Pierre Cedric Labrie Photo by Linda Hamilton

It was a momentous evening at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. The Lightning started off their two game home stand with a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators. Ben Bishop stood strong (and tall) in his fourth straight start for the Bolts. Tampa showed resiliency and ended the night with two points.

A number of congratulations are in order.  Mark Barberio made his NHL debut. Marty St. Louis recorded the 900th point of his career with an assist on Vinny Lecavalier’s goal. Pierre-Cedric Labrie scored his first career NHL goal in the 2nd. Steven Stamkos scored his 26th goal of the season and cemented the win.

The Lightning remain a work in progress. Bishop faced 33 shots. He managed to stop 31 of them, but that’s a pretty high number. There were also a large number of turn overs that afforded the Senators some quality scoring chances. Luckily that didn’t happen, but it is a bit concerning. Nothing to dwell on too much, this season is what it is. It’s only after Cooper has the team for a training camp and with steady practice time that we’ll know the identity he wants them to possess.

-Marty’s 900th point ties him with Tony Amonte at 97th place on the NHL all time points list.

-Ryan Malone made his return to the line up. Bugsy recorded 15:43 in ice time, two penalty minutes, and 1 shot on goal.

The Pittsburgh Penguins come to town on Thursday. Here’s hoping the Lightning are ready to cause some trouble for the Atlantic Division Champions.

Alex Killorn Photo by Alexis Boucher

It was difficult to know what to expect out of the Tampa Bay Lightning headed into last night’s game against the New Jersey Devils. The first game under the tutelage of a new head coach and Andrej Sustr making his NHL debut on the blue line.  It may be late in the season, but a new era was dawning for the hockey club.

The teams scored 5 goals in about 8 minutes in the second period. Three for New Jersey, two for the Lightning. Steven Stamkos recoreded his 24th and 25th goals of the season.  Nate Thompson notched his 7th of the year in the second as well.

Alex Killorn brought the drama when he scored with 15 seconds left in regulation to tie the game and send it to overtime. Teddy Purcell and Victor Hedman scored in the shootout, Mathieu Garon stopped the two Devs he faced, and that’s all she wrote. It will be interesting to see what the team brings to the table for Tuesday’s game after more practice time with Jon Cooper.

» Continue reading “Lightning Down The Devils, Thompson Suspended”

Victory!

Tonight’s game was without a doubt one of the most complete efforts the Lightning have had all season. No question. Mathieu Garon was solid in net, stopping 13 of the 14 Buffalo Sabres shots he faced. The rookies were responsible defensively and some familiar names found their way onto the score sheet.

The over riding story going in to the evening was Jon Cooper being named the new head coach. Coop was in the building, but not behind the bench. Assistant coach Dan Lacroix and player development coach Steve Thomas ran things on ice level. All that will change going forward with Friday’s game against New Jersey as Cooper’s first outing as the Bolts’ coach.

Steven Stamkos and Marty St. Louis had the goals for the Lightning. Keith Aulie had an absolutely excellent game. The “No Cup Buffalo” chant was deployed. Andrej Sustr took warm up skate. That pretty much sums up the evening.

I’m attending Hockey ‘n’ Heels tomorrow evening and will bring an update from there.

Anders Lindback Photo by Alexis Boucher

The Lightning are extremely lucky to have pulled out a win against the Panthers tonight. Tampa registered just 13 shots on goal through the whole entire game. We’ve been remembering moments over the team’s 20 year history this season and they made it again tonight. They registered the lowest number of shots in franchise history. On the other end of the ice, Anders Lindback faced 39 shots. How on earth did the Bolts end up winning 3-2? Lindback stopped 37 of the Panthers chances.

It’s going to be difficult for some to give credit where it’s due, but Lindback stole this game for the Lightning. That can’t even be argued.

» Continue reading “Lindback Leads The Lightning In 3-2 Win Against Florida”

Photo by Alexis Boucher

Instead of getting mired down in another loss, let’s look at the positive. The Lightning had their strongest first period in recent memory. They converted on the power play twice in the first period. Mathieu Garon stopped 24 shots. Alex Killorn had a hell of a game in his return to Boston. There were definite positives, but the end result remained the same with a loss in regulation.

