Krajicek expected to play

Coach Barry Melrose said he expects newly acquired defenseman Lukas Krajicek to play in tonight's game if the schedule laid out does not hold any glitches. Krajicek, who apparently has his visa issues worked out, was supposed to land in Tampa this afternoon. Worst case scenario, he gets to play. Best case, if his plane gets in on time and the coaches can spend some time briefing him, he might even see some power play time.

"It's not ideal," Melrose said of the situation. "We just expect him to compete."

As for the defensive pairings, who knows?

"There's a lot of gray areas in this whole scenario," Melrose said.

The only definite, he said, was getting Andrej Meszaros playing against Eric Staal. After that, he added, "You're basically trying to find two guys that work well together, that seem to have a little bit of sense together. It's an experiment back there."

Other tidbits: Mike Smith starts in goal. ... Wing Jason Ward said his strained groin is about 90 percent healed and added, "Now I just have to get back in the lineup. ... Vinny Lecavalier said the biggest thing wrong with the 0-for-9 power play is players are not "moving and attacking the net. ... If all we're doing is passing the puck, that's not going to lead to anything." ... Melrose praised what Sun Sports Paul Kennedy aptly named the Old School Line of center Chris Gratton and wings Gary Roberts and Adam Hall. "What I like is their work ethic. They just outwork the teams they're against. Our goal is to get our skill guys playing with the intensity of that line. If you get (Ryan) Malone and (Radim) Vrbata and (Vinny) Prospal playing with the intensity of those guys, then you have something great because skill guys finish a play." ... Lecavalier said he "loves" playing with Prospal and is sure he will again, though he said his line is set tonight to start with Malone at left wing. Prospal moves to Steven Stamkos' line.   

Comments

[Hockey1stLove]

Gee, Damian I was beginning to wonder if the team left you behind in Europe.. haven't heard from you in a while - Welcome back. Looking forward to tonight's game -