Tampa Bay Lightning, Simon Gagne impress early in pre-season
The new-look Tampa Bay Lightning continue to enjoy an impressive preseason with a 4-2 win against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night.
One of Tampa Bay’s new additions Simon Gagne, helped lead the Lightning with a goal and two assists. Gagne admitted he was nervous before the game but felt great afterward.
"I'm not going to lie to you, I feel pretty good right now," said Gagne.
"It's a new chapter in my life. I was a little bit nervous before the game. Most of the time when you're 30 years old you're not nervous before a pre-season game, but I was."
Heading into the season, Gagne had spent his entire 10-year career playing for the Philadelphia Flyers before being traded to the Lightning in July for Matt Walker and a fourth-round draft
pick in 2011.
"Now it's a good feeling when you're able to help the team to win and be able to score one goal and get a couple helpers," Gagne said.
"It's good for the confidence. It definitely helped to (make me) feel better. I'm pretty happy that the first one is done and went well and now I can focus and just be more relaxed now."
Steven Stamkos, Blair Jones and Carter Ashton also scored for the Lightning. The game was played on neutral ice, as the two teams squared off at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg in front of
14,092 fans.
Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp, who were both born in Winnipeg, scored for the Blackhawks. Toews said that it was nice to return home to see family and friends but was eager to get things
going in the regular season.
"It's nice to be home, but it's time to get down to business and get back to pre-season," Toews said.
The Lightning opened up the scoring after Gagne had set up Stamkos at 17:57 of the first period, who swatted the puck past Chicago goalie Marty Turco. Chicago tied the game just 54 seconds
into the second period when Sharp scored on a breakaway against Lightning goalie Cedrick Desjardins.
Carter made it 2-1 for the Lightning 17:33 through the second, beating Hannu Toivonen on the power play after his replacing Turco in net. Gagne then gave the Lightning a 3-1 lead early
in the third, only to have Toews reply for the Blackhawks just 33 second later to make it a one goal game.
Jones then completed the scoring with just over five minutes remaining to give the Lightning the 4-2 win.
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