TropicalFruitGirl26

Bunting's gone. Match penalty...illegal check to the head.

Bunting OVERDID it now... He elbows Erik Cernak in the head, is being given a 5 minute major. Being reviewed, but if the Lightning end up with a 5 min PP, they better come up with at least two! %$#@ you, Bunting...

He'll take his chances, ok??

The "underrated" Brayden Point puts the Bolts back up by two. 4-2 after his PP tally!

There it is... faux penalty courtesy of Michael Rodent Bunting, and the Leaves® take advantage. 3-1 game now in favor of Tampa Bay. Let's see if the Bolts are ruffled enough to now come up with two quick ones and punish Toronto for that..

Haha...that a-hole Bunting finally comes through for his team. He drew that penalty against Cernak by actually SKATING towards him as Cernak was turning around.....then when Cernak makes contact, he flops like a flounder just pulled out of the water. PP Leaves® Gotta hand it to Bunting there, good stuff.... %$#@er...

Wow! There's a "big gun" sighting for ya! Kucherov scores on the PP with 3 seconds left in the period to extend TB's lead heading into the first intermission... 3-0. Leaves® gonna come out fast n furious in the 2nd.....you can bet on that. They HAVE to!

yea, well, not sure where he's been, but Point stopped being an 'underrated' player a long time ago. Teams actually GAME PLAN against Point, like they do against Stamkos and Kucherov. Anyways, Leaves® with some of their best chances to solve Vasilevskiy just a bit ago. Lots of pressure, looks like they finally got their hard hats on and got to work. Michael Bunting still trying to start crap every time he is near Vasilevskiy, but there is always a Bolts defender there to be sure he doesn't bother The Big Cat. But meanwhile, some TB players, like Nick Paul and even Steven Stamkos, trying to pester the Toronto netminder whenever possible as well. Classic chess game going on here between the coaches and players.

Bolts may have a rat bastard in Corey Perry, but the Leaves® have Michael "Field Mouse" Bunting doing the same for his team. And the Bolts are well aware of his shenanigans.....some of the Lightning players are actually daring Bunting to do something as they are taking some extra shots at him between plays.

Lightning going to the PP now. Again, a result of outworking the Leaves® down low. Trying to figure out who that color commentator guy is on ESPN. Sounds like a voice I've heard before on Toronto broadcasts. Anyways, he called Brayden Point an "underrated player". Who the %$#@ still UNDERRATES Brayden Point!?? He better go have another bite of his Toronto blue sandwich and have some more sips of the blue tea Leaves®....

Make it 2-0 Bolts. And its not even the "big guns" of TB. Maybe Toronto isn't giving the rest of lineup the Lightning have their proper due, but goals from Bellemare and Cirelli show that the lunch pail guys can and will score if you take them lightly. Both goals score on plays where they simply outworked the Leaves® down low!

Probably. Dumba likely obliges, maybe gets pummeled, but answers the bell. But then both go off for fighting, Tkachuk likely gets the extra 10, maybe the gate, and Dumba then, at the cost of himself, would have removed a lead veteran AND Tkachuk from the ice. Win win for the Wild

Saw this in real time during the game....massive blowup of Pavelski. Game and competition aside, I really do hope he is alright though. Within the structure of the game, however, glad to see the Minnesota Wild establish their physical dominance (something I do believe MN has a distinct edge over the Stars on), and set the 'no-nonsense' tone for this series. As for being a dirty hit, no, I think the hit was clean, BUT, I will admit to the hit being just a bit late, and at the very least, interference should have been called. Dumba got the roughing, but that was only after Max Domi engaged him. I've seen where refs allow longer, sometimes shorter, amounts of time from when the puck leaves a players stick to when another player can hit him. Apparently that is one of those "official descretion" things that does tend to drive players, coaches and fans crazy, but it is a thing. Refs thought it was a timely enough hit, but again, I can see the argument for being late. High hit? Head shot? Leaving his feet? All nonsense Hit was clearly shoulder to shoulder.... the head was not the primary point of contact..... and Dumba's feet were on the ice, even though he did lift upwards, but that happened AFTER contact, likely a balance issue. Anyone who has collided with anyone else or any THING else will know your body can go in any number of ways without your permission to do so. Will the league offices get involved? I hope not. Don't see why. If they do, then it will be yet another case where the end result (Pavelski hurt) is dictating the course of action, rather than the rule, the call on the ice, or any perceived intent by the hitting player....all the latter seemingly already worked out and decided.

Some fans I talked to thought this series would be 'boring'. It has been anything but.

Wow. Kap slowly to the bench. Hope it was just the wind knocked out of him. Suter crosschecked him.

Big kill, but Dallas still has the zone, and the pressure. Minnesota needs to play with the puck more. They are just asking for Dallas to put one past Gus if they keep playing in this way.

Atta boy, Duhaime... Way to cause problems for the Dallas PP!

Damn. Pressure leading to the Wild taking a penalty. This PP could be the game decider here. Dallas scores, they may leave tonight with the series lead. Wild kill it, they may build up enough to grab the lead themselves late. Let's go boys!

Probably easier said than done, but I'd like to see Minnesota skate the puck out of their zone a bit more. Seems like they are just flicking it out now, and it is resulting in either MORE sustained Dallas pressure, or icing. Someone needs to take the calm road and skate it right down the Stars' collective throats to break their flow.

As long as Faber doesn't turn pucks over like Fiala turning over brats on a grill, I am happy with the trade Minnesota made!

Before the puck dropped, the analysts were saying the Wild's one big advantage over Dallas was the raw physicality they can bring. At first, I thought that was more cliche talk....but, you know, Minnesota really is living up to that.

Hmmm.....seems Dumba is getting the big "booos" now every time he touches the puck. I wonder if the Dallas players will buy into that and try to make Dumba a focus of their ire all series. If that happens, then Dumba may have FINALLY found a way to contribute regularly to this team by playing agitator without doing anything else in the series. I would think the Dallas coaching staff and players would be smarter than that, but, one can always hope they aren't. I nominate Dumba for the Brad Marchand Award for Most Bristly Player on the Ice!!

Well, yea, there is that too....

Yep. A good goalie will ALWAYS create his own luck.

Do we really need ANY of them??