TropicalFruitGirl26

Victor Hedman's OT winner takes the Bolts to the Conference Finals! Nice! Who will it be? Will the Isles finish off the Flyers? Or will Philly make the Bolts wait longer while they make a comeback? Either way, nice to see the Lightning moving on to yet another Eastern Final.

We will be getting OT. Question now becomes...How MANY OT's?

Bad non call by the officials... Barclay Goodrow, wearing #19 for Tampa Bay...tripped up. Ref ignored it. Had that number 19 been Steve Yzerman or Brad Richards, that call gets made. Yay for "contextual penalty calling" by the officials...

TB almost retook the lead... Palat sniffing round the net again. Bogosian with a blast and hit the low post..... And now a bit of pushing around the TB net. Things moving fast round here!

BOOM!! There's that lead that eluded the Bolts in the first Gourde, Coleman, and YES, Palat.... figure in on that goal!! Some pushback by the Bruins, but Vasilevskiy is holding. 1-0 Tampa Bay!

So far, the way things are shaking out, I would say Boston should feel better about the state this game is in. Facing elimination, scoreless after one, Lightning have LOTS of good chances (including that 4 min PP), with nothing to show for it...not even a SOG on the aforementioned 4 min PP.... Kucherov's status questionable for the game.....Halak playing well. Once again, the Lightning's grit and depth will be tested, but if you are the Bruins, I think outside of maybe having the lead, game is going well thus far...... Lightning? Not so much. With the lion's share of opportunities, they should have had something to show for it by now. Andrei Vasilevskiy is the Bolts' best player so far in this game, and good thing he was!

Flyers gonna have to break out all the cliches for the series now... One shift, one period at a time.... Play for the next goal..... 4th win is the hardest for the team ahead to get.... Series isn't over...... Isles have been relentless....but NOT infallible. Flyers just haven't taken full advantage of their afforded opportunities, particularly with the seeming disappearances of Giroux's line.

Andrei Vasilevskiy and Jaroslav Halak both leading their respective teams out to the ice. Will Boston live to fight another day? Or will Tampa Bay, smelling blood, finish off their opponents and begin to focus on either NY or Phi? Hoping for the latter... let's go boys.

Holy Gritty....the Flyers have their work cut out for them...

Tampa Bay pushing Boston to the brink. I think Rask in net would have given Boston a better shot in the series, but even then, I think we are talking an uphill battle for the Bruins. Bolts simply have too much speed, roll 4 lines, have team toughness that can match the Bruins easily enough, have experienced guys, and have too much Vasilevskiy to top it off. Bruins have a great top line, but after that, they kinda pale in comparison. Obviously series isn't over yet, but unless the Lightning pull a Maple Leafs, this series should be done either in the next game, or Game 6.

Bolts in Game 4...up 3-1 with about 5 minutes to go. TB wins and they will put a 3-1 stranglehold on the series. Hopefully, the Lightning get it done here and get a chance to put these gold n black clowns to bed in the next game. Get it done TB! I wanna see a Lightning-Flyers Eastern Final!

THAT right there, has definitely been a big part of it! Poor ownership which leads to bad hiring of people in key positions throughout the org, which leads to a terrible on-ice product. As a Lightning fan, I an certainly sympathize with that. Bolts may be competitive and well run NOW....but that wasn't always the case and as you may remember, TB was the joke of the league for many years..... the place where washed up players, do-nothing execs, and wannabee but little knowledgeable owners went to collect paychecks and hang out on the beaches during the season. Isles changed that culture, as TB did years ago, and here they are, icing a competitive team season after season.

I thought the Isles would start the first big scrum....it was Voracek roughing with Matt Martin. Oh well....The Fly need some giddyup in their game anyways.

Carter Hart under siege a bit. Flyers' D are going to have to do a better job of boxing out Isles forwards who are looking a bit too comfortable in and around the Flyer crease.

Islander workmanlike play, tough cycling down low, and winning puck battles has paid off early. 1-0 on a goal by Andy Greene.

1ST period...puck dropped... Game ON!!

National anthems going...puck about to drop. Putting money that the Islanders will cause the first major scrum of the game. Barry Trotz wants his message sent and his team's style established early.

@Villette/Lavaux Agree that Dallas definitely has to spread the ice time more....even if it is to give younger, less established players more time, when they clearly have shown they can get the job done. Dallas' backend, known more for defense, also has potential big time offensive weapons in Heiskanen and Klingberg leading the way, but also, guys like Esa Lindell and Jaime Oleksiak, who, even if they themselves aren't big offensive threats, are good possesion guys and good skaters who can help drive offense with their quick clears and finding open wingers up front. As for Bowness and Cooper, I never really understood whatever disagreements they had. I just know that Cooper tends to let his guys "play" to their talents....and in the case of the Lightning, that is offense, offense, and more offense with a more North South style game, while having the defense either pitch in if they are capable or play a halfway type game if they aren't particularly offensive capable. This, of course, has lead to some criticism of the Lightning overall structure due to "well, they don't play enough defense". That does have some merit, but I also think with the current personnel on the blue line, they do a better job than people think..... and Cooper STILL lets his players do more of what they can do. If Bowness had a super conservative approach, I can definitely see a clash there....... TB hasn't really had the type of personnel you want to be playing conservative and not fully utilizing their considerable talents. Kinda like Dallas.....

