Game 54 - Tampa Bay at Saint Louis

Tampa Bay was so lucky to have won tonight's game. It's great that they won and all, but St. Louis really should've had this one. I guess the good thing to come of it is that the Lightning have finally found a bit of luck this season - and they desperately have needed that.

The first period was pretty dismal for the Lightning. It almost looked like a preseason game, it was so sloppy. The only line to have shown up and played all game long was the 3rd line, Gratton-MacDonald-Tarnasky. They were the only ones to have a good first period, although I thought that the second line, Prospal-Hlavac-Oullet, didn't do too badly in the first either.

There isn't a lot to say about the second period. But then, the second period tends to drag for me, and always has. It seemed to take forever to play when I skated, too. It's sort of like the stretch between the All-Star Game and the end of March - that just seems like it never ends. I love hockey, but an 82-game season really is just too long to watch. Oh well - what can you do?

For the middle part of the third, Tampa was playing like it should've been playing the entire game. And then came the breakdowns at the end of the game. I don't know what it is about this team, but they usually get scored on either right at the beginning or right at the end of a period. There's some kind of mental thing going on with that, I think.

The thing that I've noticed happening more as the season goes along is that the players - forwards and defensemen both - are passing the puck more right in front of their own net. That makes me very nervous. You just never know how much your goaltender is paying attention, and I've seen guys pass the puck thru the crease, too. I'm just waiting for it to be accidentally tipped in without a single player from the opposite team even in the zone. How embarrassing would that be, huh?

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