Lets say Vinny can’t play game Five in Tampa on Thursday due to concussion, that leaves only Martin St. Louis on the top line…

That being said — what does the Lightning do?

First things first — Modin/Richards/St. Louis is reunited once again. A consistant force for years, this is not a problem. The next line is a bit more iffy though.

Cory Stillman still exists on the 2nd line with his linemates promoted. That’s where the guesswork starts. Dmitry Afansenkov was promoted to top line duty without the services of Ruslan Fedotenko after Robyn Regehr’s hit in game 3. Assuming Ruslan is still a no go, Affy does indeed play the left wing on the 2nd line once more. And who would play at center? That’s another good question. You could promote checking line standards Tim Taylor or Dave Andreychuk to center the line, or perchance take a risk and use Eric Perrin. I’m for the latter as it would allow lines 3 and four to stay intact. Perrin has played well in a checking/defensive line role and has shown flashes of offensive brilliance in his limited time with the Lightning. Why not take the handcuffs off and let the guy play?

Defensively, the Lightning have depth to cope with possibly losing Dan Boyle and Pavel Kubina for some time… Though for me to mention Stanislav Neckar is sacrilegious to some Lightning fans, it’s better than the alternative — Darren Rumble anyone? There is also minor league depth that has been playing on the Taxi squad, but to be honest — i’d sooner give Mike Eneger a chance than those guys, meaning it’s Neckar or bust.

Ben Clymer playing game 4 gave the Lightning an added dimension - at two-way forward, literally. Clymer can be moved to defense if needed, and if Neckar is indeed playing, I would take that extra precaution and start Clymer once again. Down an attacker is a lot easier to cope with than down a defensiveman.

Some believe it was the wrong call or too harsh a penalty, others believe it was a gruesome hit that deserves disciplinary action, or just a stupid penalty taken by Ville Nieminen. Whatever the prognosis, Ville Nieminen’s check on Vincent Lecavalier may be the turning point fo the Stanley Cup Finals.

Tom Panaccio of the Philly Enquirer (by way of MSNBC) brings up that a suspension could define the playoffs, but it’s also easy to see that if Lecavalier and Ruslan Fedotenko don’t play in game 5 that all bets remain off. Two of the Bolts top producing forwards being gone could tip the scales in the Flames favor.

But if Fedotenko plays? If Vinny gets clearence to play? And Ville is indeed suspended for his role? That could be a devestating blow to the Flames morale. Then again, I won’t make any wagers ont he Flames and how they take the disciplinary measurers after the Lightning came back from a “Devestating” game 6 loss to Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference finals. All the team had to do was be angry at the loss and remember the team mantra - Safe is Death - to overcome and win game 7.

What happens from here is anyone’s guess. We’re back to a best of 3 series. It’s one more number to add to the Pass the Friggin’ Torch Tour’s encore performance.

“Not today.”

That’s a quote from league spokesman Frank Brown when asked if the League woudl release anythign with regards to suspension stuff on Ville Nieminen.

Just click the hyperlinked text above to get the full story.

It’s nice to see the St. Petersburg Times finally got the nerve to update their Tampa Bay Lightning page. They did it earlier in the playoffs but there were still links that were irrelevant and out of date on their page.

You can see an example of their previous Lightning page here, it’s an older version of the site that is closer to being “Up to date” because it is from 2003, but it’s still out of date (seeing it’s talking about “the upcoming season” in January?).

Tom Jones, once maligned beat writer for the St.. Pete Times during many-a-down year in Tampa Bay, puts down quite a piece in today’s Times about Roman Turek and the phantom trade that has been on this blogger’s mind for a while now.

I like Turek’s take on the entire thing:

“Really? I was traded to the Lightning?” Turek said. “I didn’t know that. This is the first I heard about that. What happened?”

Yes folks, it did almost happen… And for this I now label Art Williams as a savior instead of a meddler (but that’s been the truth when he bought the Lightning in 1998 and then sold it a year later).