Sunday, 4 a.m. Have you heard this one before? The Tampa Bay Lightning get off a dreadful start, an absolutely miserable start. They fall behind 2-0 in a hurry. And, surprise, they fight back. They tie score at 2-2, and turn catastrophe into something salvageable. Then, ignoring the opportunity to take over, they fade away […]

Wednesday, 4 a.m. So who cares about the Olympics? Certainly not the Tampa Bay Lightning, who had the NHL’s hottest streak interrupted by this year’s Games. Since coming back, however, the Bolts are 2-6 and caught in mid-swoon. The Bolts were blown away by the Columbus Blue Jackers Tuesday night at Benchmark International Arena. They’ve […]

Sunday, 4 a.m. He is songs on the radio. He is drops in a rain forest. He is grains of sand on the beach. He is Nikita Kucherov, and he deals in points. Kucherov, the Lightning’s creative forward, was at it again Saturday night. He had four assists in the Bolts’ 5-2 win over Toronto, […]

Sunday, 4 a.m. Imagine a world with a pedestrian goaltender. Imagine Andrei Vasilevskiy getting overwhelmed. It might look something like this. Imagine an existence where Nikita Kucherov is just another skater in the crowd? Imagine no goals, no assists, no danger. Yeah, like Saturday’s game. The Tampa Bay Lightning took it in the nose, getting […]