Preseason game 4: Tampa Bay at New York Rangers

You know, I really don't want to be proven right about this coming season. But games like the one against the Rangers don't inspire much confidence. Somebody needs to tell Tampa Bay that they have to prove me, and everyone else wrong, okay? Really - I insist.

The Lightning won over the Rangers last night in New York 4-2, and then promptly left for Europe after the game. That makes them 3-1 in their first four preseason games against Pittsburgh & the NY Rangers in home-at-home games. This is starting to feel a bit like baseball, if you ask me.

Yes, they did win. But the reason they won was because of great goaltending and scoring. The defense was seriously lacking, as you could tell by the amount of shots the defense allowed on Ramo - a rather large total of 47. From what I could tell, the defense was pretty ineffective.

The defense in hockey can be likened to the defensive line in football. If you don't have a good D-line, then you'll get stomped on. Every football fan has seen this. The D-line holds back offenses, and encourages turnovers so that their team's offense gets a shot at scoring. A breakaway is almost as good as sacking a quarterback. And a shot on goal in hockey is pretty much equal to a first down conversion, if you think about it.

Ramo is a fantastic goaltender, and I've thought so since last season. Without him, the Lightning would've been blown out of the water. I think the toughest decision for the coaching staff will be choosing the goaltenders, frankly. They're all good.

From what I can tell, Tampa Bay's final two preseason games in Europe are only going to be reported on the old fashioned way - by print. So no radio, and no tv - unless you understand either German or Slovakian, in which case you should be able to find at least radio broadcasts somewhere online. Unfortunately, I only know a little bit of French, so that doesn't help me any.

However, results of some kind will be posted, regardless. Lecavalier is supposed to play on Sunday morning (10 am ET) against Berlin, so we'll have to wait until a couple of hours after the game for quotes to be posted online to see how that went. Ranger will probably not play at all this preseason, tho.

Best of luck in Europe, guys.

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