I thought Calgary was supposed to play a wide open game with a strong forecheck?

I thought this playoff series was going to be exciting hockey that would be optimal for the hockey fan if not the casual fan?

What the hell happened on the way to the Rink? Darryl Sutter, in all his defensive omnipotence, employed the Neutral Zone Trap with clutch and grab galore and the series that was supposed to mark a new era in the NHL instead marked a reviled and lingering past. The Trap and the boring game of Hockey that comes with it.

Dump and chase, clutch and grab, etc, etc, etc. I didn’t want to see this, I wanted to see the FUN hockey both teams played during the regular season. Did game 2 show Darryl how outclassed the Flames were that they needed to switch to the trap? Or was it the fact that the Flames had the Lightning twice on the ropes with loses in game one and game three?

Suffice my Trap complaints, I can’t complain about the end result of Game 4. Brad Richards records his 10th goal of the playoffs and sets a new league playoff record with his 7th Game Winning Goal while Nikolai Khabibulin records his sixth shutout as the Lightning edge the Flames 1-0.

Yes there were penalties not called, yes there were stupid penalties that ruined the ending of the game (thank you Ville Nieminen), and yes that was very boring hockey for anyone who watched this game at home. There were a lot of positives going into this series (now tied 2 games a piece and heading back to Tampa) but they have turned to negatives thanks to a style of play employed by Sutter.

Short list of needs for Tampa Bay and one immense need for Calgary:

For Tampa Bay — they need a better adjustment to the altitude. I saw them get sapped in the second half of the game and it seems that the altitude took it’s toll. Last time they were in Alberta they played Edmonton close before going to Calgary and taking it to the Flames and outclassing them on ice.

They also need a good attitude — positive attitude and a sense of urgency.

Meanwhile… Calgary? You need some originality boys…. I heard of this wide open system with an aggressive forecheck… I see clutching, grabbing, and the trap being employed. Certain people (aka Keith here at Boltsmag ) contends that this isn’t the trap and is just aggressive defense… It’s odd when I hear “Trap” from several Calgary fans (Usenet newsgroups) and I hear “Aggressive defense” from others.

Oh, one last need in the originality department from Calgary: A better guy to psyche the crowd. Bill Goldberg? He’s not a Calgarian, he’s an American. What’s worse is he lives in Tampa… If you are going to have a wrestler psyche the crowd — get a local hero like Bret Hart to do it. If he can’t (due to his medical condition) then there are plenty of other Albertans and Calgarians to use instead of asking guys with absolutely no local connection to do it.

That’s the reason Hulk Hogan is doing it in Tampa — Tampa resident (born and raised, and still residing here)…. He’s a local asset.

From the Calgary Herald:

“In my mind, I thought it would be no problem to beat them because they’d be tired after coming after us the way they did,” said Bolts centre Tim Taylor. “They just come at you, come at you, come at you. That’s why I felt very confident after the first period. They don’t have too much offence, and I just thought that they’d tried to give us everything in trying to hit us.”

You know, Tim, if you are going to comment about how easy you figured it would be to beat a team, it would be wiser to do it after a win, rather than a loss, eh?

The Flames have played this style through 104 games now, and still show no signs of slowing down. If you figured one period would wear the Flames out, you havent been listening to your coach, who said to expect that kind of play throughout.

Besides, we all saw how effective hitting the Lightning that hard was in the third period. The Flames were able to use an over aggressive 3-2 forecheck numerous times in the final stanza as Lightning players continually turned the puck over fearing the big hit that was coming.

The result, Miikka Kiprusoff’s 5th post season shutout, leading the NHL, and a Flames franchise record.

As to the belief that Calgary has no offense? Calgary’s 54 goals this postseason is the most of all teams, and their average of 2.46 per game is third only to Tampa (2.74) and Philly (2.78).

But feel free to keep speaking, Tim. I have no doubt that your comments are finding their way onto the Flames dressing room wall.

For those close to Times Palace — the St. Pete Times Forum is having a special watch party right now in the Chrysler-Jeep plaza (main entrance).

I didn’t know about this until WFTS ABC Channel 28 broadcast live from their during their Pre-Game show.

Bring lawn chairs, bring drinks, and bring your passion in case you don’t want to sit at home watching the game. This will be repeated for game 4.

D4n B0yl3 0wnz j00.

Well, so does Brad Richards, Vincent Lecavalier, Ruslan Fedotenko and Martin St. Louis.

