Lightning wrap up preseason with a penalty-filled loss
Much like Thursday’s tilt between these two teams, there wasn’t much hockey played. With 312 penalty minutes between the two teams, all they could really work on was their special teams. To their credit the Lightning, who were the aggressor most of the night, killed off 13 power plays. Florida still managed to score six times with an extra skater in their 7-0 victory. It was just that kind of night.
After the Lightning announced six call-ups prior to the game it was obvious that the game would head in this direction. Things started early when one of those call-ups, forward Scott Sabourin, hit Aaron Ekblad along the boards and then started pummeling the Panthers’ defenseman. Continued retribution for the hit on Brandon Hagel last season or setting a tone for the game? Take your pick.
Sabourin was the first of 14 players that would have their night ended early by misconduct penalties, leading coach Jon Cooper to quip that the Lightning had “more coaches than players” on the bench at one point. Only four Lightning players escaped without having a penalty called against them while 10 players had at least 10 minutes of penalties. Dylan Duke led the way with 31 PIM in just 10:38 of playing time (for the record his infractions were a roughing, roughing, fighting, misconduct, holding, and another misconduct).
Things were so out of hand that the teams and on-ice officials missed that Niko Mikkola was assessed a game misconduct four minutes into the third period and he was on the ice for what was initially the eighth Florida goal before everyone realized he was ineligible.
The majority of the starting line-up didn’t even suit up for the game, but Andrei Vasilevskiy was in net for the first 40 minutes. He stopped 20 of 26 shots with five of the goals allowed coming on Panthers’ power plays. Pheonix Copley came on for the third period and made 11 saves on 12 shots.
The hope is that both teams have gotten this out of their system, and when they meet in November in the regular season, the action on the ice resembles an actual hockey game. Last night’s contest was the result of two organizations that have a history of not liking each other and a way too long pre-season. The good news is that next year’s pre-season will be much shorter.
With all of the nonsense behind (except for the possible fines) the Lightning can now focus on the important things – the season opener against Ottawa on Thursday. Outside of all the fights over the last two games, there were a lot of positive things to pull from the Bolts’ 6-1 record. The power play looked more coherent, they got scoring from up and down the line-up, and they allowed two or fewer goals in five of the seven games.
Expect all of the players that were recalled to be re-assigned to Syracuse today. Also, keep an eye on the waiver wire as teams have to put their players on it in order to clear by 2:00 PM tomorrow. Final rosters have to be in the league by 5:00 PM on Monday.
Vikings' wave of Saturday roster moves includes the return of C.J. Ham
The Vikings made a wave of roster moves on Saturday in advance of their Week 5 game against the Browns in London.
Here they are:
- C Ryan Kelly placed on IR
- FB C.J. Ham activated from IR
- QB Desmond Ridder waived
- OL Vershon Lee signed to 53-man roster
- RB Cam Akers elevated from practice squad
- OL Henry Byrd elevated from practice squad
We covered Kelly landing on injured reserve due to his latest concussion in a separate story.
With Michael Jurgens out due to a hamstring injury, Blake Brandel will make his first career appearance at center against Cleveland. His backup will be Lee, an undrafted rookie out of South Carolina who the Vikings signed in June. Lee played center, left guard, and right tackle during his five-year college career.
The return of Ham is significant. The Vikings spent the first four weeks of the season without their fullback and one of their most valuable special teams players due to a knee injury that landed him on IR in late August. Ham, the Vikings' second-longest-tenured player behind Harrison Smith, played 277 offensive snaps and 299 on special teams last season.
Getting Ham back should provide a boost for the Vikings in the running game and on special teams. He typically only plays around 15-20 snaps per game on offense, but he's useful in those snaps as a lead blocker in the run game. Kevin O'Connell also sometimes deploys him on obvious passing downs because of his abilities as a pass protector out of the backfield. The 32-year-old Ham has played in 136 games with the Vikings since the 2017 season and has scored six career touchdowns.
Ridder being waived is notable in that it means the Vikings will only have two quarterbacks available for Sunday's game. With J.J. McCarthy ruled out, it'll be a third consecutive start for Carson Wentz, with rookie Max Brosmer as his backup. It's highly unlikely that both players would become unavailable in the same game, but it would be fascinating to see who the Vikings' emergency quarterback would be in that situation. Hopefully it won't get to that point.
The Vikings signed Ridder in mid-September after McCarthy's injury. The former Falcons third-round pick spent last season with the Raiders. If McCarthy is healthy after the bye week — and that's not exactly a sure thing — the Vikings would be back to a full three-person quarterback room.
Lastly, Byrd and Akers being elevated to the gameday roster gives the Vikings some additional depth. Byrd is presumably the backup to both Joe Huber at left guard and Will Fries at right guard. Akers has now been elevated for three consecutive games, but Zavier Scott has emerged as the Vikings' clear-cut RB2 while Aaron Jones is on IR. Akers did not play an offensive snap last week.
