A Quick Primer For Those Jumping On The Bandwagon

Hi there. You may be here because someone on a podcast mentioned me as someone who wrote about the Lightning. You might be here because you’re a Blackhawks fan who wants to learn more about the Lightning. Or, as someone who likes to root for an underdog you’re jumped aboard the Tampa Bay Lightning bandwagon.

I don’t care why you’re here, I’m just glad you showed up. Below is a breakdown of all the members of the Lightning that you might see on the ice during the next couple of weeks. But let me also be your guide for following the team from Hockey Bay, USA. Some things to know:

1. We as a fan base have been around for a while. Believe it or not the Tampa Bay Lightning have been around for over 20 years. We’ve even won a Stanley Cup! Honest, look it up. We know what icing is (and not the kind that’s on a cake).
2. We embrace being a non-traditional market. Trust me there is nothing, and I mean nothing better than hanging out at the beach all day and then going to a hockey game in shorts and flip-flops. Do we do things different? Yes, but we still love hockey just as much as Wayne-O from Schaumberg.
3. The ticket ban/ jersey policy is stupid. We know it. The only people that are upset are people who aren’t going to fly to Tampa to go or are going on a press pass. Tickets weren’t even an issue since the initial run sold out within hours.
4. We know there will be a lot of Hawks fans in the crowd. Lots of those folks retire down and keep their allegiance to Chicago. That’s cool, when I’m old and frail I don’t want to have to put up with Chicago winters either. Thanks for spending your money at Amalie Arena.
5. Chicago has an awesome tradition with the National Anthem. We have real-life lightning in the building. I say it’s a tie.
6. Bolts is ok. Ning is not. Not ever. Don’t do it. Not even to be ironic.

Why should you root for the Lightning? Well everyone loves an underdog. And the Lightning are an underdog in Vegas and in the media. Everyone seems to think the Hawks are going to roll. My favorite is, “Man I hope the Hawks win in 6 so that they FINALLY get to clinch the Cup at home.”

Yes, on paper the Hawks are a deeper team. Johnny Toews is super awesome. Patrick Kane is a stickhandling genius. Duncan Keith has harnessed the secret of perpetual energy.  But they also have Corey Crawford in net. I don’t think he’s horrible, but he is inconsistent. The Lightning have waded through a hot goalie in Petr Mrazek, a Vezina goalie in Carey Price and a king in Henrik Lundqvist. I'm sure they are quite happy to face Stanley Cup winner Corey Crawford.

The Lightning could very well lose, I’m cool with that, but I have a feeling they’re going to give Chicago everything they can ask for. It will be speed vs speed. You can’t wear Duncan Keith down by pounding him physically, but you can tire him out with speed. If the Lightning get their transition game going, it will be a long, long series for the Blackhawk defense.

So time for you kids to get to know the actual players.

Tyler Johnson – I think we’ve hit peak saturation on the Tyler Johnson Love Express. One of my friends (a Blackhawks fan) mentioned that he now wants to punch him in the face. Before NBC got a hold of him, Johnson was a nice success story. Undrafted because of his size, all he does is win wherever he goes. He is the leading point scorer in the playoffs, has more speed than people (especially defensemen) think and has an innate ability to know where Ondrej Palat is at all times.

He's small, but scrappy! Photo from Associated Press

• Bandwagon Twitter tip – If he scores, Tweet something along the lines of “Tyler Johnson is good at hockey. Follow it up with #ThatLine to make Eric Erlendsson happy.
  
  

Strong shift from #ThatLine with Lundqvist robbing Garrison cutting down the back door at 16:04

— Erik Erlendsson (@erlendssonTBO) May 30, 2015

Ondrej Palat – To some (me) a story just as good as Johnson’s. The Lightning drafted him in the 7^th round, 207^th overall and he made it all the way to the NHL by being very good at a lot of things but great at none. While that might be the most backhandiest of compliments it is true. Nothing he does will stand out to you, but at the end of the night he walks away with a goal and an assist and a couple of nice defensive plays. He is the glue of The Triplets line.

Nikita Kucherov – If Johnson is the dynamic playmaker and Palat the steady, responsible forward, then Kucherov is the free-wheeling, hard shooting, fun guy on the line. On a team that loves making extra passes, he is the one guy with a shoot-first mentality. He is also usually on the end of the home run passes that the Lightning like to use to catch opposing teams off guard.

-Bandwagon Twitter tip – If you like to compete in John Buccigross’ OT Challenge – Kucherov is your man to pick. He has two overtime goals in the playoffs so far

Steven Stamkos – It may seem crazy that Stamkos hasn’t been mentioned until now, but that’s how dominating The Triplets have been in the postseason. Stamkos, in his first year as the captain, has been phenomenal. He scored his normal 40+ goals in the regular season, and after a small hiccup in the first round has rediscovered his scoring touch. He also shifted over to wing when Coach Cooper moved Filppula up to his line without a complaint. Gone are the days where he could only score on one-timers from the circle. He is a threat from any position now (except point on the power play – stop doing that).

Alex Killorn – He’s a Harvard man! He’s also the second member of the Lightning to score a game winning goal in the 7^th game of a conference final. The first was Fredrik Modin in 2004. Killorn’s game is a lot like Modin’s, physical with a bit of skill. Like chocolate and red wine he pairs well with Stamkos. Killorn as the grinder who goes into corners winning the puck or slapping home the rebound.

Perhaps the best photo so far. By Dirk Shadd/ Tampa Bay Times. Follow him on the twitter @DirkShadd. He is awesome.

Valteri Filppula – The only person on the team that has won a Stanley Cup. Filppula moved up to the second line in place of Callahan AND displaced Stamkos as at center. The result – Stamkos scores! Very creative playmaker who can stickhandle in a phone booth.

JT Brown – Chicago fans might be more familiar with JT’s dad, Ted Brown, who was a running back with the Minnesota Vikings in the early 80s then they are with the high-energy forward. JT isn’t on the ice much, he’s only averaging 11:50 for the playoffs, but he’s all over it when he is. A fast, tenacious skater he gets to called gritty until he starts actually scoring some goals.

Ryan Callahan – Has as many goals as appendectomies this playoff season. After playing most of the season on a line with Stamkos and Killorn he has found a more defensive role in the last two rounds. He has been effective as a forechecker and still finds time on the power play uniit

Brian Boyle – Boyle was brought in to win face-offs and chew bubble gum , and he’s fresh out of Bazooka. He’s one of four forwards that’s over 50%. I don’t have any fancy stats to back up, but his line does a good job of shifting the ice and spending time in the offensive zone, he just hasn’t been able to put the puck in the net. In the regular season he did score 15 goals, but he also had someone named Jo Drouin on his line.

Brenden Morrow – The sentimental “old guy without a cup” on the team. He was signed in the off-season for…..veteran leadership? He has played alright in limited amounts but hasn’t made much of an impact overall. Therefore, he should score an overtime winner at some point during the series.

Cedric Paquette – Most coaches have “their guys”. For Coach Cooper, Paquette is his guy. He’s not flashy (only 1 goal in the post season) but he is effective. Centering the broken up 4^th line his role is to create some energy which he tends to do by throwing his body around. His 41 hits is 4^th on the team. He is also one of the leaders on the penalty kill. Almost 205 of his ice time has been spent killing penalties. Fittingly enough his one goal – short handed.

Vladislav Namestnikov – The young Russian has been used sparingly in the post season. His only appearance against the Rangers was in the Game 6 debacle where he replaced Paquette in the line up. Possessor of much speed he is a nice asset to have in reserve, but is probably a year away from really contributing to the line up.

Johnathan Marchessault – There is no real reason to include Marchessault in this list. If things go as planned he won’t see the ice. The fact that he has already is a bit of a mystery. When Callahan was scratched in Game 6 against the Canadiens, it wasn’t superstar rookie Jonathan Drouin who replaced him, it was Marchessault.

