Despite getting pounded in the first period, the result is
**Bolts 3
Flyers 1
**
I loved St. Louis knocking Primeau on his butt. Also a sweet move by Roenick to get that one shot on goal, but overall the talent of the Lightning is too deep for them so far.
Tampa’s defense is what won this for them, since the Flyers had plenty of scoring chances. And by “defense,” I’m including Khabibulin.
By the way, could someone explain to me what ABC/ESPN means with the "On Ice"designation that appears under the onscreen scoreboard? I’ll see “97 Phi Roenick On Ice” … well, so what?
I thought it just pointed out when a big-name player hits the ice, so all the happy people at home can follow along.
The Red Wings (unfortunately) did take control in the last two games of the series, but the Predators really gave them a fit for the first four. Just the fact that the series went six games points to Detroit having some trouble. Early on the Wings were talking some bad penalties in their frustration with the Preds. Fortunately for them, they got things together to win the series.
Also…
Okay, despite the fact I hate the Red Wings, I’d consider it pretty stupid if they didn’t resign Brendan Shanahan. He’s one of the best clutch players who ever played, IMO. Unless Shanahan wants to move on, if Detroit decided to gut the whole team to rebuild, I’d still keep Shanahan (and Steve Yzerman).
Anyhoo…
I’ve been thrying to figure out who the Wings should keep myself. But it’s just too much of a wildcard to have the labor agreement/pissing contest in the air right now. And they do come up with some sort of salary cap or anything, the WIngs are going to have a hard time working much of their team under it.
Could be. Always seems to be the same names, too. I just think it’s odd.
What, no comments on the Flames OT win against the Sharks. I missed it (it’s been a busy weekend, I barely had time to catch the Lightning game with all of the travel and such) so would love a brief recap from a biased observer here.
And a question based on a column by the St. Pete Times sports editor:
Would it be the end of the world if the Lightning made it to the Final? Discuss.
The “on ice” thing is always the same 3-4 names, big names only.
For the wings, it seems certain (for me anyways) that Hull, Cheli, Schneider, and Thomas are gone. Shanny is possible if they decide to lowball him on a contract offer. If they do, I won’t be to happy and it may even cut back on the amount of wings games I watch. :mad:
As for Tampa reaching the finals. it won’t end the world but it won’t be too good for hockey. They have a great team, and I enjoy watching them play, but I read that they have only sold out 2 times during the playoffs this year :eek: Not exactly a great hockey community there.
As I said before, the worst would be a San Jose/Tampa series. The sun belt isn’t too warm on hockey and it would really hurt the ratings at a critical time.
Which makes no sense. If it’s intended to alert the fan when a “big name” player is on the ice, it’s moot since the camera’s not following him on the ice. It’s distracting and pointless.
It doesn’t matter. We have a lockout coming up, so there’ll likely be a precipitous drop in attendance anyway.
I guess the question becomes, if the two best teams in the playoffs (arguably the Sharks/Lightning, although that’s still to be seen) are in the Cup Final, isn’t that better than some “name” team that gets in. The main drawback that I see is that neither team is Canadian, per se, but there are plenty of Canadians on both teams, I’m sure. And don’t traditions need to start some time? If it’s so bad for hockey then why even allow teams in places like San Jose, Anaheim, Dallas, Nashville, Atlanta, Columbus, Charlotte, Miami and Tampa?
The NHL was basically riding a huge expansion boon when most of the teams came into the league. Some have had success, some haven’t; but either way, it might be too early to call hockey in those cities a failed experiment. I think hockey can succeed almost anywhere with the right management on board, and teams in warm-weather cities would have to work that much harder to get their fans interested (i.e., it wouldn’t just be a case of success on the ice breeds success off it).
Now, with this looming lockout, there’s been a lot of talk of teams being contracted. Although I do feel hockey can survive almost anywhere, the trouble is that there are too many anywheres in the league now. It’s expanded way too much, you see. It wouldn’t surprise me if one or more teams were contracted in the next year, with their players dispersed throughout the remaining teams.
