For the first time in 16 years, the Ottawa Senators face a Tampa Bay Lightning team without Steven Stamkos.

Stamkos signed a four-year, $32 million contract with the Nashville Predators on July 1 after playing his first 16 NHL seasons with the Lightning. He has been Tampa Bay’s captain since 2014 and is the all-time leading player in goals, points and power play goals.

But that doesn’t mean the Lightning aren’t still incredibly dynamic.

As they arrive in Ottawa (1 p.m. faceoff, SN, RDS), they’re off to a 3-0 start to their young season and appear ready to compete again.

Former Senator Nick Paul is off to a good start for the Lightning with three points in three games. With 24 goals and 46 points last season, the big two-way forward earned one of the league’s most team-friendly contracts and is locked in for five more years at an AAV of $3.1 million.

In 2022, Ottawa traded Paul to Tampa for Mathieu Joseph and a fourth-rounder (Blake Montgomery). To make room, the Sens sent Joseph and a third-rounder to St. Louis for free this summer.

Since Linus Ullmark is expected to miss the third game in a row due to injury, Anton Forsberg is expected to start in goal. Forsberg had a decent performance against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night. Belleville’s Mads Sogaard remains with the big club as a replacement.

Sens head coach Travis Green told Gord Wilson on TSN 1200 radio that Ullmark remains close, but the club wants to play it safe.

Artem Zub (concussion) and Ridly Greig (upper body) remain out of Ottawa’s lineup due to injuries, but both are on track to return before the end of October.

Based on the line combinations at Thursday’s practice, the Senators could reshuffle the cards a bit today. The Tkachuk-Stutzle, Pinto-Perron and Norris-Batherson pairs remained intact.

Tkachuk-Stützle-Amadio
Gregor Pinto Perron
Giroux-Norris-Batherson
Cousins-Gaudette-MacEwen

Sanderson Hamonic
Chabot Jensen
Kleven JBD

Here’s the straight breakdown, although it’s important to note that some numbers are still a bit inaccurate due to the small sample size early in the season.