TAMPA – Sending April messages in December doesn't seem appropriate, or even worthwhile.
But one can be sure that when the Tampa Bay Lightning host the Toronto Maple Leafs at Amalie Arena, with both teams having reached the 30-something-game mark, in a mid-December meeting, it will be far from a run-of-the-mill, early-season showdown.
Both teams will be looking to make a statement.
"Potentially you could see them down the road,’’ Maple Leafs’ center Nazim Kadri told the Toronto Sun. “We’re going to give them all the credit in the world but we want to go in there and beat them.''
Tampa Bay ente...
