Bolts by the Bay - A Tampa Bay Lightning Blog

The Tampa Bay Lightning played against the New York Rangers Thursday night, and my was it a thriller. Stamkos scored his league leading 35th goal on a breakaway, Captain Vinny scored a grind-it-out goal, and Garon looked focused in net. As dominant as the Rangers have been this season, I was extremely impressed with the effort put forth by the team as a whole during the game against the Blue Shirts. Of course, the team did end up blowing a third period lead and losing in overtime, but that’s not the encouraging part. For the first time in a while, the Lightning didn’t loose the game; they were simply beaten, fair and square. Top teams find ways to beat teams, and last night’s win for the Rangers was an example of that.

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Feb. 9, 2012; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; General view of Michigan Stadium during an NHL press conference for the 2013 Winter Classic between Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE

Yesterday the NHL formally announced that the 2013 Winter Classic will be held at the Big House in Ann Arbor, MI and will feature the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs.  To join in on the cavalcade of fanfare about what will most likely be the largest attendance for a single hockey game, I thought I would take a look at the possibilities of the Tampa Bay Lightning being able to participate in a Winter Classic.

Of course the odds of the Bay Area hosting a Winter Classic are pretty much non-existent unless synthetic ice is approved for use by the NHL, so I wont really talk about it at length.  However, it would be a sight to see Raymond James Stadium decked out in “hockey attire” and hearing the cannons fire when the Bolts score.

Alright, so barring the league approving synthetic ice, how do we get in on the festivities.  Easy, we need to have a bit of history (call it rivalry if you must) with the opponent.  I have narrowed it down to two teams that might best fit the bill, the Calgary Flames and the Boston Bruins.
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Photo Credit: Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE

Happy Friday Bolts Fans!

In another installment I have scoured the rest of the Fan Sided NHL network to bring you a few highlights from the past week.  Enjoy and have a happy weekend all!

Darryl Martin, Blades of Teal, breaks down the “Yard Sale” held by the San Jose Sharks on 31 January.

Frank Rekas, The Rat Trick, writes an inspiring piece to motivate the Panther Fandom.  (That and it includes a young kid giving Herb Brooks’ speech, can’t go wrong with that!)

Ron Rouben, A Winning Habit, recaps last night’s Habs game in which Scott Gomez scored.  Yes, you read that right, Scott Gomez did score last night.

Kevin N, Octopus Thrower, turns the spotlight on all the possibilities with the 2013 Winter Classic coming to the Big House.

Jack Briggs, Howling Hockey, describes how one week of good hockey can make change everything.

Take care and take it easy,
- Jim Courteau

Follow me on Twitter @BlackSheepJim and of course @BoltsByTheBay

Feb. 9, 2012; New York, NY, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Bruno Gervais (27) scores a goal against New York Rangers goalie Martin Biron (43) during the second period at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-US PRESSWIRE

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. Continue reading this post »

The Tampa Bay Lightning take on the Los Angeles Kings for the only time this season at the Tampa Bay Times Forum tonight.

Going in to the game tonight, the Lightning hold a record of 23-23-5, with 51 points. LA Kings have 60 points and a record of 25-18-10. However, the Kings are coming into the game tonight with 2 straight losses, and they’ll try to avoid a third.

There is a chance that Marc-Andre Bergeron & Adam Hall will make their first appearance in a game in 12 & 9 games, respectively. Dwayne Roloson, who earned his last win against the Phoenix Coyotes on January 21st, will be in the net tonight for the Lightning.  Also, the Lightning have yet again recalled Evan Oberg, but it hasn’t been confirmed whether he’ll play or not.

The Lightning carry an 8-game points streak, since they went 6-0-2 between December 10 and 26 in 201o. They have not had a points streak of more than 8 since their Stanley Cup winning season in 2003-2004. A win tonight would put the Lightning above .500.