Jonathan Drouin – Currently MIA. The rookie suited up for 70 games in the regular season and put up a respectable 28 assists while playing mostly with Brian Boyle. He’s only appeared in 3 games in the post-season leading fans to wonder if he stole a pack of Coach Cooper’s gum.

--Bandwagon Tip – if the Lightning get shut out or lose a low scoring game feel free to complain on twitter about Morrow playing and not Drouin. Don’t forget to add #FreeDrouin at the end.

Victor Hedman – The playoffs have been the coming out party for the Big Swede. A large individual (6’6”) who plays a smaller man’s game (i.e. he doesn’t hit people) Hedman is a very fluid skater who has no problem bringing the puck up the ice on his own. Please drink every time you hear the phrase “Victor Hedman is the Lightning’s Duncan Keith”.

Anton Stralman – The rare unicorn of a player that makes the new stats and the old stats people super happy, Stralman is the steady rock of the Lightning blueline. Mr. Yzerman might have overpaid a little bit to sign him in the off-season, but it has turned out to be the best move of his tenure as GM. Not only is Stralman a pretty good player, he’s had a mentoring influence on Victor Hedman, helping him take his game to the next level.

Matt Carle – Oh Matt Carle. We, as a fan base, have complete faith that we have absolutely no idea which Matt Carle will show up on a game-to-game basis. Will it be the one who laid out Chris Kreider on a big hit and started the scoring sequence that sealed the deal in Game 7 against the Rangers or the other one. The one that turns pucks over and makes us mutter…”God damn it, Carle” while photoshopping his head on pictures of Carl from the Walking Dead. He might be Blackhawks fans’ favorite player by the end of the series.

Jason Garrison – Jason Garrison just exists. He is there. At one point in the offseason he was in Vancouver. Then, he was in Tampa. He logs about 19 unremarkable minutes a game and occasionally chips in a point here or there. He is your prototypical second pair defenseman. Oh, and with the trade of Radko Gudas he does have the best beard on the team.

Andrej Sustr – Another redwood-sized defensemen, Sustr has had his ups and downs this post-season. During the season he was a solid replacement when the blueline was decimated by injuries, but he seems to have hit a bit of a wall in the post-season. There was an infamous moment where Rick Nash bullied him off the puck to set up a goal in the Game 6 blowout and he’s also had his share of turnovers in the defensive zone. He is usually paired with Matt Carle which makes for many, many stomach-churning moments for Lightning fans.

Brayden Coburn – Hawks fans might remember Braden Coburn. After all he was on the ice when Patrick Kane scored the Cup winner in 2010. Hopefully we don’t see a repeat of that. It’s 100% legitimate to say that the Lightning wouldn’t be in the Finals without him. The knuckle-puck he fired past Petr Mrazek in Game 7 of the opening round ended up being the game winner.

Nikita Nesterov – The rookie defenseman got his shot when Coach Cooper switched to an 11-forward and 7-defensemen rotation. Since then he’s proven that he should be logging regular minutes instead of say…I don’t know….cough Matt Carle cough. He has six points in 10 post-season games and gives the Lightning another puck carrying defenseman who doesn’t need help getting out of the defensive zone.

Ben Bishop – Oh #BishPlease. Is he elite? No. Is he shaky? No. He’s just a tall sum’ bitch that can stop pucks. Sure sometimes he’ll struggle and not make it out of the first period, but he’s also the goalie that has played in two Game 7s in his career and not allowed a goal. Of the two starting goalies, he is the one most likely to steal a game. He’s also the one most likely to knock a puck into his own net.

Andrei Vasilevskiy – He’s 20 years old. He made it to the NHL after playing in the KHL for only one season. He will see time in net in this series.

I hope that you’re leaving with a little more knowledge. I also sincerely wish best of luck to the Chicago Blackhawks and their fans. If it wasn’t the Lightning they were playing I would be pulling for you. After all you put on fantastic parades.

Lightning in seven.

Very Superstitious - But Then Aren't We All?

Now that we can exhale and relax for a couple of days, lets talk about superstitions. I consider myself an educated man.  Heck, I even have a piece of paper from Saint Leo College (Harvard of the South) to prove it somewhat.  In the reasonable portion of my mind I know the actions of one man in Chicago have absolutely no bearing on the outcome of a hockey game in Tampa. Yet, still…..



I don’t have many rituals when it comes to sports.  Sure I wore the same Johnny Cash T-Shirt/Flannel combination every Sunday during the Ravens last Super Bowl Run.  And, yes, I am currently sporting a playoff beard that may or may not be a direct violation of the official dress code at my place of business. But I’m not totally obsessed with rituals and superstitions.  But….

….I probably won’t watch another Lightning game in real time.  You see, I’ve managed to watch a four games this playoff season in their entirety.  All four games have ended as Lightning losses. Think about that for a moment.  They’ve only lost five games between the two series they’ve played - and I’ve seen four of them.  So, unless they rack up a three games to none lead in the next series I’m not watching them.

Is it logical?  Nope, not even close.  I know my watching the game at a bar or online has absolutely no outcome on the result, but here we are.  Luckily, with my work schedule it won’t be hard to miss games (2nd Shift 4 Life!) and I do go back and watch them after the fact.  Well, after the 48 hour blackout window on NHL.com, that is.

I can’t explain why I’m not watching the game.  Well, at least I can’t explain it to non-hockey fans. I haven’t told The Duchess yet, but I’m sure she’ll roll her eyes and chalk it up to another stupid sports thing.  One of my bellmen, who is Bosnian and not a big hockey fan, asked me why I was growing a beard. I told him and he rolled his eyes and blatantly said it was the stupidest thing he had every heard of.

Yet hockey fans understand. I’m not the only one at work who has sprouted whiskers over the last couple of weeks (yet I’m probably the only one doing it for the Lightning) and it’s actually started some conversations with guests who were checking in from Montreal.

One of the bartenders at work who is kind enough to put the game on TV so that I can catch glimpses from time to time admonished me for watching Game 5. Then, when I joked that I had switched my day off from Tuesday to Wednesday so that I wasn’t tempted to watch, he said it was the smartest thing I’ve done in a month.  (The real reason I switched was so that Link and I could go to a ballgame in Milwaukee, but why let the truth get in the way of a good story!)

It makes sense for players to have rituals or superstitions.  Eating chicken every day didn’t make Wade Boggs a better ballplayer.  It was, however, a ritual that relaxed him and made him feel more comfortable heading into the game. That feeling, not the act, made him a better ballplayer.

Avoiding the game isn’t something that I’ve always done.  I watched every game in the 2004 Stanley Cup run as well as every game in the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals run. So it’s not like watching in the past has jinxed them. This is a 100% new superstition for 2015.

Some of the other things that I have done in the past have met with mixed results. Wearing the Lightning jersey on game day is a 50/50 split as they’ve won two games and lost two games.  Wearing the all blue combo (blue pinstripe suit/blue shirt and blue tie) at work got off to a hot start with three wins, but cooled off with two losses.  Which is good, because people were really wondering why I was wearing the same getup every other day.

The aforementioned beard has carried them to the second round. This is the first playoff beard since 2011, since last year I was a little paranoid about growing one in what was still a relatively new job.  Oh, and The Duchess really, really doesn’t like it.  The last time I had it, I let it go full homeless because, well, I was unemployed and could do things like that. Now as a responsible employee I do at least clip it from time to time. (I haven’t kept track of their record on days when I trim the beard…hmmm..maybe that’s the key)

So, if there is no rhyme or reason to these “superstitions” why do I and thousands of other people do it?  I’m not sure.  Mostly because it’s fun I guess.  Sports are supposed to be stupid and fun. They are distractions from everyday life so why not go all in and enjoy it a bit?

Apparently there are more intellectual explanations for superstitions.  In my five minute of prep work I stumbled across a couple of articles about the topic.  One of them discussed something called the uncertainty hypothesis. As defined by Dr. Susan Krauss Whitbourne in her article Why We’re So Superstitious,  it states “when people are unsure about an outcome, they try to find a way to control it”.

