“I don’t think the score is an indication of the way the game went,” Lightning forward Martin St. Louis said. “Undisciplined in terms of taking penalties. A couple I thought were borderline, but that’s the way the game is. Sometimes they go against you.”

The game was a good tilt until the refs decided in the third period that they would dictate the outcome of the game.  A goalie interference call against Vincent Lecavalier at the 6:16 mark of the third period was the call that really irked the fans, and started the final onslaught for the Flyers.  Vinny was cross checked into the goalie, and instead of making the right call against the Flyers, the refs tagged Vinny with a minor.  The Flyers then proceeded to score 3 goals in the next 8 minutes.

Antero Niittymaki was pulled after the 6th goal, leading the way for Mike Smith who proceeded to allow a great shorthanded goal by Jeff Carter.  I would think that we will probably see Mike Smith for the remaining 20 games of the season.  We rode out Niitty’s hot streak, but its clearly over, as he has been the starter for all  four straight losses the Lightning have suffered.  The Bolts need to get an idea of what we have for the future in Mike Smith.  We’re still not really sure if he is our goaltender of the future and with Niitty’s hot streak over, it’s time to find out.

I have three positives from last night.  One, Stammer’s is a beast, two, Steve Downie is a joy to watch.  Stammer’s had 8 shots and 2 goals to bring his season total to 37.  Our preseason prediction of 40 is going to be easily attained by Stammers.  Steve Downie has points in 8 straight games, and provided Stammers with a gorgeous pass on his 2nd goal.  Downie plays his ass off, is becoming more and more effective offensively and leads the team in +/-.  Finally, it’s about time Tocchet put Ryan Malone on Vinny’s line.  The team needs two stable lines, and with Bugs, Vinny and Halp on one line, and Downie, Marty and Stammers on the 2nd, we now have two potent lines.

In the USA’s first game a 3 to 1 victory for the good guys, Ryan Malone put home the US’s 3rd goal in typical Malone fashion, grinding in front of the net.  He put home a power play goal that he hit at least 3 seperate times before it finally went in the net.   His line of Joe Pavelski and Phil Kessell was particularly effective all game.  Malone ended up with 3 shots on goal, second on the team.

Mattias Ohlund also scored a goal in the Swedes 2 to 0 victory over the Germans.  Ohlund scored the first goal of the game for the Swedes, which technically is considered the game winner.  He seemed like he was on the ice all game for the defending Olympic champs.  He finished with 1 goal and 2 shots.

Meszaros played a lot of minutes for the Slovaks in their 3 to 1 game vs the Czechs’s but failed to tally any points.  He consistently played on a blueline pairing with Captain Zdeno Chara. Meszaros was the only player on the Slovak squad to end up with a + rating (+1) for the game.

Malone plays again today vs the Norwegians, and Meszaros plays later tonight vs the Russians in a game that should be a real dandy.