2 periods do not a game make.

Two periods of solid play, 29 shots and one goal does not a game make.

Two periods of swagger does not justify a team to get complacent, and yet the Lightning didn’t believe this to be true.

Four unanswered goals in the third period by the Senators seal another collapse of the Lightning… And even the Lightning’s sole offense is reason to worry — it was a goal scored on a Five-On-Three Power Play.

For two periods, you were led to believe the Lightning could heighten their game — because they did. They played sound defense, they threatened on offense and they looked like a team worthy of being in the playoffs…

One power play goal by the Senators early in the third undid that, and you’d think that the Bolts were made up of rookies — not Stanley Cup winners. One goal leads to another, which leads to a defensive lapse on the power play and a short handed goal to make that hole three… Add the customary empty-net (during a six-on-four power play, no less!) and the Lightning went from looking like contenders to pretenders in less than 18 minutes.

4-1 the final from Scotiabank Place. Vincent Lecavalier has the lone goal for the Lightning while Havlat, Spezza, Fischer and Alfredsson score for the Senators.

Game 2 is Sunday at 6.

Ski does what he can to inform the Football craving masses of the start of the NHL playoffs tonight:

And apparently the postseason for this odd sport starts today, with our “local” boys facing off against a Canuck team called the Ottawa Senators. Which seems like an odd name for a team from Ottawa since everyone knows the capital of Canada is Toronto.

…and all this time I thought Canada was the 51st state. j/k

The Defense starts now.

Fans of both teams are welcome to comment, but keep it civil. Flaming, trolling or other disruptive behavior will not be tolerated.

I’m looking to report local and national (even international) watch parties for the Lightning this playoff season. Where can Lightning fans congregate if they aren’t going to the game, to watch the Bolts square off against their advesaries?

If you want to hold a party, if you know of a sports bar that will be holding parties, or if you have other items to report — post it in comments and I will update this post accordingly.

UPDATE #1: Direct for the Lightning:

Lightning Welcome Back Fans For Playoff Road Games
Playoff Road Parties Return To St. Pete Times Forum For 2006 Playoffs
The Tampa Bay Lightning and Bud Light will again welcome fans back to the St. Pete Times Forum for all road contests as the team hits the ice in the 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs presented by Sweetbay Supermarket. Fans will be welcomed with drink specials, prizes and giveaways while they watch the Lightning take on the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals.

Thousands of fans packed the Chrysler-Jeep Plaza during the 2004 Stanley Cup playoffs as the Lightning marched towards their first Stanley Cup Championship. Fans can expect an enhanced experience this post season with food and drink specials at Shots at Channelside, fan interaction with games and prizes, the Gold and Diamond Source Lightning Girls and free parking at both the VIP East and West lots presented by Bud Light. Bud Light will offer $2 Bud Light drafts at all watch parties at the St. Pete Times Forum for the duration of the playoffs.

The first party kicks off tomorrow, Friday, April 21 when the Lightning begin their title defense against the Ottawa Senators at 7 p.m. The party will open to the public at 5 p.m. The festivities continue on Sunday as puck drops for Game 2 at 6 p.m. with Shots opening at 4 p.m.

Can you remember how it felt? For many of us, the feeling is still there and it compels us to believe.

Can you remember where you were when the unimaginable happened? Oh there were a few incidents of it during the latter days of the 2003-04 season: when the Eastern Conference was secured in the name of Tampa Bay; when the final horn sounded and the Lightning wore the Eastern Conference crown; or that incident one humid June evening in Tampa that many thought was impossible just seven years ago — when the captain of the Tampa Bay Lightning was told to come get his Stanley Cup?

Maybe you were online at home — switching between your TV and your computer? Maybe you were congregated with family, sharing what seemed like a holy experience? Or out at a bar, watching the show with fellow fans? Maybe you were in attendance the night Dave Andreychuk raised the Cup above his head in euphoria? You can remember how it felt, right? The warm feeling, the laughter? The excitement and the joy..?

Now it’s time to defend that memory, those feelings.

From the club seats at St. Pete Times Forum to the farthest reaches of the Earth, Lightning fans will never be parted with the memory of the 2003-04 Stanley Cup run. But now it’s time to let it go for a few weeks. It’s time to get spit and bile flowing, time for the gut check. It’s time for the defense. It’s time for showing pride, showing testicular fortitude and showing staying power.

It’s high time we all remember Safe is Death.

I made mention of the impossible and the unimaginable from 2003-04, and if you — like so many other fans, bloggers and media sources — have doubts that the Lightning can retain their crown, you should realize that the Lightning’s first Stanley Cup victory (on their third ever playoff appearance) will have nothing on the franchise repeating if it happens. There’s doubt, there’s destitute, there’s skepticism and there’s the knowledge that the Lightning are capable of so much more than we’ve seen:

• We’ve seen John Grahame go from peaks to valleys in a flash
• We’ve seen Dan Boyle as the last line of defense, because Pavel Kubina and Daryl Sydor couldn’t stand up consistantly behind the blue line.
• We’ve seen Sean Burke — signed as a #2 — play as a #1.
• We’ve seen flat play and fisticuffs to get engines going.
• We’ve seen listlessness and we’ve seen epic nights that you thought should go on forever.
• We’ve seen surprises come out of the woodwork — Paul Ranger, Ryan Craig, Evgeny Artyukhin — and seen resurrections of members of the Stanley Cup roster (Dmitry Afanasenkov, Chris Dingman).
• And we’ve seen the Championship banner raised into the rafters

If you’re like me, you’re looking at the Ottawa Senators as an impossible feat. Realize that nothing — nothing — is impossible.

If you want proof of that, look at what team won the 2003-04 Stanley Cup. They said that’d never happen, and the Lightning proved’em wrong.