Now that makes sense.  We, as fans, do not have any influence whatsoever on the game. Unless of course we jump on the ice and take a baseball bat to the other team’s goalie.  And as humans, not being able to control something tends to make us nervous. So if we can find something to fixate on that  has worked in the past we latch on to it because it gives us comfort. If it happens again and again than it takes on even greater importance.

Important games are nerve wracking enough as they are. Especially hockey games.  So there is a benefit to having or doing something that brings comfort.  Even if it’s totally nonsensical. Heck, the more nonsensical, the more relaxing it might be.

Not watching the games has probably added years to my life.  While not seeing Steven Stamkos score a goal to double the lead left a little happiness out of my life, not watching the final five minutes (after Montreal had pulled within two goals) kept a lot of stress out of it.  By the time I click “refresh” the action has already happened. It’s in the past so I can’t worry about it.

Another thing that studies into sports fans and their superstitions revealed is that fans who strongly support teams tend to feel less lonely. When you see someone wearing the same jersey you are it almost always brings a smile to your face doesn’t it? Especially if you’re an out of town fan.

During the week of Game 6 and Game 7 against Detroit there seemed to be an overwhelming amount of Lightning fans in Chicago.  By overwhelming I mean three.  I saw the Lightning logo at least three times over those couple of days.  Now, I don’t know if I just kept seeing the same guy over and over again or if they were actually different people, but every time I saw it, I smiled. Not only that, it made me feel more confident about the Lightning’s chances.

Finding a sense of belonging in the world is important.  And if sporting a ragged, patchy beard or wearing a t-shirt riddled with holes helps me find that place, well, then it’s not quite that crazy after all.

In a Deep, Deep Hole. Can They Come Back?

Not what you want to see when the Lightning are trying to come back

Let's start with honesty. I have been a horrible Lightning fan. During the first two games of the post season I have seen a whopping 15 seconds of in-game action. Chalk it up to work obligations (Wednesday night) and familial obligations (Friday night). Also due to work restrictions I can't grow a playoff beard. Luckily, due to some last minute scheduling changes the streak was broken and I was able to catch most of game 3.

Still most of my opinion on how the series has been going is based on other people's coverage. From what I've read and digested how do I feel the first round is going for the Lightning?

NOT GREAT BOB!

Off-topic – I cannot tell you how much I loved this scene from Mad Men. Pete Campbell is 30 different kinds of awesome. Most of last season I zoned out on Don Draper's descent into his own personal hell but perked up whenever Vincent Kartheiser's receding hairline and kick-ass sideburns showed up on screen. The show itself plodded a long a bit, but I have a feeling it will rebound nicely in it's last season (although I think things end badly for Mr. Draper).

Back to hockey.

I did watch most of the third game, which I'm thinking is actually the best game the Lightning have played over all. Still they ended up on the short end of a 3-2 score. They fought hard and Matt Carle's slapper from the point silenced the Montreal crowd for about three seconds. A few last second scrambles made things interesting at the end, but it wasn't enough to pull off the comeback.

A lot will be written (and has been tweeted) about the lack of coherent officiating in the game. Sure, the refs disallowed a goal for the Lightning because Alex Killorn was run into by Carey Price three and a half minutes before the goal was actually scored. Was it a bad call? Of course. Did it swing the momentum of the game? Yes. But who's fault is that?

One of the things you see from experienced teams is the ability to overcome bad calls. The bad calls become forgotten footnotes in the overall story of the game. So far the Lightning haven't been able to do that in the postseason. They're getting a hard lesson in how playoff hockey ramps up to a new level.

That being said, I'm not ready to count the Lightning out yet. After all, haven't we made that mistake a few times already? At the beginning of the season, after Stamkos' injury, the post-Olympic fade when there was a danger of the Maple Leafs catching them for a playoff spot. In all these cases the team has found a way to bounce back and put a streak together. Now, of course, they need a four game winning streak to keep their season alive.

How can they do it? By beating the living shit out of the Canadiens. Sorry to be a bit vulgar, but the honest truth is that they need to ramp the physical play up. They need to hit them, wait for them to get up, hit them again, wait for them to get the puck and hit them a third time. Eliminate the time and space that Montreal has with the puck and I think you'll see them cough the puck up a little bit more.

That goes against everything I believe in. I like the beautiful game. I like three passes to set up a tap in goal. I like speed and putting the defense on their heels. Unfortunately, that isn't going to work against Montreal. Should the Lightning be unable to pull off the comeback and the Canadiens match up against the Bruins next round, watch what Boston does to them. 

Ondrej Palat's pratfall was way better than Radko Gudas' in game one.

Part two of the comeback plan involves convincing Anders Lindback that he is a mini version of Ben Bishop. He has to be the difference. That isn't to say he's been playing horrible. He has been playing....good. With Carey Price playing like he's in the Olympics instead of the NHL playoffs, “good isn't” enough. Case in point, the third Montreal goal on Sunday night. The Lightning were in the game, dictating most of the play when they got out-hustled in their own zone. Tomas Plekanec wrists a shot at the net and it finds a way past Lindback.

If he is to be the difference he has to make that save. It wasn't an easy save, there were two players screening him, but it's a save that has to be made. Those are the saves that Price is making, and that, not bad officiating, is why the Lightning are down 3-0 in the series.

I'm pretty sure Ben Bishop isn't leading the team through the tunnel anytime soon. I think if he was going to play, game 3 would have been the one for him to be between the pipes. Coach Cooper didn't want to see his team down three games to none, and a 85% Bishop is better than Lindback.

Since I just spent the last three paragraphs heaping blame on Lindback you would think I'm pinning this all on him. That's not the case. The Lightning didn't get to the playoffs by playing tight defensive games and winning low scoring games. They have to get the offense rolling. Even during game three where they took the play to Montreal there were times when they shot themselves in the foot with bad outlet passes and cross-ice attempts that were easily picked off by Montreal defenders.

Your shoulder pads are not made of gummi bears, Anders.

If they clean up their play with the puck and put pressure on Montreal they still have a shot. Is it a great shot? No, but maybe this team is young enough and inexperienced enough to not know that they are supposed to roll over and die. If they take one in Montreal they can build on it. One win builds the confidence, two wins puts some doubt in the Canadiens' minds and the next thing you know it's a series again.

Post Season Preview! Lightning Are Back in the Playoffs!

C'mon Stanley would order way more than that from room service!

 

I thought that I had a great beginning for this post. “THE LIGHTNING HAVE NEVER LOST A PLAYOFF SERIES TO A CANADIAN TEAM!” Sadly, five seconds of research reminded me that Tampa was bounced in five games by the Ottawa Senators in 2006. So with that idea blown I put my laptop away, fired up Netflix and watched three episodes of “Dawson's Creek”.

However, I can say that, “Despite their long and illustrious history, the Montreal Canadiens have NEVER WON A PLAYOFF GAME AGAINST TAMPA!” Granted they've only met once and it was on the Lighting's 2004 March to Glory, but I'm never one to let small details get in the way of my point of view.

With the regular season winding down it was known rather early on that barring a collapse of Toronto Maple Leaf-ian proportions the Lightning would be facing the Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs. I had no problem with that match up. As a matter of fact, among the Eastern Conference finalists they are most likely the ideal opponent for the Bolts.

Even though the Lightning took three of the four regular season games between the two clubs, only one of the games was decided by more than one goal (and that game featured an empty netter at the end) and three of the four meetings went to extra hockey. So look forward to some bonus hockey in this series!

The Lightning's strength (offense) matches up with Montreal's strength (keeping the puck out of the net) on both regular play and on special teams. While it's a stretch to say that the Lightning's power play is a “strength” it is better than their ability to kill penalties. Luckily for them, the Canadiens are almost as inept on the power play as the Lightning are on the penalty kill. Special teams should cancel each other out.

Tampa Bay's offense is deeper than Montreal's despite the deadline acquisition of Lightning-killer Thomas Vanek. The Lightning boost an offense with four 20 goal scorers and seven skaters with double digit goal totals. That's depth right there folks. Of course lingering in the background, kind of not being mentioned is the fact that two of those skaters – Valtteri Filppula and Ondrej Palat – are banged up. While both are scheduled to go in game one, if they were to miss any significant time it could be damaging to the team's playoff hopes.

