So who had J.J. Moser for the winning goal in your office pool?
Moser, a defenseman who doesn't normally score a lot, breathed life into his Lightning team in a 3-2 overitme win over Montreal at Benchmark International.
It was Moser's first playoff goal -- on his second shot of the night -- that provided the win. Moser has played five seasons and has just 26 goals.
Hagel shows his passion./TIM WIRT
On this night, Moser was a sharpshooter. It was the Lightning's second win at home in their last 12 games.
The Lightning was behind 2-1 in the third period before Nikita Kucherov tied the game at the 12:33 mark.
Brandon Hagel scored his third goal of the playoffs to start the scoring.
Kucherov forced overtime./TIM WIRT
Goalie Andrei Vasilevski stopped 25 of 27 shots for the Lightningl
Game three of the series is Friday night at 7 p.m. at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
Not to suggest that the offense of the Cincinnati Reds is fairly impressive, but did someone just refer to them as The Medium Sized Red Machine?
For the second straight night, the Reds poured in on the Tampa Bay Rays. This time, it was 12-6. In two games, the Reds have 19 hits and 18 runs in two easy wins.
Elly de la Cruz drove in five runs and hit two homers to pace the Reds, who took a 9-0 lead in the game. The Rays managed just eight hits, giving them 14 in two nights.
the Reds took a 2-0 lead in the first on a two-run homer by de la Cruz, then added two more in the second on homrs by Ke'Bryan Hayes and Dane Myers.
Matz had a rough night./KIM HUKARI
The Rays got a two-run homer from Jonathan Aranda in the sixth to get on the board. They scored four in the ninth on two bases-loaded walks and a two-run double by Johnny DeLuca.
Starter Steven Matz lasted just three innings and gaive up four hits, four walks and four earned runs. The leaky bullpen gave up eight more runs.
The Rays and Reds play again today at 1:10 p.m. at Tropcana Field. Nick Martinez will start for the Rays against Brandon Williamson.
There for a while, things were going fairly well for the Tampa Bay Rays.
They were on a winning streak. They were in first place. The bullpen even seemed to be doing better after the early season forest fires.
Lately, things have grown dark once more.
The Rays lost their third game in four outings Monday, bowing 6-1 to the Cincinati Reds at Tropicana Field. The Rays managed just six hits son the night and didn't score after the first inning.
Tampa Bay had a bit of a threat in the first inning after falling behind 2-0 on a home run by Sal Stewart. Their first four batters reached on singles by Chandler Simpson and Junior Caminero and walks to Jonathan Aranda and Yandy Diaz (who collected the RBI.
After that, nothing. Jake Fraley and Cedric Mullins both struck out looking and Nick Fortes grounded out.
The Rays managed only four hits after that. They were 0-7 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base.
Jesse Scholtens started for the Rays and gave up five earned runs in 5 2/3 inning.
Simpson had two hits for the Rays.
The Rays and Reds return to the Trop tonight at 6:40 p.m. Steven Matz will start for the Rays against Chase Burns.
No problem. It's a long series. Our time will come. You just stay tuned.
Since Lord Stanley bought his dishware, the losers of Game One have said the same things. No need to panic. It's a long series. A lot of teams have lost Game One.
That said, Sunday night's game was a disappointing way for the Tampa Bay Lightning to start the playoffs.
The Lightning lost 4-3 in overtime to Montreal, spending the entire extra period on the penalty kill. Juraj Stafkosky scored a hat trick for Montreal, including the winner with 1:22 left in overtime.
Brandon Hagel, who scored 36 goals in the regular season, scored two of Tampa Bay's goals. Darren Raddysh also scored.
The Canadiens scored three times on the power play.
The Lightning's Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 15 of 19 goals.
The Bolts and Montreal play again at Benchmark International at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Monday, 3 a.m. Remind yourself that he’s still healing. Tell yourself that it’s part of the process. After missing so much time, it is natural that Shane McClanahan is still on the mend. That said, but could recuperation kind of hurry itself along? McClanahan made his fourth start since his return, and no, he’s not […]
Sunday, 4 a.m. At the end of forever, behind all the gallons of rain that fell, on the other side of domination, the Tampa Bay Rays finally won Saturday afternoon. The Rays came from behind to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-7, in a game that seemed as if it would never end. Cedric Mullins hit […]
Saturday, 4 a.m. After winning six straight games, maybe their bats grew a little tired. The Tampa Bay Rays’ hot streak ended Friday night in a 5-1 defeat at the hands of the Pittsburgh Pirates in PNC Park. The Rays barely showed any resistance to the defeat. Tampa Bay had just five hits, and they […]
Friday, 4 a.m. They left 14 men on base. They stranded nine men in scoring position. They fell behind one of baseball’s worst teams three times. And still, the Tampa Bay Rays won again Thursday afternoon. They swept their second straight series — they’ve won nine of their last 11 — with a 5-3 comeback […]
Thursday, 4 a.m. Yes, pitching can be hard for a team to find. Of course, you could always find it right under your nose, that is. The suddenly-hot Tampa Bay Rays, who have seen their rotation partially come up lame, reached into their bullpen for a gem Wednesday night. Cole Sulser and Jesse Scholtens tamed […]
Thursday, 3 a.m. Enough with the regular season. Bring on the playoffs. The Tampa Bay Lightning grew bored with the season with one game to go. They were thumped in their regular season finale Wednesday night, losing a 4-2 decision to the New York Rangers. The Bolts finished with 50-26-6 record, tied for second place […]
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About Gary Shelton
• No one covers Tampa Bay like Gary Shelton.
• No one has seen as many moments, as many athletes, as many coaches as he has over the last quarter of a century.
• No one has won more awards, including two national Associated Press Sports Editors Best Columnist awards and eight top 10 finishes. He also just received his sixth Sportswriter of the Year award for Florida by the NSSA.
• No one has seen more big events, including 29 Super Bowls, 10 Olympics and 11 Final Fours. Gary still goes into the locker rooms to obtain his stories.
• No one has made you angrier, or laugh louder, or think harder about what he has written.
Now, he begins a website designed to keep him in touch with the readers who have grown up on his words.