Very interesting contrast of styles in this series. And finally....a playoff series that hasn't been seen since....when....the 80's? I gotta say I like Trotz' style with the sneaky Islander talent underneath it in this series, though Philadelphia has been defying the critics all year well before Covid struck us. And with Carter Hart in net instead of Elliot, Mason, or some other B-level starter, Philadelphia will be that much harder to beat. I also like TK as the big star to shine, as I don't think most fans or even the media give him proper credit and still mention guys like Giroux and Voracek ahead of him. Ivan Provorov will continue his maturation into the complete NHL package....he may turn out for Philly, to be what Victor Hedman is currently for the TB Lighting....that is, the all around, do everything, log tons of minutes, go-to number one defenseman. That all said.... Trotz' playoff style, Mat Barzal, Anders Lee, Jordan Eberle...that top line. Pretty awesome. Then you have Beauvillier, Bailey, Pageau backing them up. Bottom six featuring the likes of Komorov, Matt Martin or Casey Cizikas are always hard to play against. Pelech, Puloch, and Mayfield comprise what might be one of the more underrated tough defenses in the league Then you have the solid combination of Varlamov and Greiss in net. I expect a very entertaining series here.. Most media probably has the Flyers as favorites...well deserved...however...I think the Isles and their style of play may pull this out in 6 or 7.

Boston takes game 1, 3-2 Hard push by the Lightning late...they didn't roll over, go away, or otherwise give Boston anything, even being down by two late in the game. I will give credit overall to the Bruins smart defense in how they handled TB's transition and rushes. But LOTS of credit to Jaroslav Halak who was simply outstanding. I think I counted at least 3 or 4 occasions where the Lightning probably could have had goals, but Halak just denied them. This series is going long anyways I think and while I would have liked the Bolts to take Game 1 obviously, there is tons of play to be had yet here. We will see if TB can put pressure a bit more than they did in Game 1 and whether or not Halak will maintain the same concentration....and whether the Bruins as a whole can maintain the same type of discipline they showed in this one.

Dallas played their usual tough defensive game....oh, and look...their stars (no pun intended) showed up on the scoresheet! As talented as the Avalanche are, they are going to find this series a rough go if Dallas' big players are wide awake, engaged, but more importantly, ALLOWED to play a more up temp style by their coach. People forget that it wasn't too long ago that Dallas with much of the same core, was one of the better offensive teams in the league.....with bad defense, bad structure, and mediocre goaltending with Niemi and Lehtonen. Well, much of that is fixed, except for some reason, the big offensive players all of a sudden were asked to play TOO MUCH defense, which turned them into a 2-1 win, or 3-2 loss type team. If they can find the right balance, it wouldn't be that much of a big upset if they can pull this series off against Colorado, who, IMO, still need "to learn to win" as a team. We will see. Avs might turn around and blow out Dallas in Game 2. But the way this game 1 was played is the type of game the Stars need consistently if they are going to move on.

Good question. Blues are awfully tight on cap space for the next two seasons, but then they have other salaries coming off the books, so if they do some wheeling and dealing this offseason, create some room, they COULD keep Pietrangelo, be tight against the cap for a bit, then find relief in two seasons again. All depends on what Pietrangelo is seeking in salary, how badly would he want to stay in St. Louis, who the Blues have in the pipelin, or whether someone offers him a knock out deal elsewhere.

Canucks crushing the Blues so far.... 4-0 about midway through the second period and that 4th Vancouver goal just knocked out Binnington. Jake Allen now in net for St. Louis. Wow. Blues may go out in a whimper if this continues.

Jordan Binnington is in net for this possible elimination game in favor of the Canucks. Vancouver is off n running with an early 1-0 lead less than 4 minutes in. Blues looked strong to start, often hemming in the Canucks in their zone, but Van's defense held, got opportunities and Jay Freakin Beagle of all players, gets his team on top of St. Louis And now as I finish this, Vancouver with more pressure in the St. Louis zone... Berube to his team: "Must come back harder!"

There we have it. Flyers hang on, move forward, which sends the Bruins in against the Lightning and means the Flyers face Barry Trotz and his NY Islanders. Both series look to be very interesting. Lots of contrasting styles all over the place in there. But if Philly thought the Canadiens were tough checkers, they BEST get their offensive raised because the Islanders will be even tougher in that department.