We must get thee to a thuggary…

As the season winds down there is something I am noticing a lot of - repetition. No, it’s not the repetition of outcomes to games, it’s repetitions to what is happening in games.

Ottawa and Philadelphia imploded the other night into an all out brawl while games such as San Jose vs Dallas, Colorado vs Vancouver and Colorado vs. Calgary have turned out the same way.

Why do I mention repetition? Because I can remember this happening before. The entire league imploding into fight-nights at games (DOn King promoting top ranked boxing and then hockey games breaking out at the arenas) as the season winds down. There’s also something that disgusts me but it doesn’t shock me or surprise me at all - that being Todd Bertuzzi’s hit on Steve Moore last night in the Canucks / Avalanche game.

I’ve seen it before. How are you, Mr. McSorely? Feeling better, Mr. Brashear?

Oh, of course I am not sitting back and saying “oh it’s just more of the same — let them be and stay out of it Vancouver PD and Colin Campbell”. I’m saying, more importantly, that this has happened before and it isn’t as surprising. Personally I think that Bertuzzi should be suspended for the remainder of the regular season and the extent of the post season — and that’s just the start..

The retaliation from Vancouver for Moore’s hit on Naslund a few weeks ago should be clean checks and intense play against him — outplaying the guy and putting him in a legal hurt locker is all fair in love and war. The problem is Bertuzzi let this get to his head and went too far, way too far, with Moore suffering two broken vertebrae, a concussion, face lacerations, etc.

Joe at Tasca’s Take provides an interesting take on the situation — Bertuzzi, deserving what he gets, is a scapegoat of the cheap shots that tend to happen around the league with non-calls abounding. Being suspended for the result and not for the action is a bit of a wrong reason.

Maybe it’s time to put a ref in the stands to stop games when he sees flagrant penalties that aren’t called? Something’s gotta be done because the on ice officials aren’t getting it done. That is more of the same, as is the Bertuzzi/Moore incident, as is the blowups near the end of the season.

Stanislav Neckar was re-acquired by the Tampa Bay Lightning for a 6th round selection in this years entry draft…

*John cocks and ear to listen to the disdain of all too many members of LightningNation*

Well, would you prefer Darren Rumble as the #2 reserve D-man? Would you prefer getting fleeced on a deal for a forward that may or may not fit into the lineup? I know plenty of you will tell me that the lateral move doesn’t help us int he long run… You’ll tell me the point is to get as far in the playoffs as possible… And the logic that fails to inspire that I throw back is “At what cost?”

It’s a phrase plenty have heard before and have grown sick of, but I use it again to your revilement.

TSN.ca - NHL - Canada’s Sports Leader

Khabibulin, named Defensive Player of the Week, extended his eight-game winning streak for the Lightning by going 4-0-0 with a 1.99 goals-against average.

He also posted a .927 save percentage and picked up his third shutout of the season in a 3-0 victory at Colorado on Monday, beating out Dallas Stars goaltender Marty Turco for the award.

Is this the Tampa Bay Lightning vs. the Detroit Red Wings…

Or is it the upstarts vs. the elder statesmen?

Is it Mike Ilitch vs. Bill Davidson? The Palace at Auburn Hills vs. Joe Louis Arena?

It’s one hell of a match-up, that’s for certain, and it’s 4 hours away as I write this.

The Lightning are one win away / one Panther loss away from clinching the Southeast Division and thus a Playoff Berth.

With the Panthers having 13 games remaining and a possible 26 points with a current 65 point total, they can only manage 91 points total… While the Lightning already have 90 points. With a win or tie tomorrow, the worst they can do is finish 3rd in the East and be declared co-champs of the SE.

Posted on Hockey Punduits WebLog

New Orleans Devils?

Apparently the NHL has moved the New Jersey Devils to New Orleans and only told UPI.

Leave ti to the Media to distort the truth :smile

2 days before the NHL trade deadline with the local team leading the NHL, upon opening the paper and going to sports, what NHL coverage (general league stuff) can I find in addition to the usual mess that I find in the St. Petersburg Times?

Nada.

Zip.

Zilch.

Squat.

There was no talk about the chief rivals the Lightning will face in a playoff run or speculation who in the Southeast will be selling off talent — which has been a minor mainstay here at Boltsmag seeing I keep bringing up division rival Washington’s firesale — or which of the top teams are going to try to further themselves before the deadline… All of this news right now matters to the Lightning and Lightning fans because we may be on top of the league at the moment, but being on top only means everyone is trying to pull you back down.

In fact, the lack of coverage in the Times makes me think of the Tampa Tribune and it’s good-ole-boy network — where football, college sports and the New York Yankees take precedence to everything else. In the Times, there was plenty of NCAA coverage, there was a feature story on recruiting, Bucs free agency coverage… and yet the general NHL coverage in the Times was a page and a half, not counting Gary Shelton’s awkward article about the Lightning being not great - yet.

This is a wakeup call to the local media. You know those occasional stories you run about how the Lightning were perceived as the league joke a few years ago? Your lack of coverage and lack of league coverage continues the joke, at least for hockey fans in the region. Traditionalists will continue to paint us and other southern cities as not deserving hockey while you focus on traditional southern sports of football and college basketball.

“It’s a mixed up, mumbled up, shook up world…” Ok, enough about a song about a transvestite…

The Oilers grabbed Nedved from the Rangers. Edmonton can thank Sather for that favour. The Flames aquired Chris Simon today. The Canadiens added Kovalev. The Leafs added Leetch. Bondra went to Ottawa.

What are the small market, Canadian teams doing adding players when they are supposed to be poor, and unable to compete in this market? The coming labour war makes for strange bedfellows. Who would have figured the Rangers would dump $15 million in payroll in a week? Teams with bloated payrolls are cutting, and teams with room under the expected cap are adding.

Could this be a common trend in the new CBA world? Lets hope so. Allowing markets like Calgary, Edmonton and Nashville to improve themselves is only good for the NHL. When all teams can compete for players, the league as a whole benifits.

After last night’s stunning victory at Times Palace (which I happened to attend), the Lightning are currently in the middle of a 7 game winning streak. This goes on top of their 14-game point streak and monumental record since New Years.

Yet tonight is a real test from a real underdog team. After sinking to the Blues in Overtime and facing a scare vs. the Chicago Blackhawks, the Bolts travel south to Sunrise to face Roberto Luongo and ghosts of Tampa Bay’s past in the form of Rick Dudley and company with the Panthers. Luongo has own the Lightning (as has Dudley and co) for the most part this season and unless the Lightning get back to firing on all cylinders, the first loss in quite a while may come at the hands of one of the hottest talents in the NHL in the form of Luongo.

Solve Luongo and the streak continues. The Bolts were able to figure him out a few weeks ago… There’s little question if they could do it again. The true question is — will they?