After much bitching about sloppy play of late, the Lightning came up with a big win tonight.
Lecavalier should win all three stars tonight with his play. He had lots of hustle, two goals (one was an empty net) and never gave up on the puck. What a man.
No idea what Tyler Kennedy is doing there
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Enemy Blog: Head over to The Pensblog and the Puck Huffers for your opposition blog coverage
Record: Lightning (8-7-2) Penguins (11-4-3)
Previous games this season: None
Game time: 7:30pm EDT on SUN (HD), NHLN-US
During the past couple weeks it's been kind of a surprise as to which team shows up on the ice each night. We seem to keep alternating between 2 or 3 game win or losing streaks. On a positive note, our home record has actually been pretty good with only one loss at home.After being beaten by the Jets on Monday, the players had a players-only meeting. Those seem to be trendy this time of year when you lose to a shitty team like the Jets. Let's hope some good came out of it, though dind't we just have one a few weeks ago? And what happened to breakfast being the game changer?
This is the first game against the Pens since we last played them in the playoffs last season. The Penguins are currently atop of the Eastern Conference, 7 points ahead of us. As if everyone in hockey is not aware, Sidney Crosby isn't playing yet. Is there a requirement to write an obligatory Crosby article each time a team plays the Pens? Maybe beat writers get it pre-written in their games notes package.
Malone is not expected to play tonight, though he will be back for Saturday night's game against the Devils. And if you want to read about how much love Yzerman feels for Versus, who owns Comcast, who owns the Flyers, who bitched about the 1-3-1, have a read here.
Go bolts
Line-up Notes:
- Roloson will get the start in goal
- Malone is out, Purcell is expected to play
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Here are the quotes on the issue via NHL.com
Colin Campbell:
"We went around the room and got every manager's opinion on where we're at with that, I led the discussion saying we've played over 8,000 games since we took the red line out and this is the first time we've had a particular incident like this. We saw it in the World Junior [championship] one time, but the managers for the most part felt it is something we have to watch, work on and talk about it more in March. It's not the type of hockey you want to throw at your fans very often."
GM Steve Yzerman:
"It was good. We got everybody's opinions on things, and it was good. I think the general consensus is just monitor the game and the way it is played, and potentially if there are problems going forward that need to be adjusted, at the appropriate time there will be."
"It hasn't happened very often," Yzerman said of the controversial stalemate. "I think the way the game is played -- I think virtually every team in the League plays pretty similar, and I think it is a byproduct of the way the rules are now. Coaches figure out ways to play and ways to be successful with the personnel they have. If incidents occur like that more regularly, then obviously we'd have to look at altering the rules once again. Tampa Bay plays virtually the same way that every team in the League does."
Even if there is a problem going forwards, it's going to be a tough issue to tackle. A rule might have to be implemented, but then do you find fault with the team in possession with the puck or the team defending?
no commentsIn this episode we learn:
-She is from itty bitty Plant City, FL. FYI Plant City is known as the winter strawberry capital of the world. THE WORLD people. Also has a population of 34,721 as of the 2010 census
-She recently graduated from the U of South Florida with a degree in Culture in Media Communications. Yes this really is a degree, I looked it up. It even has cute assistant professors like this (for the ladies). Cute, smart and Canadian. I see why she got her degree in this concentration.
-She loves hockey because it is a highly technical game but it's also very fun to watch. Agree on this statement
-She feels that we have the best fans in the entire world. Good company line there.
-Why are we the best fans? Because we are super enthusiastic and already ready to be there on game day. Woo!
I have that end shot where she pulls the hair out of her face and then attempts to sex the camera. Thanks Megan.
But the real question that begs to be answered from this video is: what is she trying to do with her tongue at the end there?
Did she come up with doing that for her video on her own? no comments
Enemy Blog: Head over to Jets Nation or Arctic Ice Hockey for your opposition blog coverage
Record: Lightning (8-6-2) Jets (5-9-3)
Previous games: October 29 - Lightning 1-0
Game time: 8:30pm EDT on SUN (HD)
The Lightning have won 12 straight against the Jets/Thrashers team. Currently we have the longest active win streak by a team against an opponent going and there's no reason this streak has to end tonight. The Jets have also just lost to the worst team in the league this past weekend (losing 2-1 to Columbus), and for all intents and purposes, they have lost their last 5 straight games. So we've established that this team sucks and we get to play them tonight.Click here to read more...
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The Lightning only played one game this weekend and were dismal through the majority of the 60 minutes of play. The Blues scored a goal a period with 24 shot and won the game 3-0. The three Blues goals came from newly acquired Kris Russell, Kevin Shattenkirk and TJ Oshie.
The last goal was particularly brutal as it was 1. a shorthanded goal and 2. looked like it all happened in slow motion. There was a miscue behind the net between Stamkos and Garon, and when Garon went to play the puck, he gave it away to Backes who fed it to Oshie who had a empty net to put it in.
That's not to say this was all Garon's fault, as none of the Lightning's top players looked like top players. The Lightning also only managed 19 shots on net. Yeah I realize that we were playing a team coached by Hitchcock, but still, 19 shots?
What this week looks like:
The Lightning are up in Winnipeg for tomorrows game against the Jets before returning home for a game Thursday against the Pens and a Saturday game against the Devils.
NHL All-Star Voting
If you are into it, the NHL All-Star fan balloting starts tomorrow (Monday) on NHL.com/vote . Stamkos, St. Louis and Lecavalier as expected have been named to the All-Star ballot. The All-Star game is January 28 and 29th in Ottawa.
And in case you haven't seen it yet, here is a video of Milan Lucic running over Ryan Miller
There was no response for the hit by the Sabres for the rest of the game.
But Miller did deliver some gold quotes about the hit (via John Vogl of the Buffalo News):
I'm not really going to get into that," Miller said in TD Garden. "I just stuck around because I wanted to say what a piece of [feces] I think Lucic is. Fifty pounds on me, and he runs me like that? It's unbelievable. Everyone in this city see him as a big, tough, solid player. I respected him for how hard he plays. That was gutless. Gutless. Piece of [feces]."
And now Miller is out with a concussion.
This is the new topic 1-3-1 topic for the week. no comments
The game was weird. Like when you are on an awkward date and you both want the date to just end already. In the end, it was a great end, but I could have done without the 70 or so 1-3-1 jokes I saw on my twitter. It's not funny after the first 5, seriously.
Via Puck Daddy, here is the video of the Flyers and their 'stall tactic':
I thought it was creative. Gotta give Laviolette credit for being creative. I remember the Flyers trying something similar to move the puck through the neutral zone during the last meeting of the season last year. Didn't have as much of holding time by Pronger, but similar idea.
And here is the expected Downie vs. Flyer fight we expected. Except it wasn't against the Flyer I had expected it to be against (Rinaldo).
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Holy size mismatch. Coburn has 6 inches on Downie. Almost feel bad for Downie there.
And here is how the game ended:
Lost in this mess will be effort that Dominic Moore made to make this goal happen. Connolly got the credit, but that was all Moore.
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