I’ve been trying to figure out how long it will take for the Lightning to clinch the Southeast division and therefore a playoff spot…. We might clinch a playoff spot sooner but my concern right now is trying to figure out when and where the Bolts will shut the door on the Southeast.

TB’s closest competitor in the South is the Florida Panthers who not only are 21 points back, but have played 2 more games than the Lightning (68 to 66 respectively). They have a possible 28 more points they can achieve between now and the end of the season. Meanwhile the Lightning have a possible 32 points they can pull home over that span… 4 point differential..

So, with my porous math skills and my abysmal statistical skills, does that mean the magic number is 2 (a combination of Lightning wins and Panther loses)? Someone with more knowledge than me, please chime in on this….

I was checking around the web today and went to the Tampa Tribune site, which I tend to avoid due to lack-of-non-Tampa coverage (this is the Tampa Bay area and the St. Pete Times does a better job with Bay area coverage while the Tribune does an ok job with Tampa-alone coverage)… Lo and behold I come across an interesting story that makes you wonder how effective the campaign will be.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are advertising at three Bay-Area spring training sites — the Dunedin Stadium (knology field - Toronto Blue Jays), Bright House Networks Stadium (Clearwater - Philadelphia Phillies) and Legends Field (Tampa — New York Yankees) in an effort to lure baseball fans by day to hockey games by night.

The timing is pretty good too, at least for trying to lure Yankee fans. The Bolts face the Devils tomorrow at the Times Palace, the New York Rangers next Friday and then the Islanders on March 16th.

For those of you not in the know - and I wouldn’t think there were many of you — Playoff tickets go on sale Saturday at the St. Pete Times Forum at 10 AM