TB Lightning Playoff Thread 2023

Twice on Goals? I only saw one goal disallowed. And He had to poke at puck two times to get it in, so how loose was it? The puck didnt go in till way after the whistle. Refs always blow it dead when they lose sigt of it to prevent players whacking at goalies with their sticks. The refs have been brutal in this series. Reilly got a broken nose after that hit on Point witha crosscheck to the face? but no mention of that here. The refs swallowing the whistle in 3rd and OT was terrible there were numerous crazy no call on both teams, including a blatent slash of Samsonovs Stick clear out of his hands when puck was no where near the net, then Leafs slashed the Lightning players stick out of his hands. Terrible missed calls on both sides. You cant just bring up calls on one side that was missed.

Tampa was by far the better team last night and Leafs got lucky with a late goal to tie. If Tampa plays like that again they will win series.

The overhead shot shows the puck behind his pad against his leg and it only fell out after the first fit by Point, that caused it toi fall onto ice and his second hit pushed puck in. You cant keep hitting goalie till puck comes loose (That is puck behind his pad of his right leg)

 

that puck was still moving when he poked it. You can see it in the video. That was nonsense the refs stole that game from us.

 

ANOTHER goal was blown dead early and reviewed. They gave that to the Bolts after review. The second was clearly never covered. They had two angles that showed it loose the entire time. And the puck clearly crossed the line prior to the whistle and the hands going up.
The two early whistles on the 6 on 5 had the announcers perplexed on the national broadcast. One was blown dead for hitting an abandoned stick for goodness sake???

And then giving Toronto a PP after that whole Point injury was just insane.

Fine, reduce it from 5 to 2, but to completely overturn it and give Toronto a PP was asinine.

And the slash on Samsonovs stick didnt knock his stuck away did it? It was a slash, but it actually broke the Lightning players stick. He had to skate to the bench.

Regardless, That puck was never covered.
Several angles all over twitter showing it. (not still shots which dont tell the story.)

4 early whistles. Only one ended up being corrected the 9thers screwed the Bolts.

Missed penalties happen all the time. But stolen goals?

 

Tavaras complained about the refs in game one, the Bolts players all blamed themselves after game 3 and then even after the debacle that favored his team Keefe actually called out the refs after game 3??? Seriously???

I swear those guys have issues up there.
Thats why they won't win a cup. Chip on their shoulder is weighing them down.

Tampa had the game winning goal stolen from them and still looked inward

Heart of a champion.

#gobolts

 

The NHL headquartered in Toronto is about as neutral as the SEC in Birmingham

 

Still feel the loss of the two guys to headshots has been critical in these tight games.

The Cernak loss is unquestionably a difference maker

Nonetheless an epic choke job may end the run, just like the epic choke job that may sparked it back 2019.

Credit to Toronto for not folding like they always do.

Tampa has to unload some crowd favorites as much as we may hate it.

Maroon and Perry in particular along with Bellemare and hope Killer will take a hometown discount to stay.

The whole 4th line needs to be replaced with yome youth and also another top 6 D man.

The window isnt closed... (People thought Bostons was closed). But the runway is shorter at least for Haddy and Stammer, so this offseason is crucial.

Not throwing in the towel, but winning 3 straight including two road games seems ...um...difficult.

 

3 years in the final has to come to an end at some point...
Tampa is still one of the best, but it's a tough gig now. 4-1 up to lose in OT is a heartbreaker. Can't get my head around how human Vasilevskiy has looked in this series...

 

They need to get younger and faster for sure.
But in the end it has been goaltending that has let them down. Half or Toronto’s goals wouldn’t have gotten past AV in past years. He’s really in a funk.

 

Go Bolts! Heart of a Champion. Back to Tampa now for Game 6!

 

Be interesting to see how Toronto reacts. That monkey on their back has to be hurting.

 

Yeah and Toronto is bothered by the fact that all they had to do was win this one at home - and they couldn’t do it. Could this be the making of another epic meltdown?

Go Bolts ⚡️

 

Tampa has arguably been the better team. Literally minutes from winning this series 4 games to 1.

No Cernak still and thats been huge.

The Bolts 100% can beat this team 2 times.

 

Marchand isn't and really hasn't ever been a "goon". I think for several years he made up for his lack of size, and maybe raw talent by being a pest. In my opinion, he did things to get under opponent's skin and take them out of the game. And he was very effective with it. As he's become a more experienced and talented player, and maybe with his age, he's been far less prone to act like a punk.

Go Bruins!

 

maybe not recently. But historically yes, even he basically admits it. And this article has his suspension history, which includes spearing, elbowing, slewing etc.

Brad Marchand is tired of being labelled a goon | ProHockeyTalk | NBC Sports

 

I'm a Habs fan living in Leafs country and can tell you Leaf Nation is in full meltdown mode after last night! I have to figure Tampa is not going to lose their 3rd home game in a row and if it comes back to TO for game 7 anything can happen and it usually doesn't turn out well for the leafers! It probably will come down to goaltending and the Tampa guy looks like he has found his game and the leaf tender is looking shaky!

 

Is Montreal ever going to be good again?

My mom is from Nova Scotia, when they were kids there were only the the two Canadian teams, and the family was split. She and her dad were Montreal, my grandmother and aunt were leafs fans. My mom is full force Tampa now having lived there since the team came, think my aunt is still leafs. But I try not to bring it up.

 

I think the Habs are on the right track having drafted some great young players and potentially a couple of more on the way from this year's draft, of course hockey fans in Montreal are not known for their patience! At one time in Canada everyone east of Ontario watched the Canadiens broadcast on CBC on Saturday nights so many maritimers are Habs fans, around here we are in the minority! I play hockey this evening and there will be some very worried team mates as most are Leaf fans, it's wonderful to watch the meltdown!