Would you characterize this as the Lightning’s game to lose? Not I.
Martin Brodeur has been challenged. He either must raise his game or get out of the way. Vincent Lecavalier getitng into Brodeur’s head may or may not be the truth. Tonights game will prove or disprove the notion if Brodeur rises or falls to the occasion.
The Lightning need another complete roster effort and that will be tltimate deciding factor. For the New Jersey fans out there — this is where I hold my doubts. The Lightning have had several situations this season where they have seemed to be on a roll and then — crashed, burned and looked nothing like they are capable. The pressure is on to put another nail in the coffin — but when the pressure has been on for the Bolts to perform, they’ve faultered.
Here’s hoping for the Lightning to beat that trend and head back to jersey with a commanding 3-1 advantage in this best-of-seven series.
Loading ...
69 Comments until now
Oh man, “THe Lightning” that just aired on the FSNF pregame telecast was hilarious. Moreso than anything I can remember on a Lightning telecast. A spoof of the Sporanos opening with Paul Kennedy playing the role of Tony in the car..
I am guessing a lot of late arrivals. There are a LOT of empty seats as this game gets under way.
I wasn’t lucky enough to catch that… Center Ice has the broadcast from NJ, so I was treated to those jokers bad-mouthing Holmqvist.
New jersey scores on the PP — blame Richards for movign the puck into the zone for them.
1-0. That sucks.
That little flurry was nice — Brodeur played it well for NJ. There hadn’t been many scoring chances before that.
Perrin?! I forgive him for his trespasses in Game 2.
BOOM!!! Eric Perrin and the wrist shot of doom! j/k!
1 all!
And the crowd is back into it
BAH!!
I have a baaaad feeling about this game…
Giving Craig credit for crashing the net. No one has shown that nerve all game
I don’t. It’s too close to say it will get away from us and it’s too early.
they blew the end of period PP chance though. They still have time left in the 2nd but they never usually capitalize on start-of-period PP’s.
New Jersey has done a great job limiting offensive chances for the Lightning and have done what they did so well in game 1: Capitalizing off Lightning mistakes.
they were playing like ZOMBIES that last shift. They are lucky NJ wasn’t much better. WAKE UP!
Richards — 2 minutes.
How man, nice end to the PK there. I just wish VInny SHOT on brodeur but it may have been wiser for him to just run out the clock
Richards gets called AGAIN?!?!
Jeez.
Somebody’s gotta’ stick to Parise.
Ya’ think?!
3-1.
Vinny’s hurt
BOOM
VINNY!!!!!!!!!!
Seems like Vinny and Parise are taking this scoring thing seriously.
They tied it!! Oh man!!!!
Nolan Pratt should be given the world’s most painful pink-belly for that defensive zone play. Is he trying to screw up?
Christ, Marty hot hauled down earlier, now call. They are more than willing to call him for slashing though.
Gary: Pratt and Sarich have been the reasons why I look forward to the off season - I expect it’s the last year for both of them.
What a kill!!!
It seems that our boys have woken up.
I’d honestly give this team a standing O going into the intermission. THAT was gutsy. Not exactly the way you want it but they fought back.
I said Vinny was hurt. It looked like he was brandishing his ankle while going off from a shift just before Marty’s goal.
I wouldn’t be upset in the least if Sarich *and* Pratt got shipped. Who, then, would fill the voids?
I hate to say it, but the Bolts could really use Brenda Twitt on the 2nd D line…
Promoting the rookies / prospects. Smaby seems poised to make the jump next eyar and I really want to see Egener — who has to be resigned. Also Rogers could make the jump.
Sarich is a UFA. I think Pratt is the same.
4 minutes, seven shots
I know it’s been said before… and it’ll be said again… but:
Danny Boyle is one helluva’ D man. He plays the point and the line better than anyone in the East, as far as I’m concerned.
and to believe Keenan couldn’t stand him.
SUCKER!!!
Both teams and the crowd sesem to be in a lull
Okay… what I said before stopped being applicable at the very moment that DannyBoy tripped over his own net…
p.s. I lied before… it’s not the NJ dorks I have doing play by play. It’s the CBC asshats.
“Hockey is better in Canada” they say.
I have to disagree given this aural assault.
Saw that. Started thinking of what you wrote. Whoopsie
The Bolts kinda’ fell apart the last two minutes before this TV timeout. Need to start passing smart.
Holmqvist is really saving the team’s bacon at this point… (knocking on wood)
Jason-on-the-spot. Ward, that is.
Re-sign Ward!
Is that a 2-minute delay?
I thought for sure the Bolts put that over the glass from the d-zone.
WOW that was a great play offa’ the faceoff.
Hinch? Marsha? Want to make a report here? Wheeeeeew… **shaking his head**
Overtime coming up.
Seriously… do you think that Vinny knew it was the puck that hit him in the face?
Nope. He thought it was a stick and pulled a Cindy Crosby style dive, trying to pull the two.
He’s got my Golden Globe vote.
Vinny and Marty have racked up 52+ minutes of ice time between them. Each have more time on ice than Boyle. Cripes
Unless the Lightning score quick, the longer it draws out the more damage NJ does. At least if Vinny and Marty are depended on like they have been during OT
Thank yoiu Martin… Early PP for the Bolts
Let’s see what happens… Torts is taking the timeout.
And the Dour Play returns.
Allow me to reTorts: WTF?
nic ekill by NJ. Helped along by the Lightning demanding charging into their zone instead of holding onto the puck and getting set
Cripes, I thought we had it when Brodeur went all crazy
I know that making this comparison may be inappropriate at this point in the playoffs…
But Holmqvist is channeling the Bulin?
Crap. NJ power play
F-word! DannyBoy got called.
Gary, had the same thought. It’s the mask and the Euro facial stuff. They are similar in that.
F F F F F F F F F f F F f F F F F F F F
cancel that channeling thought, Gary
Oh, it was cancelled.
So pissed off right now.
“Pissed” isn’t a bad word I can’t use here on the ‘Mag, is it?
Gary, the difference between BM and FanHome is thus:
You can get away with saying any god damned thing on Boltsmag while on FanHome I gotta smack you with a wet noodle.
Was biting my nails between sipping my beers on this game, so sorry I was AWOL, boys. I was amazed by Holmer, Vinny & Marty, and Prospal was hanging tough at some key times in the game. Are we getting too tired? Why aren’t we seeing more of Tar”nasty” out there, eh? And can Richie take more shots, please, given the simple fact that he’s such a better shooter than his linemates? If we can reestablish the forecheck, maybe we can reignite the D-men, or at least keep ‘em from embarrassing themselves. Still, I think we have a darned good chance to win Game 5 b/c now the fire is under our asses instead of theirs. Bring it on, I say.