Lightning

Lightning believes it has one more surprise in them

May 25, 2016 general

Wednesday, 6 a.m. Sometime in the first period, you doubted. Didn’t you? Sometime in the second, you questioned. Admit it. Sometime before the night was over, you considered giving up, didn’t you. The Lightning looked that lethargic, and the Penguins looked that spirited, and there for a while, you looked for the white flag. You […]

Read the full article →

Kucherov making a name for himself in playoffs

May 23, 2016 general

Monday, 6 a.m. Once, you looked at Marty St. Louis the way you look at Nikita Kucherov. He, too, had the magic. He, too, had the touch. Once, you looked at Steven Stamkos the way you look at Kucherov. He, too, carried the hope of this team. He, too, was the difference-maker. Once, you looked […]

Read the full article →

Lightning can’t stop Pittsburgh’s dangerous offense

May 19, 2016 general

Thursday, 5:30 a.m. Is this how it ends, in a hail of bullets, with the Lightning unable to match the offense of the Pittsburgh Penguins? Is this how the door closes, with a swarm of bees, with a goaltender desperately trying to swat the odds around from his face? Is this how the season closes, […]

Read the full article →

Bolts win a game, but it doesn’t feel like enough

May 17, 2016 general

Tuesday, 6 a.m. Repeat it to yourself: Things are okay for the Tampa Bay Lighting. Really, they are. Keep reminding yourself that the Bolts won one game in Pittsburgh, which has always been the battle plan for hockey teams. Remember that the Lightning came from two goals behind. Chant that the next two games are […]

Read the full article →

Vasilevskiy can give the Lightning a huge lead

May 16, 2016 general

Sunday 6 a.m. It is his job now. It is his net. For the time being, it is his team. Imagine Andrei Vasilevskiy. Imagine the pressure. Imagine walking through the locker room and feeling the eyes follow you around the room. He is 21 years old, the age of a college junior, and one of […]

Read the full article →

Lightning captures one of its most memorable wins

May 4, 2016 general

Wednesday, 6 a.m. There was the night Marty St. Louis forced Game Seven of the Stanley Cup with an overtime goal. There was the game Tyler Johnson scored with one second to play. There was Ruslan Fedotenko, who scored the winning two goals as the Lightning won the Stanley Cup. There were all those wins […]

Read the full article →

Drouin finds his place with the Lightning

May 1, 2016 general

Sunday, 6 a.m. Imagine being Jonathan Drouin. Imagine being lost, being abandoned, being forgotten. Imagine being home in a holdout to which the rest of the world paid little attention. Imagine hating the past, and questioning the future, and wondering about the present. Imagine no one in the league — no one — offering enough […]

Read the full article →

Lightning loses playoff opener to the Islanders

April 28, 2016 general

Thursday, 6 a.m. “It’s just one game.” “It’s a seven game series for a reason.” “We were in the same shape last year.” And so it went. All around the locker room of the Tampa Bay Lightning were the soft, disappointed sounds of the familiar cliches of a team that had finished second in a […]

Read the full article →

Killer is the death of the Red Wings’ season

April 22, 2016 general

Thursday, 6 a.m. He was watching the pregame show, because hours before he wins a game, what else is a guy supposed to do. He saw the images, and he listened to the rhetoric. Yeah, the announcers were saying: if you are going to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, you have to stop Nikita Kucherov […]

Read the full article →

As ever, the Lightning’s best hope is goalie Bishop

April 21, 2016 general

Thursday, 6 a.m. On the Tampa Bay Lightning, hope wears a mask. Don’t most superheroes? He is a large man, and when he bends, he fills the net. That’s the point. He does not allow light. He does not allow air. He does not allow possibilities. He is a man of intense focus. That’s another […]

Read the full article →