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Kessel Era Begins Tonight
 Posted
11/3/2009 1:06:00 PM
The Phil Kessel era begins.
The long-awaited debut of Brian Burke’s coveted preseason acquisition will finally take place Tuesday night when Kessel plays his first game as a Leaf.
“I’m not too nervous, but I’m really excited to get out there and play hockey,” Kessel said with a smile. “I haven’t played for six months now, it’s been a long time.”
Matt Stajan has drawn the first opportunity at centre alongside the dynamic Kessel and Jason Blake, a decision Ron Wilson explained Tuesday morning.
“In this environment right now, [Stajan] is probably the most prepared to handle playing with a guy like that,” Wilson said.
[He] has the tools to be able to get the puck to [Kessel] and now it’s going to be a matter of timing. And I’ve said to Phil ‘you have to be open on the bench and tell them—because there’s no chemistry yet obviously, they’ve had one practice together—you have to tell your linemates when you want the puck.’”
“I’m a passer-first type of guy and Phil’s a guy who gets in the open,” Stajan said.
“Hopefully we can be successful.”
Wilson is also hoping the presence of Kessel will ignite a slumping Jason Blake.
The veteran winger has just one goal in twelve games, and told me following the pre-game skate that he's desperately trying to stay positive.
Kessel's presence should help to at least create some space.
“Obviously Phil brings a tremendous amount of skill,” Blake said. “He’s got some great wheels and he can shoot the puck, so for us it’s an opportunity to play with a great player. Phil is the type of guy that can make guys around him better and it’s just for us, keep working hard, keeping it simple. And now you got a winger like that, that’s so dynamic, it’s definitely going to help.”
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The Lightning are fresh off a 6-2 drubbing from the Flyers on Monday night, a evening that saw Vincent Lecavalier finish with a (-3) rating.
The star centre struggles from last year have continued into this season, drawing the ire of coach Rick Tocchet.
“He's got to get his game sharp. There's nothing wrong with saying it,” Tocchet acknowledged in comments to the St. Petersburg Times earlier this week."
Most disturbing to the coach is Lecavalier’s apparent lack of attention to detail.
"Not finishing checks, cheating a little bit … it's unacceptable," Tocchet said. "That's the one thing I came into this year (thinking): If I see your game slipping — if you're not scoring, I can live with it — but if you're turning away from checks and not battling down low defensively, if you're constantly on the ice and teams are getting chances against you … this is something we're going to correct the next day. It's not going to be corrected next week."
Lecavalier scored 52 goals in 2006-2007 under former head coach John Tortorella. Last year, his first under Tocchet, he notched only 29, his lowest total since 2001-2002.
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Look out for Victor Hedman on Tuesday.
The 2nd overall pick in the 2009 draft is playing a shade under 25 minutes a night for the Bolts and displaying the confidence and poise of a player beyond his years.
“I know he’s a great talent,” fellow countryman Jonas Gustavsson said of Hedman. “One of the best D’s of all the young players, maybe the best.”
“He’s a big, tall guy, plays simple and still can make some plays. And I saw he had his first fight the other day too, but he’s a great guy.”
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Steven Stamkos has scored in six straight games for Tampa, and has a team-high 16 points entering Tuesday’s game.
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Marc Savard assisted on 22 of Kessel’s 36 goals last season or 61%.
In his first two season though, Kessel scored 30 goals and Savard assisted on just seven.
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Forwards
Blake Stajan Kessel
Ponikarovsky Grabovski Kulemin
Hagman Mitchell Stempniak
Primeau Wallin Orr
Defense
Kaberle Komisarek
Beauchemin White
Exelby Schenn
Goalie
Gustavsson
-J.Siegel
Follow me on Twitter: jonas640
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