BRANDON — The Lightning’s lineup for Friday’s preseason game against Nashville will look like the more like its final version that the previous two games. This edition features more NHL regulars.
Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov, Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat will play for their first time this preseason. They’ll be joined by Cedric Paquette, Mikhail Sergachev and Braydon Coburn. New backup goalie Curtis McElhinney will also see his first action.
Highly-touted prospects Carter Verhaeghe, Alexander Volkov and Mitchell Stephens will also play on Friday.
Hedman and Sergachev are paired together, as they have often been in training camp. One of the questions facing the defensemen is who will play with Hedman after the Lightning didn’t re-sign Dan Giradi (who announced his retirement Friday).
Sergachev brings strong skating with an offensive upside to the pairing. Kevin Shattenkirk, an offseason signing, has played a top role in the past and could also be a good fit.
At forward, the triplet line of 2015 has been reunited, with Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov playing together at least for the night.
Forward lines
Ondrej Palat-Tyler Johnson-Nikita Kucherov
Carter Verhaeghe-Cedric Paquette-Alexander Volkov
Danick Martel-Jimmy Huntington-Mitchell Stephens
Boris Katchouk-Gemel Smith-Dennis Yan
Defensive pairings
Victor Hedman-Mikhail Sergachev
Braydon Coburn- Ben Thomas
Luke Witkowski-Jan Rutta
Goalies
Curtis McElhinney
Spencer Martin