You don’t see this very often.
The Tampa Bay Lightning were being outshot 20-7 on through 30 minutes of play on Friday night, that’s a common enough happening during the 2009-10 season not to be surprising to anyone anyone. Martin Brodeur, on the other hand, had allowed 3 goals on those seven shots. That wasn’t so common.
But the trump-all to this oddness was half the lights inside the Prudential Center going dark at around the 11 minute mark of the 2nd period… The lights went dark and everyone was kept in the dark on what was going on. Reporter Damian Cristodero summarized the event as “Amateur hour at the Purdential Center” with thanks to:
…zero announcements to let the fans or reporters know what is going on other than the stunning revelation by the PA announcer that the players had left the ice and would return when the lights came on.
Players could be seen hanging out on the bench, just waiting and people-watching during the extended lights-out delay. Then, as the clock ticked closer to 10 PM eastern time, Lightnign palyers could be seen showing up in plain clothes.
The game was called; postponed, put off, what have you… It made no sense to keep waiting for the lights issue to be corrected. Both teams — the Lightning and the Devils — are scheduled to play games in other cities tomorrow. While the Lightning have the Jersey Turnpike commute down to Philadelphia by Bus, the Devils were to fly up to Montreal to play the Canadiens. Waiting until God knows when for things to be fixed was not an option.
Colin Campbell remarked about the event:
“We tried for an hour and 52 minutes to restore power and appropriate lighting, but were left with no alternative but to postpone further play.”
For the record, Brandon Bochenski, Steve Downie and Steven Stamkos were the goal scorers for the Lightning. Stamkos goal came shortly before the game went into limbo with thanks to the light issues.
There is no immediate word on if, when and how this game will be completed. When it is, it will start at 9:12 of the 2nd period — less than half a game — with the score 3-0 in the Lightning favor.
