Bolts notes: Oilers topple Lightning, 5-2

With most of Tampa Bay's top stars sitting out Thursday night's preseason game, the Lightning dropped a 5-2 decision to the Oilers.

Magnus Paajarvi, Edmonton's top pick in the 2009 draft, registered a hat trick, while the top overall pick in 2010, Taylor Hall, also scored for the Oilers. Former Lightning D Kurtis Foster had a pair of assists.

Dan Ellis played the entire game in net for the Bolts, stopping 16 shots. D Randy Jones and RW Carter Ashton scored for Tampa Bay, which lost for the first time in three exhibition games.

"We are not going out there just to learn, we are going out there to win the hockey game, so when you don't win you go over everything to figure out the reasons why it didn't happen the other way,'' left wing Ryan Mallone said. "But the thing is, we are trying to come together, we have to execute better, move our feet and create those opportunities. The biggest key is going to be attacking the net at all times and if you play that way for 60 minutes, that's pretty tough to stop and it wears the other team down. (Thursday night) we had a little bit of that.''

It was the Lightning's third consecutive night playing after being in Dallas on Tuesday and Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Wednesday to face the Chicago Blackhawks.

"I tried guys in all situations, but I'm not happy that we lose, I can't stand to lose, we play to win, but I'd lie if I said I played all my top guys in every situation,'' Lightning coach Guy Boucher said. "We were here to see guys trying to make the team, guys on the bubble and right now we got a lot of information to make our decisions.''

Tampa Bay will practice in Calgary today before ending the four-game road trip on Saturday against the Flames.

Solid showing

Before making his preseason debut, C Blair Jones exchanged text messages with a friend. One in particular stood out to the 24-year-old entering his fifth year as a pro.

"I had some interesting advice. He told me it's never a bad thing to get noticed in a good way anytime you can,'' Jones said.

In Wednesday's game, Jones scored a nice goal, lifting a puck from in tight over the shoulder of Hannu Toivonen. But what might have stood out more was Jones standing up for Chris Durno, who took what looked to be a questionable knee-on-knee hit from Chicago D Nick Boynton.

After the play, Jones went right after Boynton and sent the veteran to the penalty box angered and bloodied.

"He showed a lot of guts. I gave him my warrior of the game, and he deserved it. He pretty much did everything,'' Boucher said.

Crime and punishment

Speaking of Boynton, not only did he catch the ire of the Lightning for the knee-on-knee hit to Durno, but Chicago coach Joel Quenneville confirmed the league reviewed Boynton's throat-slashing gesture he gave to Jones while making his way to the penalty box. Boynton also appeared to tell Jones "Your (expletive) dead.''

Boynton received a one-game suspension during the regular season for the act.

Nuts and Bolts

C Marc Pouliot left the game after the second period and did not return. He is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.