Monday, May 31, 2004

Here It Comes Again...

The game has been over for less than 2 minutes, but I'm already sure that we're going to be hearing the same old garbage from the Tampa Bay Lightning Head Coach, John Tortorella. He's going to say that his team got back on their feet and played hard against the Calgary Flames, who's presence in the Stanley Cup Finals, in his opinion, is a total fluke. We're going to have to endure his chest-puffing, swagger-stepping, egotism for another 3 days until Game 4. Well, John, let me point out a couple things...

First of all, if Referee Kerry Fraser would pay as close attention to the game as he does to his sadly out-of-style hair-do, the Lightning would never have gotten the 2-man advantage that led to their goal. Somebody grab that guy a rule book and a hairstyle magazine!

Secondly, you'll notice that the only goal scored was on that 2-man advantage. Calgary was playing a hard-hitting game, they had lots of jump, and they won a lot of key puck-battles. But let only 3 of them face a full compliment of 5 for 2 minutes... What do you expect?

The Flames clearly had more scoring chances than the Lightning tonight, but were unable to solve the Bulin Wall that is Nikolai Kabibulin. Admittedly, the goalie was sharp tonight... Perhaps just a little too sharp for Calgary. On a number of occasions, he was hung out to dry by his slow-footed defensive team, but still managed to keep his net clear.

All in all, it was a good game, and a fun one to watch (minus the questionable officiating, mind you), and the 1 - 0 score reflects that. The two teams really took it to each other and gave it their all, despite what we're sure to hear from the Tampa Coach.

It's going to be a tough night back in Tampa this Thursday night as the Calgary Flames look to regain their lead in the series. If they manage to go up 3 games to 2, then we'll be seeing them play for the ultimate prize here again Saturday night... One can only imagine how wild the Red Mile will be then!

Oh, and before I go, a final word for Mr. Tortorella... Your boys played hard and got the 1 goal victory tonight, but don't forget the 3 - 0 Shut Up, er, Shut Out that was handed to you the last time you fired off your mouth...

Go Flames Go!!!

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