Panthers at Lightning preview

PANTHERS (0-0-0) at LIGHTNING (0-0-0)
7 p.m. ET; FS-F, SUN, NHL.TV

The Game

Forward Nikita Kucherov will play for the Tampa Bay Lightning against the Florida Panthers at Amalie Arena on Saturday.
Though Kucherov returns after missing the final week of preseason games with a lower-body injury, Lightning forward Tyler Johnson is out with an upper-body injury sustained in practice two weeks ago.
Forward Mike Hoffman will make his Panthers debut. Hoffman was acquired in a trade with the San Jose Sharks on June 19.
Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, a Vezina Trophy finalist last season, will start for the Lightning. Roberto Luongo will start for the Panthers.

Players to watch

Center and new Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov has 17 points (two goals, 15 assists) in 18 games against Tampa Bay.
Lightning forward Brayden Point scored 32 goals last season and has eight points (four goals, four assists) in seven games against the Panthers.

They said it

"I wish 7 p.m. could come quicker, I'm excited to get out there. We played this team a lot in the preseason. Obviously both teams have a lot more to give. It's going to be a great matchup, a great challenge." -- Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad
"Guys have been looking forward to the start of the season for a while. It seems like camp lingers on, especially when the rest of the teams have started. Hopefully a great first game. I know a lot of people are excited to get the season going and so are we." -- Lightning center Steven Stamkos

Panthers projected lineup

Evgenii Dadonov -- Aleksander Barkov -- Nick Bjugstad
Jonathan Huberdeau -- Vincent Trocheck -- Mike Hoffman
Frank Vatrano -- Jared McCann -- Denis Malgin
Troy Brouwer -- Derek MacKenzie -- Colton Sceviour
Keith Yandle -- Aaron Ekblad
Michael Matheson -- Mark Pysyk
Jacob MacDonald -- Alex Petrovic
Roberto Luongo
James Reimer
Scratched:Maxim Mamin, Michael Haley
Injured:MacKenzie Weegar (shoulder), Bogdan Kiselevich (upper body)

Lightning projected lineup

J.T. Miller -- Steven Stamkos -- Nikita Kucherov
Ondrej Palat -- Brayden Point -- Yanni Gourde
Alex Killorn -- Anthony Cirelli -- Mathieu Joseph
Adam Erne -- Cedric Paquette -- Cory Conacher
Victor Hedman -- Dan Girardi
Ryan McDonagh -- Anton Stralman
Braydon Coburn -- Mikhail Sergachev
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Louis Domingue
Scratched:Danick Martel
Injured:Ryan Callahan (shoulder), Tyler Johnson (upper body)

Status report

Callahan, expected to return in early November, and Johnson wore regular jerseys during the morning skate. ... The Panthers will have five forwards on their first power-play unit.

Stat pack

The Lightning are 4-0-0 in their past four openers and 16-7-0 (two ties) all time, a .680 percentage that's the best in NHL history. ... Hoffman had 56 points (22 goals, 34 assists) with the Senators last season.