While Ben Bishop won the team MVP race by 13 lengths, Filppula has been the glue that held the offense together while Stamkos was out of the lineup. His solid play kind of goes unnoticed from time to time until you look at the score sheet and see that he had two assists or a goal and an assist. His ability to move the puck in crowds also opens up the ice for Stamkos or Palat on the power play.

Palat went from “Oh yeah, he's a rookie, too” to “Legitimate Calder Hopeful” and two-time rookie of the month. He has an uncanny ability to be in the right place to score goals despite not being the biggest, fastest or best player on the ice. His injury has yet to be diagnosed beyond “upper body” but was most likely caused when he was trucked by Columbus' Jack Johnson last week.

Of course the six-foot-seven sized elephant in the room is Ben Bishop and his health. He has already been ruled out of the first game and is questionable for the rest of the series with his creaky left elbow. That means Anders Lindback will get the call when the puck is dropped at the Forum Wednesday night.

Or Gudas. He can play net. Look at that butterfly!

Even the most ardent Lightning supporter would have to give the edge in net to the Canadiens if Bishop is out for a long stretch. As the eternal optimist I've found a way for this to work to the Lightning's benefit. The weight of the Canadian (country not team) world is now on the shoulders of Carey Price. Remember, all of Canada must rally around the one franchise in the True North that has a chance to win the Cup. Price has come through for his country before.

For his professional team? Not so much. He's one of the best damn goaltenders in the league yet the furthest in the playoffs the storied franchise has found themselves with him in net is the Eastern Conference finals in 2010. And they got smoked 4-1 by the Flyers that match-up. Oh yeah, and Price only played in four games during the playoffs as he had lost his starting job to Jaroslav Halak.

Couple that with the Canadiens (team not country) 21^st ranked 2.55 goals per game offense and Price NEEDS to be great for them to advance. Meanwhile, anything better than outright garbage from Lindback should be enough for the Lightning to advance to the next round in the NHL's Sweet Sixteen tournament. Of course, it would set up a nice plot line should Lindback play out of his mind against Montreal and Bishop declare himself healthy. What would Coach Cooper do? Stay with the hot goalie or the one that got you to the playoffs?

That's getting a bit ahead of ourselves though.

Let's break it down to the three things the Lightning need to do to win the series:

1. Score goals. Simply put they need to use their strength, offense, to mask the deficiencies they have in the net. In his last 8 games Steven Stamkos has only found the back of the net twice. That's not good. I'm all for secondary scoring, but in the playoffs the best player on the ice has to be the best player on the ice. It doesn't matter if he's on the wing or at center, he has to find his scoring touch in order to make life easier for Tyler Johnson, Palat and Filppula.
2. Stay out of the penalty box. Yes, Montreal's power play isn't on par with the Penguins or Bruins, but that doesn't mean the Lightning can have a steady stream of players going to the sin bin. Even if the other team isn't scoring, every penalty is two minutes that your team isn't on offense (although Tyler Johnson and his 5 shorties might beg to differ). Plus extended shorthand time tends to lead to more shots given up. The Lightning are best off minimizing the shots fired in Lindback's direction, not increasing them. Which leads to the final point.
3. Block shots. Yes it leads to bruises and increases the risk of Ryan Callahan missing games, but they have to, have to, have to, have to cut down on the number of shots that get to Lindback. Or even Bishop should he come back in the series. They need to get in the way of shots, control the puck and set up their counter attack.

Try not to use your face to block shots, boys!

Prediction time! The only thing that I'm worse at doing than predictions is writing consistently. If even one of these comes true it will be a miracle.

Winner – Lightning in 6

Number of OT games – 4

Longest OT – 3

X Factor – PK Subban

Leading Scorer Lightning – Stamkos

Leading Scorer Canadiens – Vanek

Number of Games Bishop plays – 4

Number of Games Gudlevskis plays – 0 (please God let it be 0)

Lindback's GAA/SV% - 2.89/91.7

Number of games BJ Crombeen suits up - 2

Number of Radko Gudas hip-checks – 3

Number of Radko Gudas missed hip-checks – also 3

Number of times announcers say “old school hockey” when Gudas connects on a hip-check -13

Role Player who has surprisingly good series – Tom Pyatt

Will JT Brown score a goal – Yes

Good luck Lightning!

The End

Sad Panda says it all.

Well except for - Go, Canucks, GO!

Game Two Blues...

Hey, the Bolts lost, this makes it better. Don't worry, in Game Three I'll show some Lightning Girls

Well, that was ummm...fun? Game Two of the Eastern Conference Finals saw the Lightning's 8 game playoff winning streak come to end. Throughout the sixty minutes of exciting hockey there were some good things and there were a lot of bad things. Fortunately, they leave Boston with a split of the first two games and head back to Tampa with home ice advantage.

To be honest, I'm not surprised at how this game turned out. Even during their winning streak the Bolts weren't playing their best hockey. Game after game they were relying on their old man between the pipes, Dwayne Roloson, way too much. Tuesday night it finally burned them. He was off his game from the beginning, struggling to control his rebounds all night and the Bruins were finally able to take advantage.

I'm sure some writers will slyly remark that perhaps time has caught up to the 41 year-old netminder and that perhaps he's starting to show his age. I disagree. He just had a bad night, something that happened during the regular season from time to time. So lets put a kibosh on the "start Mike Smith in Game 3" talk before it begins. The Lightning are not the Flyers.

Let's recap Game Two by bulleting some things I didn't like, and some things I liked.

Things I didn't like:

-Seeing Mike Smith in the net while the game was actually being played. I like Smith, he seems like a nice guy, but when the Bolts cut the deficit to one I was thinking of how many years would be taken off of my life if I had to watch a playoff game with Mike Smith minding the net in overtime.

- The second period. The Lightning have played a vast majority of these playoffs in their own zone, it's just the way the games have gone. They spend a minute and a half furiously skating around in their zone, chasing around the other team and blocking shots. Then they get possession of the puck skate down the ice and score in thirty seconds. Then back to defending their zone frantically for two minutes.

In Game Two Boston finally put all of their zone time to use. They got in front of Roloson and were first to the rebounds that he gave up. That's how you beat Tampa Bay, outwork them in front of the net.

- Patrice Bergeron not being healthy. If Boston had started their concussed centerman, chances are young Mr. Seguin would have been scratched. Therefore (and such as) he wouldn't have abused Roloson on his first goal or had a hand in three others. Stupid teenager!

Not one of Dwayne's finest moments in this year's playoffs.

- The Lightning's fifth goal. Look, I was excited when they scored, but that should have been blown dead waaaay before Dominic Moore shot the puck in. The ref has got to see that Tim Thomas' helmet was off and stop play immediately. There is too much going on around the crease to take that kind of chance.

Things I did like:

- The Lightning got themselves down by three goals, but never gave up. One might even argue that if it wasn't for the stellar play of Thomas Tampa Bay would have never had that type of deficit. They kept getting scoring chances, and kept forcing the play. Let us not lose sight of the fact that they've put the puck past Veizna trophy candidate Tim Thomas 9 times in two games.

- Steven Stamkos' goal. A pure shooter is a joy to watch. The subtle drag of the puck to change the shooting angle and then the quick wrists to snap it over Thomas' shoulder was a thing of beauty.

- Steve Downie goading Zdeno Chara into taking a penalty. Getting the big man off the ice for two minutes is always going to be a big thing for the Lightning. As this series continues look for Downie to continue to pester the Bruins.

"Lemme at 'em. I'll kill 'em. Even if he's two feet taller than me!

- The third period. It was really the first time in weeks that the Lightning dominated a period offensively like they did Tuesday night. If they can skate with that kind of urgency in Game Three, their chances for a win look good.

