Well, that was a rough one. The Lightning’s offense sputtered a bit in the wake of Philadelphia’s swarming coverage in the offensive zone. Benoit Pouliot scored the only goal for the Lightning and Andres Lindback made 22 saves.
What seemed to make the most news were two fights that took place. First B.J. Crombeen and Zach Rinaldo dropped the gloves at 6:19 in the first.
» Continue reading “Bolts Go Down Swinging, Lose 2-1 to Flyers”
Martin St. Louis Photo by Linda Hamilton
It’s never boring when the Tampa Bay Lightning and Philadelphia Flyers meet. Whether it’s the 1996 or 2004 playoffs, the holding the puck fiasco of last season, or the 15 goal game of two seasons ago. These teams always find a way to make things interesting. Tonight’s 5-1 Tampa victory was no exception.
Philly took an early lead on Sean Couturier’s goal, the first shot Anders Lindback faced in the game. In a departure from last season, the Bolts were able to keep pressing and rebound. A huge shot of energy game in the form of a fight from captain Vincent Lecavalier. Yes, you read that correctly. Vinny dropped the gloves.Seeing is believing.
» Continue reading “Louie, Louie: St. Louis’ 4 Point Night Caps Off Win”
Steven Stamkos Photo by Linda Hamilton
-The lockout sucks. We can all pretty much agree on that much. Hockey fans are going to great lengths to get their fix and Sun Sports seems happy to oblige us. “Classic” Lightning games began to be broadcast to fill the void left by cancelled games. It’s actually been a pretty awesome trip down memory lane.
Nostalgia will continue as the network will continue to show important games from seasons past on Thursday nights. This Thursday we’ll get to see the Game 7 defeat of the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals. Next week it’s Marty St. Louis’ double overtime goal in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals against the Calgary Flames.
» Continue reading “Nuts & Bolts: Classic Games Continue, Stamkos Keeps Training”
In the face of a large issue like an impending lockout, you wouldn’t think there was anything that could tick off hockey fans more than that. Apparently this isn’t true for some Lightning fans. Damian Cristodero of the Tampa Bay Times wrote a piece that sent some into a tizzy. All over a number.
For the first time since former captain Dave Andreychuk retired after the 2005-2006 season, a Bolts player will have the #25 on their sweater. As the news spread, so did the Twitter outrage. It’s easy to understand why some people are so upset.
That may be why this next statement may be surprising. There is NOTHING wrong with Matt Carle wearing #25 when he takes the ice for Tampa Bay.
» Continue reading “Dave Andreychuk, Matt Carle, & The Number 25″
Matt Carle Photo by Bridget Samuels/ Flickr
As Suter & Parise go, so go the rest of the free agents. This is especially true for the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight as they have announced that they have signed defenseman Matt Carle to a six year contract. The deal is worth approximately $5.5 million per year.
You may remember Carle from a brief stint with the Bolts during the OK Hockey era. He was one of the returns on the trade that sent fan favorites Dan Boyle and Brad Lukowich to the San Jose Sharks. Carle played a whopping 12 games in a Lightning sweater before being sent to to the Philadelphia Flyers with a third round draft pick in exchange for Steve Eminger, Steve Downie, and a 2009 fourth round pick.
During the 2011-12 season he played in all 82 games for the Flyers, recording 4 goals and 34 assists. Carle is versatile in a number of different situations, which will be an asset coming into Coach Boucher’s unusual playing system.
Some fans still have some residual bitterness when it comes to the transaction that sent Danny Boyle out of town, but the bottom line is that the defensive squad improves with the addition of Carle. Last season’s d-men had a lot of problems preventing goals from being scored, the addition of Carle and netminder Anders Lindback should definitely improve that aspect of their game.
If Carle can play and contribute, some fans will just need to get over it.
The gentleman in the photo above is a familiar sight for regular Sons of Andreychuk visitors. He is the one and only Voodoo Strikes. Before he’s put back into a drawer for the summer, it seems only fitting to showcase some of his awesome hockey adventures from the 2011-2012 season.
For the uninitiated, here’s how Voodoo came about. A few years back, there was an NHL commercial where a fan mentioned that part of his routine was sticking pins in his Sidney Crosby Voodoo Doll. Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist came on the screen and gave his approval for the previous statement. It snowballed from there for my friends and I. My friend Linda ordered Voodoo from an actual store in New Orleans. We dress him in the uniform of an opposing teams and stick pins in him when they come to town.
This guy has a more varied wardrobe and is more well traveled than a lot of people. Here’s a few of the things he did this year.
» Continue reading “The Adventures Of A Lightning Hockey Voodoo Doll”
