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Some Sleepless Moments Before Home Opener

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON

eerlendsson@tampatrib.com

Published: October 8, 2008

The Lightning touched down at Tampa International Airport in the early pre-dawn hours Monday morning, returning home from a 10-day, cross-continent trip.

No doubt the traveling party enjoyed two days off to rest and shake off some of the jet lag incurred from all the travel. But here are some numbers from Tampa Bay's weekend series loss to the New York Rangers in Prague, Czech Republic, that no doubt caused some sleepless moments for members of the coaching staff and management as the Lightning prepare for Saturday's home opener against Carolina.

Tampa Bay vice president of hockey operations Brian Lawton already pulled off one trade, acquiring defenseman Lukas Krajicek from Vancouver for Shane O'Brien, after witnessing the Lightning's struggles in their own end in the first two games of the season. They were outshot 80-40 in the pair of losses:

Shots Lightning are on pace to allow this year

Shots on goal Lightning are on pace to register this season

Total games of NHL experience combined among Tampa Bay's six defensemen on the roster, including games over the weekend (Andrej Meszaros, Matt Carle, Jamie Heward, Mike Lundin, Janne Niskala, Krajicek)

Defensemen currently in the NHL with more games played than the Lightning's entire defense (Chris Chelios, Rob Blake, Scott Niedermayer, Mathieu Schneider, Darryl Sydor, Roman Hamrlik, Nicklas Lidstrom, Luke Richardson)

Miles the team traveled, leaving Tampa on Sept. 25 for New York and returning home on Oct. 6

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