Amway Center in Orlando vs. the Florida Panthers. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET.

“I'm really happy with what's gone on,” said Cooper. “Other than the news of Vasilevskiy, but we've got to move on from that and get this team ready. It’s been so far, so good.”