Without further adieu (or snappy graphics this year)…

The floor is yours.

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

(Sidenote: for those who prefer the format, we’re running a game night thread on the forum as well)

A user over at FanHome has stated the suspected Lightning RBK Edge uniform redesign is false, but has also stated that the Lightning’s duds are going to be touched up a bit.

And while we’re on the subject of Uniforms, Sticks of Fire has a poll up on their main site asking which Tampa Bay sports team has the best duds? Go vote…

EriK at the Trib complains about the weather (and Erik, your copy editing of this blog entry is as horrid as mine here at Boltsmag ) and floats the idea that Doug Janik will dress for tonights game.

I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of Tampa dressing seven defenseman and throwing Doug Janik into the lineup, but I don’t know if that’s the case. After all, it was an optional.

I won’t put it past Torts if he plays this. Shane-O is still a rookie… But if O’Brien plays with as much intensity as he has during his short stay in Tampa (or comparable to Paul Ranger’s balls-to-the-wall play during last years playoffs), I don’t see the (R) status as a thing to worry about.

Already mentioned in comments here but unpublished, Marc Denis gets prime seats in the press box for the playoffs. That’s right, rookie Kari Ramo is backing up Johan Holmqvist.

Torts has taken chances with goalies before in the playoffs (Grahame over Khabibulin in the Lightning playoff-finale loss to Jersey in 2002-03) but this one could be the biggest of them all. Can Holmqvist rise to the challenge? Can Ramo come to the team’s aid if necessary?

If high definition hockey enhances the game, you wouldn’t know it if you were a Lightning hockey fan.

Sun Sports (the Tampa Bay Lightning’s official broadcast partner) will be offering game #3 and game #6 (if necessary) of the Lightning/Devils games in High Definition.

The Lightning’s most marketable time of year and Sun Sports is only offering potentially 2 High Definition broadcasts in the first round? High Definition enhances hockey on TV and while Fox Sports Net Florida (Sun Sports sister station) offered 30 Florida Panther games in High Definition during the 2006-07 season (and 39 Devil Ray games on top of it), Sun Sports offered all of 10 games in High Definition for the Lightning during the regular season.