Bolts Hold Strong, Lose In Overtime

The Tampa Bay Lightning took on The New York Rangers in NY tonight, and it was not the out come that we all hoped for. The team play extremely well. The defense held up, the offense controlled the puck, though the shots on goal average would say different, and the seemed to of kept the momentum throughout the game. The entire time was back and forth with the scoring. Tampa scored, NY answered. NY scored, Tampa answered. Again Tampa scored, and NY answered. It was the last goal in over time that did them in and created a Ranger victory. Of the past nine games the Lightning have only lost one in regulation time. Our injured are coming back stronger than they were before they left. Others are stepping up. Bruno Gervais had a wonderful power play goal in the second! Power plays are something that they’ve been struggling with. It was great to see their hard work in practice pay off, and them able to capitalize on the extra man opportunity. The refereeing should seriously be looked at closely. I know that every fan of every losing team says the same, but come on… everyone knows that Tampa Bay is the red-headed step child of the NHL and will never be taken seriously. Winning Lord Stanley’s Cup in 2004 was just luck to them. I honestly did see a penalty or two on the Lightning that could have been called but weren’t. I saw several calls on New York that went uncalled. And what about the whole Dominic Moore- Rusty Fedotenko thing? There is no way that Dom’s elbow went back with that much force to throw him on the ice like that. Maybe living that close to Broadway in NY makes the drama contagious. “And the Golden Globe goes to…” However the team is confident in themselves that they played well, and will keep that momentum moving forward. “We’re gonna keep on going”, Coach Boucher told the media post game. With a back to back from Buffalo on Saturday to Pittsburgh on Sunday, they will need that positive attitude. This is a tough road trip and they will need that stamina.

At 3:50 of the first period The Lightning got their first power play opportunity when Brandon Dubinsky got two minutes for slashing. No goal was scored until 18:56 when Steven Stamkos fired his magic shot with assists by Connolly and Wyman. This was Stammer’s league leading thirty sixth goal of the season. The shots on goal for the first period were 4-10 in favor of NY.

The second  period started off with a hooking penalty on Ryan Shannon that lead to a great penalty kill. Brandon Prust got two minutes for roughing at 4:53. At the same time Victor Hedman got two minutes for roughing, making it a four on four. Vinny Lecavalier shot one in at 5:48 with assists by Purcell and Gilroy. Steve Eminger went off for tripping at 11:40 which lead to the power play goal by Bruno Gervais at 12:26 assisted by Stamkos and St. Louis. Shots on goal in the third was Tampa Bay 10 NY 11.

At 3:05 in the third period Dominic Moore opened up the penalties with two minutes for roughing. At 7:31 Brendan Mikkelson got two minutes for cross checking. Brian Boyle tied the score up three to three at 10:13 assisted by Hagelin and Stralman. The Lightning were not able to get in another goal before the buzzer, so into overtime they went. Shots on goal in the third, again, were in favor of NY 3-9. It didn’t take long for NY to score. Former Lightning Brad Richards sent one sailing past Mathieu Garon at 2:37, assisted by Anisimov Del Zotto.

All in all The Lightning held their ground strong. Their defense was where it needed to be. The offense did not take as many shots as it has been taking in recent games. New York kept the puck in our zone most of the time. They out skated Tampa, out shot Tampa, and in the end, came out the winners. At least it was over time and Tampa still gained a point. Better luck in Buffalo, guys.

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