Nice tone setting win. All the talk about Tampa having to take punishment to get rewards down low, Tampa outhit them tonight and dominated the scoreboard. And Gallagher learned he can play his games but he is going to take a beating for it too. Gotta stay out of the box with that guy though. Game 2 is huge, get up 2-0 and it will really put the pressure on them.
Habs weren't sharp last night, they came to play but made tons of mistakes, most goals came off turnovers. They can do better. But congrats to the Bolts, they played good disciplined hockey. What a great team Tampa is!
Wasn't impressed at all with their physicality. Bolts just came off of 2 back to back all out brawl series', and last night, TB not only seemed the much better team, but the far more physical one as well.
Yeah, the habs are going to need to up their game significantly. Mild improvement over last night, won't cut it.
kuch's goal right of the face off was a piece of art. Masterful! Surgical precision... ...Stamkos' from the left side was pretty sweet as well. And one of the 2 Hab goals, was as flukey as they come--deflected off of 2 lightning players.
My bad. I thought it was 2 to 2 at one point in the 2nd period. Good to know though, because I was wondering why I couldn't remember anything about the other one.... (must have been thinking about a soccer game--perhaps the Portugal-France game I saw the other day...or Sweeden Poland...).
Their only goal was actually as lucky as they come. The Habs really posed very few real threats. That shot was heading right at Vassy's chest before the pinball machine happened.
Very fortunate to be up 2-1 going into the third. The Bolts have been outplayed tonight, but Vassy is practicing witchcraft in front of the net.
Great win! They reported that in Stanley Cup Finals, a team going up 2-0 wins the series 90% of the time. Go Bolts!! Vassy was a stud tonight..
I swear, when Vassy gave up that soft one I knew Tampa would win. No chance he was going to let anything get past him after that. They could have been six inches away and given the ability to throw it in and he would have stopped it. Just know after years watching him how that dude is wired, and he took that goal personally. Meantime, Tampa plays maybe their worst overall game of the playoffs and they still got the win. if Montreal bounces back from this and gets it back level in Montreal then more power to them, but they are only allowing 3500 fans for each game. So that doesn’t hurt Tampa’s cause.
Never thought the bolts would have a keeper better than Nikolai Khabibulin...(the bulin wall)... Enter the Vas master... Lightning strikes twice....in the same place. (no disrespect to Bish, just think he's been eclipsed by Vasi--or better still, we allow for lighting striking thrice!).