In a game where the Lightning needed to show that they did in fact belong in the Stanley Cup Finals, the team put on a performance that got them that far by dominating the game 4-1. Brad Richards posted his 6th Game Winning Goal of the playoffs to tie the Stanley Cup Playoff record of 6 by Joe Niewundyke.

Dan Boyle scored — and tended to play like his house was burning down (a phrase I repeated over and over with friends on Thursday Night).

All in all the Bolts played more up to par — and I don’t say this simply because they won. Game 1 saw failures in passing, shooting the puck ON GOAL, defensive lapses and the like. It was a rare let down from a team that has been firing on all cylinders since January.

And Thursday Night, they gave all at Times Palace a glimpse of the team that they knew full well — the team that could perform at all ends of the rink and not be intimidated.

Game 3 is set for Saturday and the Lightning put their perfect game 3 record on the line in front of the “C of Red” at Saddledome.

With the Flames’ rampant success, and tickets for games selling out in an average of ten minutes, the profiteers have come out in full force.

While you can land a pair of tickets to finals games held in Tampa for a couple hundred dollars on eBay, tickets for the games in the Saddledome are going for over c$1000 a pair.

But one idiot really takes the cake. This twit actually wants $8000 American for a pair of club seats to game 3. Face value of these tickets are $325 each.

Gee, wondering why you have no bids yet, Sparky?

ESPN.com - NHL - Stanley Cup Final Game 2 Preview

TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) — The Calgary Flames can tie the NHL record for the most road wins in a postseason on Thursday when they face the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in Game Two of the Stanley Cup Finals at the St. Pete Times Forum.

No respect I tell ya, no respect…. My mother never breast fed me… She said she liked me as a friend — Rodney Dangerfield.

Rodney is King and, with that treatment by EPSN (Extremely Partial Sports Network) I can think of no other guy to represent the Lightning… At least for the moment.

I like the Tampa Bay Lightning, I really do. If they werent playing the Flames in this final, I’d probably even cheer for them. But could someone please gag Tim “the Tool” Taylor already?

Taylor has been whining about the trap being employed by the Flames to win game one.

“Once again, a team says they are not a trap team,” Taylor said. “They are definitely a trap team. The way they play, I see us going back as a league another five or six years back to the old trap and not calling clutching and grabbing. This is a time for the league to really step up and do a job calling the game the way it’s supposed to be called.”

A couple of points, Mr. Taylor:

First, the Neutral Zone Trap is not based around clutching and grabbing - which your team was quite adept at as well on Tuesday - but on sound positioning.

Second, find me one team in the NHL that wont employ the trap up 3-0 in the third period of a hockey game.

Third, dont you find it odd that as a checking forward yourself, that you should be whining about your opponents checking you to death?

Fourth, going into the final three minutes of that game, Tampa held a 5-2 advantage in powerplays. I would suggest, Mr. Taylor, that the officials were doing exactly what you wanted them to do.

And finally, do you really want to wake the officials up? I agree wholeheartedly that the officiating could have been better. Cory Stillman leaving his feet to drill Marcus Nilson’s head into the glass would have been a major penalty, game misconduct and a suspension in the regular season. It should have been such on Tuesday as well. Andre Roy should also have gotten a major and a game misconduct for running Ville Niemenen from behind on the exact same play.

Thus, instead of being down two men for a full five minutes, you were only shorthanded one man for two. If anything, the officials allowed you the chance to try and get back in it. You didnt.

You went 4-0 vs the New Jersey Devils, Tim. Obviously the trap didnt affect you then. So why are you crying about it now? Or are you just looking for an excuse to explan why you were beaten silly in your own barn in game one of the Stanley Cup Finals?

Might I recommend that you play better tonight? Or would you prefer to spend your time trying to think up another excuse should you be outworked again by the Flames?

Two types of Flames - the team and the natural disaster - are costly to Boyle last night. $300 thousand dollars worth of damage is being reported as what has been caused by a blaze in Boyle’s South Tampa home.

Ugh.

Classless play by TB (Roy and Stillman and their elbow-lead checks), and inability to shoot the puck or control it (how many shots went WAY off course? And how COULDN’T Modin control the puck which led to Jerome Ignila’s shorthanded goal) and general lackluster play made this game a laugher.

Start with the fluke goal to open the first — off Gelinas right skate while his left leg blocks Khabibulin’s right movement — and then factor in missed opportunities, blown shots and you have the makings of a game that proves the anti-thesis to the “Great series” arguments.

This was a one way game despite the Lightning having a shot total advantage. This game deserved to be won by Calgary after Corey Stillman and Andr? Roy decided to go head hunting with their elbows in the third… That was not Lightning hockey and it makes me very angry.