Three Stars:

Number Three - Mike Smith. Why? Because it's probably the last chance I get to ever give him a star. On a serious note, what he did in the third is a lot harder then people know. He hasn't seen a puck fired in anger in about a month. To come in off the bench and stop all 8 shots that he faced is not easy.

Number Two - Tyler Seguin. Two goals and two assists for someone who wasn't even supposed to play this series. Once again - stupid teenager.

Number One - Tim Thomas. His stops on Marty St Louis and Ryan Malone kept the Lightning from matching the Bruins' offensive onslaught in the second period. If he lets in either one of those goals it is a whole different hockey match. He may have given up five goals, but he also stopped about half-a-dozen prime scoring chances.

Somehow, Ryan Malone gets called for goaltender interference on this play. "Never touched the guy, ref. I swear!"

Oh Wait, Is it Time For Hockey Again?

Picture if you will a faceless goalie skating in his crease in a darkened arena. He is alone, all of the action is taking place on the opposite end of the ice distant and blurred. A voice, not unlike the late great John Facenda, narrates:

“Age catches up to all athletes. The goaltender, now in the twilight of his journeyed career feels it more than most, feels the time dwindling away. Is this his last chance of glory? He watches as players half his age shuttle the puck back and forth, suddenly the action changes direction and his mind clears, his focus not on the years, but on the mass of humanity hurtling his way and on the sliver of frozen black rubber that, like time, he must prevent from getting behind him”

Look reporters, we get it. Dwayne Roloson is old. He’s on the wrong side of 40 for a professional athlete. And Tim Thomas ain’t no spring chicken either. So far that seems to be the number one story heading into the Eastern Conference Finals between the Lightning and the Boston Bruins. Old goalies.

Contrary to popular belief, these are not Roloson's first goalie pads.

For me, they cancel each other out. Both net minders have been excellent at stopping shots in the post season. They’re probably going to continue their excellence over the next two weeks. The story of this series is going to be decided elsewhere.

I’m not going to lie, I don’t know a lot about the Bruins. I know they finished with the same exact record as the Lightning, scored about the same amount of goals in the regular season and gave up a lot less. That would lead me to believe that they play decent defense. They had a really tall defenseman. They have a highly touted rookie who might see some playing time this series due to a concussion suffered by Patrice Bergeron.

It seems every time I hear Nathan Horton’s name it’s because he’s scoring a game winning goal. Mark Recchi is still playing well. The Lightning have won just 4 games in Boston in their history. Yup, that’s about all I know.

So what kind of preview is this? Well an uniformed one obviously.

Look, it hasn’t mattered who the Bolts have played in the postseason. They play their style regardless of their opponent. If they execute and stay within the system they can beat whoever lines up against them. It’s that simple.

If you’ve followed the Lightning at all this season you know they struggle when they get impatient and try to force the action. When they relax and settle into Coach Boucher’s system good things happen. If you haven’t followed Tampa Bay and you came here to get an informed synopsis, well you’re lost. Back up, make a right at ESPN and point your browser to Raw Charge. They’ll hook you up.

I will leave you with some do’s and don’ts for the Lightning to win this series:

Do - Continue to score on the power play. Tampa comes into this series with 12 extra man goals while Boston only has two. If they win the special teams penalties they position themselves to win the series.

Do - Kill penalties. Kind of related to the first point,

Don’t - Take penalties. Through the first two rounds there seems to have been an endless parade of Lightning players marching to the penalty box. While they have been able to kill the vast majority of them, it has hurt their offensive game by mixing up their lines and limiting the amount of time they can attack their opponents zone.

Don’t - Try to battle the Bruins physically. Boston will try and lay the hammer down on the skilled forwards of the Lightning. They (I’m looking at you Mr. Downie) can’t be drawn into retaliatory penalties. Beat them on the scoreboard.

Don’t - Get frustrated. The Bruins have a trap of their own that they like to play. They won’t be as aggressive as the Capitals, nor suffer as many defensive breakdowns as Washington did. Don’t force the offense.

Do - Attack with speed. It is the Lightning’s greatest weapon.

Do - Continue to block shots. 233 shots blocked so far this post season. That, more than any other stat, shows why they’ve made it this far.

Don’t - Get freaked out by past stats. Yes the organization hasn’t enjoyed a lot of success against Boston, but these are different times.

It should be a highly entertaining series. The teams are relatively fresh. Both teams are hungry for the cup. The time for talking is through, no it’s time for it to be settled in the rink.

Prediction for game one - Kind of a sloppy affair, Boston pulls out the 4-2 win.

Game 3, Win 3, Still Nervous

Six straight wins. Three to nothing lead in the series. It’s not a bad time to be a Lightning fan right now. That being said it’s not over. As a matter of fact it is far from over. There were days when a 3-0 lead in a series was a death knell for the team that was behind, but as the Flyers proved last year it’s not over until a team gets its fourth win.

Before the game I was telling the folks at work that I’d be happy with a split after this weeks back-to-back games. Now I want it over. I want the sweep. I want them to cut the heads off - no zombie Ovechkin comebacks this year!

How did the Lightning find themselves up 3-0 in a second round match-up that no one had them winning? Simply put they are outworking the Caps. Washington might be getting the sexy stats - more shots, more time with the puck, more power plays, etc., but it’s the Lightning that are outworking the higher seeded team.

The boys in the black and blue are winning the battles along the boards, blocking the shots and controlling the front of the net. It’s the last point that has made the biggest difference. If you look at how they are scoring goals, it’s by getting position in front of Neuvirth and banging home rebounds or deflecting passes in.

On the flip side they have set up a wall in front of Dwayne Roloson and aren’t allowing too many shots through. The few shots that are making it through are getting knocked down by the ageless net minder and swept aside by his defensemen. The 1-3-1 gets all the press but it’s what they’re doing in the defensive zone that is making the difference. While the Caps are getting shots, they aren’t getting quality chances.




Washington fans are bemoaning the fact that the Lightning are “getting all the bounces,” but what they are failing to realize is that Tampa Bay are creating those lucky bounces. Throwing the puck at the net is one thing, but good things happen when you throw the puck in front of the net and your teammate has position. That’s what the Lightning are doing.

Washington ended up with the number one seed because they were able to bounce back from adversity during the season. This team was left for dead in December and yet managed to bounce all the way back in the second half of the season. They have the guns to come storming back, but do they have the character? Recent playoff performance say no, but this is supposed to be a different team. So we’ll see.

They have to find a way to shut down the Dominic Moore/ Steve Downie / Sean Bergenheim line. The offensive success of that line allows Coach Boucher to stack the Big Three on one line. If the Caps send their top defensive unit against Lecavalier, St Louis and Stamkos then Boucher sends out Moore line and they pick apart Washington.

Tampa Bay has also exploited the lack of speed on Washington blue line. As offensively talented as they might be, the “National Defense” isn’t exactly the most fleet of foot. Mike Green is great at carrying the puck up the ice, but get him skating backwards and he’s a liability. Alzner and Erskine are physical forces but have been turned into statues by Bergenheim, Stamkos and St Louis. Can Dennis Wideman make a difference? We might see in Game 4 if he’s healthy.

Resiliency has been a major characteristic of this season’s Lightning squad. They bounced back from a late game tying goal in Game 2 to win in overtime. Tuesday night they bounced back from a one goal third period deficit to take Game 3. They could have folded at any point and been down two games to one. After all, they don’t have playoff experience and shouldn’t be able to handle the pressure.

While Boucher has been able to do a great job in getting his team ready for the last six games, his greatest work may be ahead of him. Will the players back off a little now that they have a three game cushion? If they do they are in trouble.

Three stars for Tuesday night:

Steven Stamkos - if you need to show a non-hockey friend what a sniper looks like on the ice show him Stamkos’ game tying goal. Across the ice, with a screen to the top corner of the goalie’s stick side. Unreal.

Vincent Lecavalier - Vinny is now in Beast Mode. Look out folks.




Victor Hedman - SWEDE! SWEDE! SWEDE! Most improved player in the playoffs for this team. He’s got his skates under him and is starting to throw his weight around and skating more with the puck. Yet another possible weapon at Boucher’s disposal.

