Friday, May 14, 2004
A thing of beauty.
A little late in posting on this, so I'll keep it brief: H-U-G-E win by the Lightning last night, taking Game 3 of the conference final against Philly. One stat flashed during the game last night was that 24 of 27 (88.9%) of the winners of Game 3 in conference finals tied 1-1 have gone on to win the series. I don't know how that stacks up with other rounds, but it seems to make sense at this stage of the playoffs, when for the most part the teams are relatively evenly matched. Having to take 3 of 5 when the other team only needs to win 2 more is a tough task when your opponent is a tough one.
Another stat that was the target of some derision on usenet was the Lightning's all-time record in Games 3. Well, who's laughing now, as the Lightning go to 6-0 on that count with last night's win? (Incidentally, their record in Games 4 is 3-2, and their bugaboo game is Game 2, where they're 1-5 with the only win coming, of course, against Montreal in the last round.)
As for the game, I thought the Lightning dominated for all but the final 10-12 minutes of Period 2. The key is that they came out of the second period still up 2-0. And the two goals that put away the game in the third were two of the sweetest you'll ever see: St. Louis' breakout pass to Lecavalier, and then the tic-tac-toe passing between Roy, St. Louis and Richards that opened up the Flyers D like a soft peanut.
A Lightning win in Game 4 would effectively end the series; a loss still leaves them with home ice advantage. We'll also see if the injury to Philly's top D-man, Marcus Ragnarsson, is serious enough to keep him out (he may have a broken hand from a Freddy Modin shot).
6 wins from the Cup.
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Another stat that was the target of some derision on usenet was the Lightning's all-time record in Games 3. Well, who's laughing now, as the Lightning go to 6-0 on that count with last night's win? (Incidentally, their record in Games 4 is 3-2, and their bugaboo game is Game 2, where they're 1-5 with the only win coming, of course, against Montreal in the last round.)
As for the game, I thought the Lightning dominated for all but the final 10-12 minutes of Period 2. The key is that they came out of the second period still up 2-0. And the two goals that put away the game in the third were two of the sweetest you'll ever see: St. Louis' breakout pass to Lecavalier, and then the tic-tac-toe passing between Roy, St. Louis and Richards that opened up the Flyers D like a soft peanut.
A Lightning win in Game 4 would effectively end the series; a loss still leaves them with home ice advantage. We'll also see if the injury to Philly's top D-man, Marcus Ragnarsson, is serious enough to keep him out (he may have a broken hand from a Freddy Modin shot).
6 wins from the Cup.
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