Sean Burke did something last night that has been very hard for Lightning goalies to do consistently all season — making stops that either goalie should be making. This resulted in a 1-0 win at Times Palace as the Bolts (playing lackluster) hung on.
Sean Burke has started 3 consecutive games after coming back from his broken finger injury. He’s 3-0. There have been two stories in the Tampa Tribune in recent days about Sean Burke as the Lightning’s number 1 goaltender. The first one deals with his bid to become it while the second one (which ran today) says he is the teams #1 goalie.
If Burke is the #1 goaltender going into the playoffs, then John Grahame is done in Tampa Bay.
John is starting today versus the Florida Panthers, but this is his first start since the April 1st 4-2 loss to this very same Panther team — the game in which Sean Burke made his return to the ice by relieving John of his duties between teh pipes. Grahame had been 5-4 over the span where Burke was out of commission and had an unimpressive 3.78 Goals Against Average during that span… I’m assuming in full that this nine game stretch told the Lightning Grahame isn’t a #1. Something wss shown in Grahame’s game that finally had the team say “enough is enough”.
There has been a switch flipped by the Franchise — shutting down Grahame and turning on Burke. Grahame continued to play up-and-down hockey during his stint as starter for the Bolts (during a crucial time of year) and it looks like the Bolts have had enough. I could be wrong on this — but I think John is done in Tampa… If the Lightning re-sign him, it will be to play behind Burke. That’s a big if, too, seeing the Lightning will have a big name to sign before they begin to address other areas of the team.