To: John Tortorella, Lightning coach
From: Flyers fans
Subj: Thanks!
Dear John,
Thanks for firing up the troops. See, what you haven’t figured out - being relatively inexperienced in playoff hockey - is how to manipulate the media to the benefit of your own team. Because you shot your mouth off about Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock, the Flyers will have that much more reason to whump the tails of your Lightning. We’re not promising they’ll succeed, of course, but you needlessly gave them the added incentive. Remember, your team just got its asses handed to it on its home ice, and now it’s going to a tough road venue - Philadelphia’s Wachovia Center.
It would be a shame if your team loses the next three, slinking back to Tampa in ignomy, because you gave the other team bulletin board material.
Regards,
Flyer Fans
So, link or something? I’ve not heard anything about this hear, although Hitchcock does seem to be a bit of a jackass damning his former players with faint/feint praise. And nice game the other night. Very painful to watch from this end. It was as if the wheels came totally off. It’ll be interesting to see how they respond.
Can’t find one on ESPN.com, but I just saw him ranting on SportsCenter.
Hitchcock knows what he’s doing. He plays this game in order to gain a mental edge, and he’s quite good at it. Remember, he’s been here before, since his Stars won the Cup.
This is a huge game for both teams, really. If Tampa wins tomorrow, they’ll have erased all of the momentum the Flyers currently enjoy AND will have taken them to town in their own building (as it were). OTOH, if the Flyers win things will look pretty good for them.
My mom said she saw something on the news about Tortorella yelling at Hitchcock for yelling at the Lightning players, but she couldn’t tell what was said. May be gamesmanship, may be that the guy is a horse’s ass. Also sounds like he’s revved up the Lightning, so it may have backfired. The proof will be in the pudding.
Yeah, I don’t know what Hitchcock said, but he musta said something.
The St. Pete Times ran a story this morning. Tortorella went off on Hitchcock and Clarke both. Clarke for whining to the NHL and Hitchcock for bitching at the Lightning players. Conjecture is that he was taunting Ludowich, but he says he didn’t hear anything from Hitchcock.
Now I’m wondering if Tortorella didn’t do this to distract his players from their abyssmal performance the other night and to get them revved for tonight’s game. Tortorella seems to be one of the brighter coaches in this game, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this “tirade” wasn’t fully planned. The behind the scenes plotting here is practically Shakespearean. I just hope it doesn’t become a distraction from the game at large, because I’m kind of enjoying the plotting and scheming by these two coaches right now. I loves me some intrigue!
Will you be at the game tonight? I’ll be at the local WingHouse or AJ’s most likely.
I don’t think it was planned, but to a degree I’m sure his idea was to rev up the troops. But the trouble is, that can easily backfire on you. When you’re relatively subtle at it, as Hitchcock is (notice he didn’t engage in a war of words with the coach, just a player in the heat of the game), you can get under the skin of your opponent AND energize your own team even further. It appeared to me that Hitchcock had clearly gotten under the skin of Tortorella, and that was his plan.
Hitchcock said something to a player because it’s easier to do so than to say something to the opposing coach, who’s a bench over and behind a lot of glass.
(BTW, this happens every year in the playoffs, no matter who the teams are. I just think that since Tortorella is relatively new to the playoff experience, he’s not playing this with the savvy of Hitchcock.)
No, I won’t be at the game - I live too far away for it, anyway. Haven’t even been to to Wachovia Center, which has been there for several years now. 
Well, planned or not, it worked…
**Lightning :D:D:D:D
Flyers :(**
Heh. Thanks for only one frowny frown, although I was feeling more of them.
The Lightning were clearly inspired by their coach and took the Flyers to town in their own building. They outplayed them, outhustled them, outscored, what have you. (Keith Primeau was great, but that’s about it.)
Thorne/Clement had an interesting comment - they never see the same game from the Flyers in back to back games. It’s odd.
Which makes me wonder if this’ll wind up being a seven-game series.