Game Two Two Minute Review

*Vincent is in beast mode.
*Tampa is doing a better job of controlling the front of the net on both ends.
*Tampa can't keep taking penalties against the Caps.
*Some of the pressure is back on the Lightning for the first time since game 4 of the first round.
*If they split the next two games I like their chances.

Game One, One Blogger, One Win

According to the experts, the Lightning aren't even supposed to be playing hockey at this point in the season. With the majority of mainstream media picking the Penguins to have beaten them in the first round it's almost like they are playing with house money at this point.

There are very, very few times that I've ever gambled with "house money". Anyone who has gambled with me in Vegas or the lovely Biloxi, MS knows that I tend to break even at the tables. Which is fine by me.

The Lightning, supposedly weary from a tough 7 game match up with Pittsburgh, ventured into the nation's capital on Friday night to begin their second round series with the Washington Capitals. Much like the first round they aren't given much of a chance to move on. After all, this is "The Year" for the Caps. The year they exorcise their playoff demons and win the Cup with their new committed to defense style of play.

Apparently, no one told the Lightning they were supposed to be the tired team. They jumped out to an early lead as playoff hero Sean Bergenheim jammed home a rebound three minutes into the first period.

If you continue to score I will be forced to thrash you!

Thankfully, the game aired on Vs. which allowed me to watch it a bar on a screen bigger than 15 inches. My co-worked Scott (a Blackhawk self-admitted Caps bandwagon/Ovechkin fan) joined me for some hockey, beer and fried food.

The 3/4 empty bar was showing the draft and around the horn when we got there and it took the manager about ten minutes to remember he promised to switch the the game on for us and another two minutes to actually find the game. Note to all you bar keeps out there - write down the channels for the major sports channels and keep it with the remote. Your sports bars for Christ's sake. Act like it!

With the game on the big screen and a nice soundtrack of Queen, Frank Sinatra and Mister Big provided by the juke box we settled in to watch a pretty fun playoff game.

The Caps would find their legs throughout the first and second period, even building a one goal lead after Eric Fehr found himself alone in front of Lightning netminder Dwayne Roloson and roofed the puck past the ageless goalie.

From their on out, though, the Lightning outworked the Caps. While the red-clad fans of the Southeast Division champions would say that their team was unlucky or didn't get the bounces, truth is that their boys didn't play hard enough to win.

The Lightning won the battles along the boards, blocked shots and frustrated the Capitals power play throughout the second half of the game. Three of the four goals scored (the 4th being an empty netter) were from getting in front of young goaltender Michal Neuvirth and jamming home pucks.

Tampa Bay also showed that they are more willing to press the attack then they did against Pittsburgh. A wise move as sitting back and allowing Washington to shoot at will is not a great plan. The Caps do have finishers and can score goals.

The Lightning played their game plan to perfection Friday night despite losing two players for significant time. Simon Gagne left in the first after a hard, but legal check by Scott Hannan led to Gagne bouncing his head off the ice.

Later in the game stalwart defenseman Pavel Kubina had his head driven into the glass behind the net by forward Jason Chimera which might lead to the Washington winger getting a call from the league office. The hit sidelined Kubina for the rest of the match, his status for Sunday's affair has not been updated.

This is what happens when M A B is forced to play defense.

Can the Lightning steal another game in Washington before heading back to the beaches of Tampa Bay? As long as they continue to play their game, yes. The question is will Washington adjust and tighten up their playmaking and stop turning over the puck.

Three Stars:

- Steve Downie - Good Steve Downie provided a goal and assist in the game and now has 9 points in 7 games for the Lightning. If his name wasn't Steve Downie would he be included in the early Conn Smythe talk?

- Bergenheim and Dominic Moore - These two continue to provide pressure against their opponents. A solid third line that can chip in points in the playoffs is an important key for success.

- Roloson - Steady as ever. After some juicy rebounds in the first two periods, he locked in down in the third and ended up turning away 25 shots in the victory.

Turning Points -

- Brooks Laich kicking in the puck. The disallowed goal halted Washington's momentum and allowed the Bolts to stay in the game.

- Alex Semin hitting the post. A gaping wide open net for the noted Lightning killer and he hit the iron dead on. The post preserved the one goal lead for Tampa.

Roloson uses telekinesis to direct the shot off the post.

- Steven Stamkos scores on the power play. The game winner gets the young sniper on the board early in the series and keeps the press from issuing "Seen Stamkos?" columns.


Prediction for Game Two. The Caps right their ship, score on a couple of power plays and win 4-2.

For the last time it's Boucher not Le Chiffre!

A Eulogy in Black and Gold

Instead of the back and forth for the previous games I give you Jay's thoughts only.

Sad Penguin

As a die hard hockey fan, when your team loses in the playoffs, it is 6 months of anticipation down the drain. Since I can remember I make it a priority in my life, not just to watch the Pens, but to see every shift of the 82 regular season games and the playoffs. My job requires me to travel and with that I have been fortunate to see my team play in Buffalo, Ottawa, Montreal, Detroit, Columbus, Minnesota, Chicago, and many other cities. It also means that I will travel to a lot of sports bars on the road to watch the Pens. I can probably tell you every sports bar between Ottawa and western Michigan that has the NHL Package. My wife will tell you that the reason I care about it so much is because it is my passion, and she is right but it is a lot more than that. I have had Penguins season tickets for 12 years and if I am in town, I am at the game right next to my dad.

When I was five my dad took me to my first hockey game in St. Louis at the Old Checkerdome. He still talks about the day in January when he took me to our 4th row seats and how he was amazed that a 5 year old could sit through a 2 1/2 hour game and all I did was watch and ask questions. As he said, "You weren't one of those kids who would get bored, complain, want food every 10 minutes, you just wanted to watch the game." To this day, if I am not at the game with my dad, I call him after the first period of every game. Eighty-two times a year we break down the period, talk about our day, and just catch up. Hockey and the love for our beloved Pens is a bond that we share and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

I remember in December, the Pens were beating the Buffalo Sabres on the road for their 12th straight victory. I was watching the game with my wife at a local Italian restaurant in Fox Chapel(she includes the Pens on our date night....even our wedding) and stepped away to call my dad after the first period. Rookie and first game call-up Dustin Jeffrey scored his first goal, the Pens were all over the Sabres. I couldn't wait to call my dad.

I consider myself a pretty honest fan. I am probably a little tougher on my team than most, and I try to look at my team from an unbiased opinion. This conversation was different. I saw something in the Pens that made me feel that they were ready to challenge for the Cup. I saw a balanced team with the best player in the league (Sidney Crosby), a dynamic player in Evgeni Malkin, and a much better defense than we saw in the 2010 squad. They were good! Six weeks later, Crosby and Malkin were hurt, (Malkin would tear his ACL 2 weeks later) and the balance on the team was eroding with injuries.

Maybe this is why the Game 7 loss hurts more than most. I feel like I have been punched in the gut. I didn't expect Pittsburgh to win the series. I picked Tampa. What hurts is as a fan, after witnessing my team sell off their players from 2002-04, I know they had a chance, a good chance to bring Lord Stanley home. Nowadays, you only have so many opportunities to win. In the salary cap era, it is hard to stay on top, and when you have a chance you better take full advantage. This season I thought was supposed to be the year they made a serious run, but they never had the chance. In my Rolodex of a brain, I will always wonder what could have been.

Well now on to Game 7. The Penguins jumped all over the Lightning the way I expected them to come out in Game 5. They won faceoffs, battles for loose pucks, and were peppering Tampa netminder Dwayne Roloson with shots. They left the first period scoreless but it felt like they were losing. The team had a hard time scoring all series, but when you play your best and you still can't cash in, you have to feel deflated. I have to give Roloson a lot of credit. Most analysts said the Penguins advantage in net would be a huge reason why they would win, but Roloson was not only stopping shots, he wasn't allowing rebounds. People, including myself, seem to forget how good he was in the playoffs in 2003 with Minnesota and 2006 with Edmonton. Rolson kept them in the game long enough for the Bolts to find their game in the 2nd.




