Let's Go Bolts

After Tampa Bay's run in the Stanley Cup playoffs last year, fans are anticipating an exciting year.  So far, it has not been that way, but the hockey season is long and there is a lot of hockey to be played.  

Overall I'm not a huge hockey fan.  I enjoyed watching the playoffs but only because Tampa Bay was in them.  Actually, before the playoffs began last year, I could not have named a single player on their team.  My hockey knowledge amounts to knowing when a goal has been scored.  

But I do enjoy watching live sports and I very much enjoy spending time with my boys so last night we headed down to Tampa for the game.  Jon did not go - his enjoyment of these kinds of things can be summed up in this picture of him at a Magic game:



Either that or he's sleeping.

The Lightning have been putting up impressive numbers this year defensively killing power plays and their goalie has all star stats so far. But the combination  is not translating into wins because of an apparent lack of offense.  Remembering back to the Stanley Cup finals - they held a 2-1 game lead over the Blackhawks and then proceeded to score only 2 goals over the next 3 games. So apparently this lack of offense is carrying over and is something they need to find an answer to quickly.  

It was military appreciation night and a WWII vet got the honor of dropping the first puck - not too many of those left, sadly.  

The Lightning came out attacking but that didn't last long. After that, they spent more time defending against Calgary's attack.  By the end of the 1st period there was still no score. 

In my opinion, they were completely outplayed in the 2nd period being outshot by an over 2-1 margin.  But the score at the end of the period was 1-1.  And despite getting shots off at a rapid pace, the only goal the Flames could muster was a power play goal. 

Here the stats say it all.  The Lightning had jumped out to an 8-1 shot lead so since that time, the shots were 11-24!  And of the Lightning's 19 shots, 18 of them were blocked!  Um...hello penalties?  Anyway, I didn't hold out much hope for a positive outcome. 

But...that is why they play the game.  Tampa Bay was able to score on a Power Play and then added an insurance goal a few minutes after that to pull out the 3-1 win!  Ben Bishop, once again, had phenomenal stats...saving 30 out of 31 shots.