Thursday, April 29, 2004
How sweep it is.
The Lightning swept Montreal tonight, 3-1, to advance to the Eastern Conference finals against Philly or Toronto. Brad Richards broke a 1-1 tie in the second with a nifty backhand over Jose Theodore, and the Lightning went into Operation Shutdown (apologies to Derek Bell) in the third period, stifling the Habs and icing it with Freddy Modin's empty-net goal in the final minute.
The real key to the game came during the first period and the early part of the second. Montreal completely dominated play in this time frame, yet only had a Nikolas Sundstrom goal to show for it, and that goal came when Dan Boyle lost his edge, and Joey Juneau picked up the loose puck and sent it over to a wide-open Sundstrom, who backhanded it past Khabibulin. But Habby was unbeatable after that, and after about 25-30 minutes when Montreal should have been up at least 3-0, the worm turned in the second when Montreal took a string of penalties, with the Lightning equalizing on the third power play in the series. Vinny Lecavalier's centering pass deflected off Boyle's skate past Theodore, and the air was let out of the Montreal balloon. That set the stage minutes later for the Richards winner, after Montreal's Jim Dowd turned over the puck at the Lightning blue line. Richards and Dmitri Afanasenkov came down on a two-man break, and their give-and-go left Richards alone in front of the net for the winner.
This is just an amazing moment for the Lightning and their fans. Like many others, I've followed this team from its inception, and although the playoff year of 95-96 was a nice interlude, the Bolts were Buc-like in their consistent misery year after year. But like the Bucs, they started doing the right things, and slowly built a championship contender. Rick Dudley and Jay Feaster have played the role of Rich McKay to the hilt, and John Tortorella has been Dungy and Gruden rolled into one. They're still only halfway to the Cup, but I like their chances against either Philly or Toronto. Although the cliche is true that you throw out the regular season records come playoff time, it was no accident that the Lightning swept the Flyers in four games this year, and they beat the Leafs twice late in the regular season as well, including a 7-2 thrashing in Toronto. Also working in the Bolts' favor is that this series is shaping up to be a 7-gamer, especially if Toronto can even things up tomorrow night. Meanwhile, just like the last round, the Lightning will be well-rested.
And looking ahead to a possible finals matchup, they dominated the Flames in Calgary 6-2 and outplayed Detroit in the Motor City in a 1-1 draw. Their only game against the Sharks came early in the season in Tampa, and that was a 2-2 tie. (And just in case Colorado pulls off the extremely rare 0-3 comeback, we'll note the Bolts shut them out 3-0 in Denver as well). So there's nothing the Lightning can't handle between them and the Cup, but they'll still have to keep working hard. Hockey in Tampa in May. I can't wait.
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The real key to the game came during the first period and the early part of the second. Montreal completely dominated play in this time frame, yet only had a Nikolas Sundstrom goal to show for it, and that goal came when Dan Boyle lost his edge, and Joey Juneau picked up the loose puck and sent it over to a wide-open Sundstrom, who backhanded it past Khabibulin. But Habby was unbeatable after that, and after about 25-30 minutes when Montreal should have been up at least 3-0, the worm turned in the second when Montreal took a string of penalties, with the Lightning equalizing on the third power play in the series. Vinny Lecavalier's centering pass deflected off Boyle's skate past Theodore, and the air was let out of the Montreal balloon. That set the stage minutes later for the Richards winner, after Montreal's Jim Dowd turned over the puck at the Lightning blue line. Richards and Dmitri Afanasenkov came down on a two-man break, and their give-and-go left Richards alone in front of the net for the winner.
This is just an amazing moment for the Lightning and their fans. Like many others, I've followed this team from its inception, and although the playoff year of 95-96 was a nice interlude, the Bolts were Buc-like in their consistent misery year after year. But like the Bucs, they started doing the right things, and slowly built a championship contender. Rick Dudley and Jay Feaster have played the role of Rich McKay to the hilt, and John Tortorella has been Dungy and Gruden rolled into one. They're still only halfway to the Cup, but I like their chances against either Philly or Toronto. Although the cliche is true that you throw out the regular season records come playoff time, it was no accident that the Lightning swept the Flyers in four games this year, and they beat the Leafs twice late in the regular season as well, including a 7-2 thrashing in Toronto. Also working in the Bolts' favor is that this series is shaping up to be a 7-gamer, especially if Toronto can even things up tomorrow night. Meanwhile, just like the last round, the Lightning will be well-rested.
And looking ahead to a possible finals matchup, they dominated the Flames in Calgary 6-2 and outplayed Detroit in the Motor City in a 1-1 draw. Their only game against the Sharks came early in the season in Tampa, and that was a 2-2 tie. (And just in case Colorado pulls off the extremely rare 0-3 comeback, we'll note the Bolts shut them out 3-0 in Denver as well). So there's nothing the Lightning can't handle between them and the Cup, but they'll still have to keep working hard. Hockey in Tampa in May. I can't wait.
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