Tampa came out in the 2nd and looked like the team that played 60 minutes of great hockey in Game 6. They regained the edge in the faceoff circle, used their speed in the neutral zone, stopped turnings pucks over, and created chances by driving to the net. The goal that Sean Bergenheim scored was a replay of his Game 6 goal. You would think the Pens would make an adjustment and know that Moore can make that pass, but they were out of position. Pittsburgh defenseman Matt Niskanen was wandering towards the Squirrel Hill Tunnel (Pittsburgh traffic nightmare) instead of covering the weak side defender and it was costly.

If your a Penguins fan, the theme of this series was the power play. Tampa scored 8 power play goals and Pittsburgh scored 1. The Lightning played with reckless abandon at times as they gave the black and gold chance after chance to get back in games, but with the exception of Tyler Kennedy in Game 4, they couldn't take advantage. As easy as it is to point the finger at the Penguins, you have to give the Lightning credit. They were constantly in the shooting lanes, they took away the front of the net, blocked shots, and they were tougher than the Penguins.




The 3rd period the Penguins took a lot of shots at Tampa, but with the exception of Tyler Kennedy almost putting home a rebound, the Pens were one shot and done. I thought what Tampa did well was make the Pens travel 200 feet to get a scoring chance. The Lightning forced the Pens back into their own end every time they had a chance to clear the puck. Pittsburgh had one final opportunity with the man advantage, but a season that had all the promise in the world had Jordan Staal, Chris Kunitz, James Neal, and others out there for the final 90 seconds. This wasn't how I envisioned a series ending back in December, but the reality was and is, the Tampa Bay Lightning are a better, deeper team that the Pittsburgh Penguins.

As a take quick glance to next year, my boys have 10 unrestricted free agents. I don't expect to see Eric Godard, Mike Comrie, Dustin Johnson, Alexei Kovalev, or Chris Conner back. I wouldn't be shocked if Pascal Dupuis, Max Talbot and Mike Rupp are gone. There are a lot of character, hard working guys, who probably won't be back. To win in the NHL you need front line scorers and good role players. When you have that mix you are dangerous. This year the role players were forced to be front line players and that is why we are talking about the Penguins losing in the first round.

Going forward, I think the Lightning have as good a chance as any to beat the Capitals. They have experience, two good offensive lines, and a lethal power play. Tampa has to do a better job of staying out of the penalty box against Washington (they won't go 1-35 on the PP), and they need to be more aggressive on offense. The Penguins posed no threat on offense so Tampa could sit on leads without fear. Against Washington no lead is safe. Tampa needs to be aggressive against the Caps.

My 3 Penguins stars for the series.
3) Max Talbot - He was all over the ice and created offense, especially in Games 3-5.
2) Craig Adams - The man is a shot blocking machine. It is hard to believe we got him off of waivers in 2009. Craig Adams will help a team win the playoffs, I just hope he is with the Pens next year.
1) Marc Andre Fluery - People in Pittsburgh got on Fluery for his performance in Games 5 & 6, but the team around him failed in those games. Fluery was the reason they won game 1,3 and 4. He had all the pressure on him because his offense couldn't produce more than 2 goals and he came up big. People will remember the loss in game 7, but I hope they don't forget how well Fluery played. When the Pens were down 1-0, he made 3 or 4 great saves to keep the game in reach.

It has been fun writing about the playoff series. October seems like a long ways away.

Let's Review Game Sechs (That's enough, Audrey!)

So I plan on watching Game 7 in my bedroom, on a laptop with headphones on. Exciting, eh? My stomach is a wreck already and I have no focus at work. So let's go back to Monday night and re-live some Game 6 action.


JG:
Game Six is in the books and now everyone in our two towns is focused on Game 7. But how did we get to this place? Simply put the “real” Lightning finally showed up. And by that I mean Monday night’s game was the first time in the series that the Bolts actually outworked their opponent. Sure they’ve outscored them in other games, but in Game Six they did all of the little things that win playoff hockey games and they did them better than the Penguins. They blocked shots, broke up passes, won battles along the boards and out-skated the Penguins.

Even though the ice tilted towards Pittsburgh’s advantage with all of the power plays the Lightning were the more energetic team. At one point I sent you a text saying that Kris Letang looked exhausted, that could be said for most of the Pittsburgh skaters at that point. To me it looks like their style of play since January has finally caught up with them. Whereas on the flip side the Lightning looked fresher and seem to be getting the hang of this playoff intensity thing.

You are correct when you say offense is the Achilles’ heel of your squad. Once Tampa went up by 2 in the third it was hard to believe that your flightless birds could muster up the scoring to bring it even. That being said there were three moments that I thought turned the game and decided it in favor of Tampa Bay.

1. Chris Conner’s penalty shot. – I thought he had the right approach. Come in with speed, quick deke and hope it beats Rolosson. Unfortunately, due to the ice or the hockey gods the puck didn’t cooperate. If he scores there the Pens keep the momentum they had built up prior to that call. Instead it seemed to take the wind out of their sails for a bit.
2. The two pad save by Rolosson – Right before Steve Downie put the Bolts ahead for good, Roli made two unbelievable saves on Max Talbot and Pascal Dupuis. The one on Dupuis featured an old-fashioned stack of the pads that you don’t see very often in the age of butterfly goalies.
3. Kris Letang rattles one off the post – Down by two in the waning moments of the game, Letang fired a shot through a screen and past Rolosson. Luckily for the Lightning it hit the post square and bounced to safety. If that puck goes in it is Katy bar the doors time for the rest of the game.

An honorable mention goes to the deflected puck by Victor Hedman on young Mr. Conner’s two-on-one opportunity. The puck nicked Vic’s stick just enough to go wide. All-in-all a rough night for the diminutive Penguin forward.

Instead of players lets go with my three top highlights of the night

1. Dominic Moore’s no-look pass to Bergenheim. It was a thing of beauty because the only two people on the ice that knew it was coming were Moore and Bergenheim. The fact that Fleury almost got a pad on it was a miracle.
2. The aforementioned save by Roli. It was a huge momentum shifter and it led to…
3. Steve Downie’s goal – The enigma that is Tampa’s Little Ball of Fury, Downie showed his good side in Monday night’s game by scoring a goal and helping on two others. And he managed to go a whole game without picking up a misconduct penalty despite being hit in the face with a puck.

It brings us to Game 7. It will be the Lightning’s first Game 7 since they hoisted the cup in 2004 against Calgary. All bets are off. Whatever team forces the most turnovers and creates the most bounces their way will win this game. It will probably be a mucky affair with a lot of neutral zone play and dump-ins. Normally I would say that favors the Pens, but I think they’re out of gas. Bolts win 3-1 with goals from Stamkos (PP), Nate Thompson and St Louis (EN).



JL:
I watched Game 6 at my house. It was the first playoff game i had watched in Plum, PA since Game 6 Montreal. That was the game where my wife thought Jesus Christ's last name was Goligoski. I try not to freighten her with playoff hockey. She was doing some reading for work and I almost put her into cardiac arrest when I yelled when Staal tied the game.

I don't know if Kris Letang is exhausted but i know he sure is frustrated. the blueliner hasn't had a goal in over 30 games and 2 since Crosby went out with his concussion. Chief, I read your thoughts on Letang, I just think the Pens miss Sergei Gonchar more than they relaize.

My thoughts on Game 6. The Lightning were the better team from the drop of the puck. Someone who would just read the box scores would tell me, "Jay, the Pens have outshot the Bolts all 6 games.". My answer to that is simple. they are taking shots from center ice and anywhere they can within 90 feet. The Penguins lead the series in shots, but Tampa leads the series in quality shots and Game 6 was a prime example. The Pens made the most notible chances (Connor 2 on 1 and penalty shot, and the 3 stops on Talbot and Dupuis) but Tampa consistenly created quality chances while creating traffic in front of Fluery every game. The mood in the Burgh is that Fluery is playing poorly, but I would strongly disagree. Since the start of Game 5, Lightning forward are constantly in front of Fluery and the majority of the goals scored are on rebounds. That says more about the Pens not clearing the front of the net than Fluery playing poorly.

