4/18 -- Season Finale -- Capitals at Lightning Open Thread

I’m excited about tonight — I hope it’s an exciting game and that the Bolts win.

I’ve been really excited about this season, even though the Bolts struggled this year it’s been fantastic to watch my first full season of hockey. I can’t wait for the playoffs!

could be my last opportunity to watch the bolts for the rest of the season(any of the playoff games nationally televised?), so I’ll be tuning in

and since we’re talking hockey, did you catch the gary shelton column praising tortorella for the job he did this season?

shelton went so far as to write that torts did a better job this season than last. don’t follow hockey as closely as you did, so I’m wondering if you would agree with that.

Ski, Shelton isn’t the brightest bulb in the garden when it comes to Hockey…

I thought his “Lets let time catch up with his captain” statement near the begining of the article was a testament of that. You can sing Torts praises, but he had to make a judgement call a lot earlier on Dave and did it a lot later than he should have… It’s arguable if Torts should have offered Dave a flexible leash like he did (giving him plenty of chances to improve) but John tends to be shrewd and to the point. I thought the Dave Andreychuk situation wasn’t like him at all.

There’s no one that can fault Torts for this season (except a few nincompoops on message forums) but you can’t say he’s done a better job this season than his last one. Last time he won the Stanley Cup. The jury is still out on this one. The only way to do one better than winning the stanley cup is to do it while facing adversity. His team Just made the playoffs… That’s adversity. Now winning another 16 games is all he has to do to prove he’s done better than last time around.

We’re in Pregame at the Forum. Paul Kennedy is a marked upgrade to the Chief right now :p

Chief’s picking Thornton for the Hart? Hard to argue with the impact Joe has made on the Sharks roster.

Paul Ranger is the Chief’s pick for ROY on the Lightning. Ranger gets a six pack of Ginger ale :-p

Defensive forward: Modin.
Defensiveman: Boyle.

No brainers.

And Brad Richards as Team MVP. Arguable only to those with personal preferences on the team.

Speaking of Richards — Is hould let everyone know I need him to have 4 points tonight in order to win a 250 dollar donation in my name.

I reported the Caps called up one of their goalies. I did not hear why until just now.

Condolences to Olaf Kolzig on the loss of his father.

Caps going to the PP. 15 minutes left in the 1st.

Expect a lot of penalties.

2nd PP of the night for the Caps and they score.

Alex gets it.

Third PP total for the game.

i’ve been half hoping that ovechkin decides to return to russia next season, cause he’s gonna be trouble for years to come for the bolts.

he’s gonna be trouble but he’s incredible to watch none the less.

Lightning PP after Jeff Halpern’s Highstick

ohhh, CSN is going to show the top ten ovechkin goals of the year, this should be good

Scoreboard watching:

New York Rangers and Ottawa Senators are Scoreless

Buffalo over Carolina 2-0 in the 2nd.

Montreal beating the New Jersey Devils 2-0 now in the second.

Lucky shit.

I still have the impossible goal on my hard drive. There has got to be a site somewhere with clips of every goal he’s scored — it’s just one of those things…

Paul Kennedy just interviewed Alex on Sun Sports. His english is terrible and he seemed a bit lost. He suggested Richards was up for the Calder.

I can’t get enough of the clip where Ovechkin shoots the puck into the goal while on his back. just an absurd goal

I might have already given up on this game and be watching the 1986 World Series re-inacted in RBI baseball

I was on Off WIng opinion and I LOVED watching that.

I have an old friend on my Instant Message service — someone I haven’t talked to for years. Don’t want to blow that off for the game. Especially with the Bolts playing half assed

Sens, Buffalo and Montreal winning…

A Ottawa/Tampa Bay series looks more and more likely every moment.

end of 2 at Times palace. Where is everyone??

I booked with about three minutes to go. Hard to call tonite’s game…most Lightning players played hard, most of the time. Boyle skated the puck into the DC zone, almost to the crease, singlehandedly about three times. He also made some bad passes. When Vinny was away from the puck, he kinda did his usual slacker thing. He looked good at other times, tho. I could go on, but I’m tired.

Anyway, so much for the regular season. Time for that playoff gear, because I know they have one. Don’t they?

I didn’t end up watching as much as I thought, I ended up watching more of the Carolina game.

I hate Paul Kennedy’s questions, he asks them and sort of half answers them and then has a tendancy to talk over the players when they answer.

Also, what was up with Kubina? Why wasn’t he playing.

John, your wish is my command…enjoy this video!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3957094422427700341&q=ovechkin

I gotta email you Georgeann. Sorry I have been silent when you contacted me.

I turned off the game twice. They looked like they were just going through the motions. VERY diappointing effort before the Playoffs commence. ESPECIALLY after the Devils upset of the Habs.

Just got settled in out here in California. The things that happened while I was in the air are a little more disturbing than the $10 per day internet access and buck fifty Pepsi here at the Doubletree.

I’m not going to do anything all rah-rah for the Caps… it looks like the Bolts just didn’t do shit tonight, and reaped what they sowed by drawing Ottawa in the first round.

Sharpen up the spikes on your golf shoes, boys…