The first period had all of the fire the Bolts were lacking against the Rangers. Fast on the puck, physical, and went to work quickly on the man advantage. Steven Stamkos opened the scoring with his 15th goal of the season just 5:32 into the game. How he got this past Khudobin on that angle, we may never know. Seriously, his left foot was behind the goal line.

» Continue reading “Grin & Bear It: Lightning Improve, But Lose 3-2 In Boston”

Following last night’s dismal showing against the New York Rangers, the media headed into the locker room to get the Lightning’s thoughts on the game. Pretty standard, really. What was out of character was that some of the team’s top players showed us what happens when people start getting real. Sun Sports showed interviews with both Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman. Their words were a far cry from the programmed and sometimes cliche answers we’ve heard through the first 20 games of the season. Instead of canned responses, we got men who are clearly struggling to find an answer.

Allow head coach Guy Boucher to set the stage with his post game comments.

» Continue reading “Mad As Hell: Getting Angry May Be Just What The Lightning Need”

We’re all excellent athletes from our seats at the arena. We have a view of the game that the men on the ice don’t. We don’t know the effort or struggles taking place on their level. This disclaimer is included because tonight’s 2-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres was one of the most frustrating losses as a fan. The Sabres came in on a 4 game losing streak. The Lightning had a chance to gain ground in the division as the Carolina Hurricanes lost to the Capitals tonight.

Instead it was more of the same. Turn overs. Careless mistakes with the puck. Hitting the crossbar. Missing open nets. Couple that with Ryan Miller being pretty damn solid and the game ended the way quite a few of them have recently. There were a lot of quality chances, but the puck didn’t get in the net. The Lightning played hard, you could tell they were trying but miscues continue to haunt them.

» Continue reading “A Glass Case Of Emotion: Lightning Lose 2-1 To Buffalo”

Steven Stamkos Photo by Linda Hamilton

There’s things we could be angry about. Poor goal tending in the first dug a hole too deep for the Lightning to climb out of. Untimely errors. Losing 5-3 in Pittsburgh. Putting in a less than ideal showing in one of their nationally broadcast games. None of those things are all that great, but not the worst part of this evening.

What is the worst you might ask? NBC Sports’ focus being on Sidney Crosby all night long. Yes, he scored two goals. But so did several other members of the Penguins. It’s not the Pittsburgh Crosbys, he isn’t out there alone. Given how this hasn’t changed since he came into the league. Maybe I’m just cranky tonight.

» Continue reading “Lightning Lose To Sidney Crosby. By Himself. If You Believe NBC Sports.”

Cory Conacher Photo by Alexis Boucher

Death. Taxes. Conacher. All things in life that are certain. That rang true tonight at the Tampa Bay Times forum even though the Lightning ended up losing the game 4-2. Cory scored his 6th goal of the season to tie the game in the second period. For those of you keeping score at home, he leads all NHL rookies in scoring with 15 points. Still a bit early for Calder talk, but it’s hard to argue with the numbers.

The Honey Badger more than lived up to his nickname tonight. Towards the end of the second period, Cory was involved in a bit of a tussle with 6’9″ Bruins captain Zdeno Chara.

» Continue reading “Conacher Delivers But Lightning Lose 4-2 To Bruins”

It’s always nice to make new friends. Photo by Alexis Boucher

After the overtime victory in Sunrise on Saturday, a lot of questions faced the Lightning going into their brief home stand. Would they be able to continue that momentum? Would they reap the benefits of having a practice session on Monday? Would the scoring continue or would they fall back into bad habits? It’s still a mighty small sample size, but Tampa seemed to find their stride in front of a vastly pro-Toronto crowd. They answered the bell and continued to put the puck on net, defeating the Leafs 4-2.

When I say the crowd was pro-Toronto… it felt like we were in Canada. I asked my friend if this means we get free health care now. Nature of the beast with a hockey team in Florida. So many snowbirds live down here during the winter anyways. For those who aren’t part time residents, it may be easier and cheaper to get tickets here. No hard feelings, everyone was well behaved. But there was a lady behind me who thought that ever Maple Leafs player was Phil Kessel. Riiiiight.

» Continue reading “No Leafs No: Lightning Bolt Past Toronto 4-2″