Game 77: Tampa Bay at Boston

The Tampa Bay Lightning lost to the Boston Bruins 3-1.

I thought that the Lightning came out with some good energy. Of course, they only had four shots on goal in the first, but they had a good second period with 14 shots. The third was a bit middling with only seven shots on goal.

They couldn't covert on a 5-on-3 power play. Well, they couldn't convert on any of their five power plays. And they allowed Boston to convert two of their six. I'd really like to know what happened to their special teams play.

Even though the number of power plays seemed pretty a little more than average - comparatively, anyways - this was something of a chippy game. There were three fights, but none of them were by the Lightning regulars. Artyukhin actually got into one fight, which was a little surprising. The stunner was Melichar. I didn't think he had it in him, however he didn't look all that enthusiastic to be involved. And I don't know enough about Petiot to know if he gets into the occasional fight or not.

Recchi looked good. It's good to see him fit in with Boston. And it's good to know that he's on a very good team that will probably go pretty far into playoffs. I wish him the best.

Stamkos got his 20th goal of the season, so good for him. McKenna stopped 36 out of 39 shots, so good for him as well. And St. Louis had four shots on goal, but no points. Still a good effort, tho.

Lecavalier can't buy himself a goal right now. He had two pipes and broke a stick on a shot (or was that a pass...?) on a power play. He seems to be a bit tentative about taking shots these days, and I'm not sure if that's a lack of confidence or a nagging injury - or both. He just needs one more goal for 30, and hopefully he can pull that off here in the next five games. St. Louis, too. And Prospal for 20.

Does it sound like I'm repeating myself? It's because I am. But I've been repeating myself all season, tho, so this shouldn't surprise anybody. All you'd need to do is throw together the phrases "shoot more," "good goaltending," and a few others and that'd be just about every blog I've written this season. I'm really not a nag, though - I promise. No more so than the Lightning coaches, anyways.