Lightning respond with 7-1 victory over Sharks

December 8, 2019 general

Sunday, 4 a.m For two days, they were awful. For two days, the defensemen of the Tampa Bay Lightning would look at each other and lower their eyes. They were not good enough. They were not sturdy enough. They were not dependable enough. They had the best goaltender in the league last season. They had […]

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Prediction: Bucs should hold off Indianapolis

December 7, 2019 general

Saturday, 4 a.m. If there really is a difference to the Tampa Bay Bucs, they win win this game. They are playing well. They are at home. The Colts are on a losing streak. The secondary is growing up. The defensive line is strong. The quarterback is making (slightly) more good plays than bad ones. […]

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Lightning loses to Wild as defense struggles

December 6, 2019 general

Friday, 4 a.m Defense? What defense? The Tampa Bay Lightning offered barely any resistance to the Minnesota Wild Thursday night, losing an embarrassing 5-4 defeat at Amalie Arena that left their head coach fuming and their players red-faced. The Lightning fell to 13-10-3 with the loss. Goaltender Andrei Vaselivskiy stopped only 16 of 21 shots […]

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Not even the Bucs saw Barrett coming

December 6, 2019 general

Friday, 3 a.m In the beginning, way back about 14 1/2 sacks ago, Todd Bowles wasn’t quite sure what he had in Shaq Barrett. Probably, he didn’t think he had the NFL’s leading sack master. “I mean we knew he was a solid player,” defensive coordinator Bowles said, looking back. “I didn’t know how much […]

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Bucs’ Jones remains the team’s starting runner

December 5, 2019 general

Wednesday, 4 a.m. He backslid a little bit, but Ronald Jones is no longer running in place. “He’s still my guy,” says Bucs’ coach Bruce Arians. Jones was benched against Jacksonville Sunday for missing a blitz pickup, finishing the day with only eight yards on six carries. To some, it might have been reminiscent of […]

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Lightning snaps losing skid with win over Preds

December 4, 2019 general

Wednesday, 4 a.m If the turnaround is to come perhaps it will start with the stars. Perhaps it will happen in an intense game, perhaps in overtime. Perhaps it will come on a perfect pass from Steven Stamkos to Nikita Kucherov, who will poke it past an Honored opponent such as Pekka Renne of the […]

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USF needs to be smart in naming its new coach

December 4, 2019 general

Wednesday, 3 a.m. Sometimes, when a program is lost, when it has no early idea where it is headed, the only thing to do is to remind itself of where it has been. For the USF Bulls, that would be a mistake. Hey, no would blame the Bulls for dumping head coach Charlie Strong. Strong […]

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Looking back at the Bucs’ win over Jacksonville

December 3, 2019 general

5 Thoughts You might think that James Winston has to be flawless for the Bucs to win. He doesn’t. In the Bucs’ five wins this season, he has five interceptions. In the Bucs’ five losses, he has 15. Even with Bruce Arians’ faulty math, that’s too many. 2. Do you think Donovan Smith saw the […]

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Bucs impressive in their second straight victory

December 2, 2019 general

Monday, 4 a.m. Are you ready for this? Are you braced? Are you prepared for a Tampa Bay Bucs team that is at least competitive? Certainly, you have waited long enough. Certainly, you have seen this team lost in the wilderness for enough seasons, wasting enough potential, squandering enough talent. Certainly, you have seen enough […]

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Slow start dooms Lightning against Carolina

December 1, 2019 general

Sunday, 4 a.m The hole is too deep. The start is too slow. The energy is too limited. And the start of the Tampa Bay Lighting is becoming more and more troubling. The Lighting lost again Saturday night, as the slow start to a game added to the slow start to a season. Tampa Bay […]

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