I have to give credit to Guy Boucher. The Tampa coach had his team alter their game plan after Game 4 and it has worked. Tampa started getting more traffic in front of Fluery and made it a point tohit the Pittsburgh defenseman. Since Game 4, the Pens defenseman look uncomfortable. Also, you have to give him credit for inserting Marc Andre Bergeron in the lineup. The offensive defenseman can run the 2nd power play unit and his play on defense has been better than expected.

Dan Bylsma on the other hand has not made any lineup changes or adjustments (not even on the power play). In fairness to Disco Dan, i am not sure what else he can do. His two options at forward are Mike Comie and Eric Tangradi. There is a strong sentiment in Pittsburgh that Alexei Kovalev should be stratched. I am a huge Kovalev supporter but have to admit he has been invisible, except for taking 6 penalties in the series. The reason I play Kovalev is that he has the skill to break out and he is better than anyone else you have to replace him.

Here are some Game 7 tidbits from the Pens side of the ledger
* They have never won a Game 7 at home after losing Game 6 (0-5 in franchise history)
* Pittsburgh has a losing record at home in the last two playoffs (4-6)
* The power play is 1-31 in the series and 3-72 against playoff teams
* Since 2007, this group has played in 3 game 7's. In 2009 beat Washington and Detroit, and in 2010 lost at home to Montreal

i thinkwe will see talent beat will tonight at the Consol. The Penguins don't have finishers while Tampa does. 2 early first period goals propell the Lightning to a 6-2 victory.My wife will get her husband back until college football starts.

Ten Goals Divided by 2 Guys Equals Game Five Review

As most websites are previewing Game Six on Monday night, we here at the Hopeless Chase reflect on a dominant Lightning victory from two days ago. Is Jason still at Tully's? Is Just chasing a new profession? Who knows? You will if you read below.



JG:

So I figured I'd take 24 hours to reflect on the epic 8-2 Lightning victory in game 5. There's something relieving about the team you support breaking a game by scoring early (and often). It eliminates a lot of stress that's normally associated with following a play off game, case in point the five years of your life you lost in Game 4.




That being said I wish I'd been able to see more of the game. I was relegated to the dulcet tones of Dave Mishkin and Phil Esposito despite the fact that I was actually in the Tampa Bay Area while the game was being played.

Because I wanted to see what it was like to be a craftsman I volunteered to help out our buddy Saint Leo Mike and his wife with a nice day of house painting. Let's just say I won't be changing jobs anytime soon. My shoulders haven't gotten that great of a workout since, well never.

So I missed seeing what the Lightning did different that allowed them cash in seemingly on every offensive opportunity they had. It wasn't that they shot the puck more (their 26 shots were only slightly higher than their 24 total penalty minutes). They did win more face offs as all of their normal draw takers were over 50% except for young Mr. Stamkos. Nor did it seem they were dominating any aspect of the game other than the scoreboard. As a matter of fact Mishkin pointed out that the Penguins dominated much of the early game despite the Bolts posting a 2 goal game.

They did go 4-7 with the man advantage as they continue to dominate the Penguins on special teams. So that's good. Steven Stamkos finally found the back of the net (twice!) so that's good, too. If he's finally acclimated to the playoff atmosphere he will be the deciding factor in the series.

The Penguins have stayed in this series by grabbing early leads and playing a Devils-style bunker mentality and relying on the stylistic saves of Marc-Andre Fleury. They've been assisted by the inability of Lightning players that aren't named Martin St. Louis to put the biscuit in the basket. So to see names such as Stamkos and Gagne on the score sheet under the goals category is a tremendous relief.

Now can they carry that over to Game Six on Monday? Hopefully. One thing about blowing an opponent in the playoffs is that it is almost easier for the defeated team to bounce back. Ask the Detroit Red Wings how that 5-0 win in Game 5 of the 2009 Finals worked for them against the Penguins. I'll save you the Google search - it didn't. The Penguins won the next two games and the Stanley Cup.

Losing by such a large margin allows the Penguins to brush this game off (something a 3-1 series lead makes easier) and they can focus on getting back to their game plan in Game Six. A game plan that involves them blocking shots, disrupting passes and being general pains in the asses.

As my time draws brief I will only give you the stars of the game:

Stamkos - 2 goals and he's off the schneid. His confidence has to be back and that could spell doom for the Penguins.
Gagne - He got the all important first goal and fourth goal. The Penguins were pressuring the Bolts when it was 3-0 and if they had scored the outcome would have been different. Gagne scored instead, chasing Fleury and the rout was on.
Ted Purcell - he had a couple of assists and some dandy passing with Lecavalier. So yea!

Prediction for Game Six - the Bolts pull out a close one 2-1 setting up a Game Seven in Pittsburgh and the dramatic return of Sidney Crosby.

Your thoughts?


JL:

Wow, what a contrast of emotions between Games 4 and 5. It has been a while since I have seen the Pens get throttled at home in the playoffs (ed note - worst home playoff loss ever). After the second period, while eating a pulled pork sandwich (my pick at the Consol), my dad and I watched countless number of fans exit the building. I have to admit I looked at my dad after the LeCavalier goal and said, "this game is over." Saturday's game went from a scoreless game to 5-0 in what seemed like five minutes. Oh how I miss the days when the Penguins boasted a roster of dangerous scorers. I remember the 1992 power play when had Mario Lemieux, Kevin Stevens, Rick Tocchett, Ron Francis, and Larry Murphy.




The 2011 team must rely on Arron Asham, Mike Rupp, and roster full of guys who should be playing 8 minutes a game to fill the net. It just isn't going to happen unless the Pens get some bounces. The current group of Penguins remind me of the 1995 New Jersey Devils.

I have said numerous times before on this blog that the Pens lack of talent would catch up to them in the series, and Tampa may have found their offense in Game 5. Tampa won every battle along the boards, won faceoffs, and physically beat up the Pittsburgh defensemen. For the first time in the series, Tampa was the better team playing 5 on 5.

Most importantly for the Bolts, their top two lines were a force every shift they played during the final two periods. It also doesn't help that their power play is ticking around 40% for the series. Guy Boucher's troops are keeping it simple. Get the puck in the zone, shoot, and crash the net. Steven Stamkos and Simon Gagne scored goals by jamming home rebounds. If the Lightning continue to crash the net, their will be more loose pucks available in Game 6.




There is not much else to say about Game 5 so let's look at game 6.

What the Lightning need to do:
1) Don't Change a Thing
To quote Peter Noone from Herman's Hermits singing Henry VIII.."Second verse same as the first".

2) Get the first goal.
The team that has scored the first goal has won every game and the Pens need the first goal. I think the Lightning have enough firepower to overcome an early deficit, but the Penguins have to change their game if they fall behind by more than 1.

3) Crash the Net
Tampa scored their 2nd and 4th goal by jamming home rebounds. Marc Andre Fluery is very good but he does allow rebounds. The Lightning need to take advantage of this aspect of Fluery's game.

What the Penguins must do:
1) Forget about Game 5!
The beauty of the playoffs is you can lose by 6 or 1 and it is only one game. If the Penguins play like they did the first 37 minutes of Game 4, they will have success tonight.

2) Clear the Crease.
The Bolts consistently crashed the net and their 2nd and 4th goals came from 2nd and 3rd chance rebounds. Fluery has been good in the series, but he does give up rebounds.

3) My Daily Power Play Rant
The Penguins should decline their power plays. They are 1-24 in the series. If this were football I would decline any power play. Actually I think some personnel changes should be made. Pittsburgh should use Mike Rupp in front of the net. Jordan Staal and James Neal are not willing to pay the price to get in front of the net. Also, please move Alexei Kovalev to the point! PLEASE!!!

I think talent will overcome will and Tampa sends this series back to Pittsburgh with a 4-1 victory.