Marty St. Louis, who leads the team with 33 assists, is on a 9-game point streak with 6 goals & 10 assists. Steven Stamkos, who turned 22 today, leads the league with 34 goals, and has 18 goals & 9 assists over his last 22 games. Vinny Lecavalier, who leads the team with 442 faceoff wins, has 9 goals & 13 assists over his last 18 games.

More than likely, Jonathan Quick, who has a record of 22-13-9 and a save percentage of .934, will be in the net facing the Lightning tonight. Aside from Quick, one of the players that the Lightning need to be on the look out for is Anze Kopitar, who has  17 points in the last 21 games.

Hopefully the Lightning can beat Quick, and bring home a win for Stamkos‘ birthday.

You can watch the game on NBCSP(HD) or TSN2 at 7:30pm ET, or follow the game on Lightning Radio.

You can follow Lora & Bolts By The Bay for more.

Photo Credit: Douglas Jones-US PRESSWIRE

Have patience and endure; this unhappiness will one day be beneficial.
-Ovid, Amorum, III. 11. 7.

It has been a rough road, from the first game of the season against Carolina to tonight’s match-up against the Kings of Los Angeles; injuries, suffering from high expectations, the Silly String Scandal that rocked the world, the Legend of Evan Oberg, so forth and so on…  We all know the story here.  We all know what’s at stake.  Another shot at making it to the playoffs again.  Right?  No!  What’s at stake is tonight’s game, nothing behind, nothing ahead.  Come tomorrow, it will only be Thursday’s game against the Rangers.  We have shown enough patience to wait out all the injuries and poor play to get to where we are, do not discard it now.

It’s a mountain-climber attitude, don’t look up [at the standings] and don’t look down.  You can’t be afraid of heights if you are too high and can’t be afraid of the height that’s up there because it’s discouraging.  Stay away from it.  That’s the rock-climbing attitude. – Coach Guy Boucher

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On behalf of the Bolts By The Bay,we would like to wish Steven Stamkos a very happy 22nd birthday. We hope you have a fantastic birthday.

Coach Boucher and The Lightning are obviously happy and feeling confident heading into tomorrow night’s game against the L.A. Kings after the 6-3 win over the Florida Panthers Saturday. This will end the home stand, where they look to keep the point streak going on the road.
Dwayne Roloson will start in net tomorrow night. He played extremely well against Phoenix until taken aback by a massive hit. Even after that, he managed to only let in one goal while still being stunned after the scary experience. He recovered and finished the game, making some amazing saves. Coach Boucher acknowledges that Mathieu Garon has been playing wonderful, but Roli deserves to have a chance as well.
Adam Hall has been skating with the team and has been giving the go ahead to play. Marc-Andre Bergeron might be ready for tomorrow night’s game and is ready for the road trip. The only problem is that Coach would have to take out someone who’s been playing well to make room for these guys. While Adam Hall has been skating with the team, Marc-Andre Bergeron is questionable as he hasn’t had enough practice for the coaches to feel confident that he’ll head into the game as sharp as he needs to be. Nate Thompson skated with the team for today’s practice, but left the ice early due to body maintenance. No word on Ryan Malone, he seems to be getting better every day but hasn’t been cleared to practice with the team yet.
Brett Connolloy knocked in over seven minutes of ice time in Saturday’s game after being benched for the previous game. Coach Boucher said that he skated well. He is definitely improving and working hard on the areas that need work.
On the road trip, in a post-practice interview, Coach Boucher told the media that though it will be back to back, he is planning it game by game. As far as tomorrow night’s game against L.A., he said that they don’t give up goals easily, if you want to beat them, it’s 2-1.
“I don’t change lines for the fun of it. I change lines because there’s nothing happening.”
He sees definite improvement by the defensemen and the team as a whole. Sure he would have liked to of had these improvements four months ago, but the reality is that they have them now and they have them because of nothing else but hard work. Check back tomorrow for a full game preview.

@HulaDolly @BoltsByTheBay (Twitter)
FanSidedBoltsByTheBay@gmail.com

Steve Downie And Dwayne Roloson eye a flying puck at practice. Taken by: Dolly Dolce