Bolts open the preseason with a loss in Carolina

The Tampa Bay Lightning lost the special teams battle on Tuesday night and dropped the first game of the preseason in a 5-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena.
Vladislav Namestnikov scored the lone goal for the Bolts near the midway point of the third period in his first game wearing a Tampa Bay uniform since February 22, 2018.
The Lightning finished the game 0-for-2 on the power play and 2-for-5 on the penalty kill. Carolina iced a more NHL-heavy lineup on Tuesday than Tampa Bay and ended the game with a 46-21 shot advantage.

Maxime Lagace got the start in goal for the Bolts and went the distance, making 41 saves on the night.
"A lot's gone on in our training camp here the last couple of days," said Lightning head coach Jon Cooper. "With the storm and everything coming in, we'd lost a day of camp, so a lot of these players hadn't touched the ice since two and a half days ago and now they're thrown in here against a lot of players that have established themselves in this league.
"So, you have to take this with a grain of salt for what's gone on with our group. In saying that, it is the first game for a lot of these guys since July, so they're getting their feet wet as well.
"But again, do we have a lot better in us? Of course, we do. But under our circumstances and what's gone on, the boys played hard."
After the first period ended with the score tied 0-0, the Hurricanes opened the scoring at the 11:50 mark of the middle frame with a power-play goal from Andrei Svechnikov. Cal Foote was whistled for cross-checking shortly later and Carolina added a second power-play goal with Paul Stastny deflecting a point shot from Dylan Coghlan to make it 2-0 just 3:56 after Svechnikov opened the scoring.
Trailing 2-0 to start the final period, Tampa Bay surrendered a third goal to the Hurricanes at the 4:57 mark when Sebastian Aho wired a perfectly placed wrist shot into the top corner. The goals came in pairs again for Carolina when Seth Jarvis scored 1:32 later to make it a 4-0 game with 13:31 remaining in regulation.
Namestnikov got the Bolts on the board at the 11:42 mark of the third period with Ross Colton and Cole Koepke both making nice plays in the Hurricanes zone to set up Tampa Bay's lone goal of the evening.
After Erik Cernak saw Koepke streaking through the neutral zone, he flipped the puck deep into the Carolina zone from behind the red line, but Koepke used his speed to win the race, negate icing, and cycle the puck down low for Colton.
Colton put heavy pressure on the defenseman behind the net with a strong forecheck and won the puck before feeding a perfect pass in front of the net to Namestnikov while falling down.
Namestnikov quickly fired a shot on goal that was denied by Frederik Andersen, but he stayed right there on the doorstep and buried the rebound to get the Bolts on the board.
"I was getting a little bit of chemistry there in the third period with Vladdy, so maybe me and him could get something going here moving forward, which would be pretty nice," said Colton. "For me, I just want to come in, play my game, play hard and do whatever I can to help the team win."
It was a nice play by all three forwards, started off by Koepke, who is working to earn a spot on the opening night roster. He also did a nice job to draw a hooking penalty in the first period when he used his speed to nearly split two Carolina defenders.
Alex Barre-Boulet had one of Tampa Bay's better scoring chances on the night with a nice between-the-legs move and wraparound attempt that was stopped by Andersen. Gemel Smith showed good energy on the forecheck and with his physicality.
"If you're looking at the big picture of the game, they were better than we were tonight," Cooper said. "But a few guys showed us some stuff and that's always good. Guys are working hard and giving the coaches something to think about. Some guys did that tonight."
One of the more experienced players on the roster for the Lightning on Tuesday night was Nick Paul, who wore an 'A' as an alternate captain for Tampa Bay. Paul logged 18:22 time on ice and recorded a team-high five shots on goal with two hits, one takeaway, and a 6-4 record in the faceoff circle.
"Paul was a seamless fit into our team," Cooper explained. "There's no surprise with the impact he had on our team on the ice.
"A lot of guys in this room have led and there's guys that are going to be leading down the road. When you have some of the guys out of the lineup like we did tonight, Paul deserves to be in the position he's in.
"He's a well-liked guy and he works his ass off and so that's why he wore the letter."
Another player wearing an 'A' on Tuesday night was Mikhail Sergachev, who led all Lightning skaters with 21:24 time on ice and five blocked shots. Sergachev was on a pair with Erik Cernak, who may be his partner on the Bolts second defense pair on opening night.
"We played like 10-20 games together [last season]," said Sergachev. "He's easy to play with. He talks. He's big. He's strong.
"He wins the puck and gives it to me, so he's pretty easy to play with and I enjoy playing with him."
Carolina went on to add one more power-play goal with 18:23 remaining to wrap up the 5-1 final.
"We've just got to get through these games and pick up our pace and pick up our hands and our skates and everything," Sergachev said. "It's going to take some time, but I feel like we're going to be 100% on opening night."
The Bolts are back in action on Thursday, September 29 when they battle the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena at 8 p.m. ET.