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Quick Strikes: Bruins lose, Leafs lose, and the Sedins make magic in their final home game

I guess Taylor Hall is winning the Hart? *sigh*

The Bolts

One final 10-Game Report for the Tampa Bay Lightning this season. Good but not great, just give me the playoffs. [Raw Charge]

The last ten games for the Lightning haven’t been their best but they also haven’t been their worst. They’re right on the “good” line for shot share and expected goal share and close to their full season performance in those metrics. They continue to be a team propelled more by shot suppression than shot generation. Limiting dangerous shots has been a particular strength recently.

How do the Lightning stay in top spot over the final weekend of the season? The simple answer is win but here are all the possible scenarios. [Lightning Insider]

Tampa Bay received some help from the Florida Panthers on Thursday as the Lightning’s in-state rival knocked off the Boston Bruins 3-2 in regulation. That bit of help from the Panthers created a shuffle at the top of the Atlantic Division standings and put the Lightning back in the driver’s seat when it comes to the division standings.

More on the Bruins loss from the perspective of the Bolts. Thank you, Roberto Luongo for winning your 1000th game! [Tampa Bay Times]

Luongo, 39, became the third goalie to reach 1,000 games, joining Hall of Famers Martin Brodeur (1,266) and Patrick Roy (1,029). He is the 322nd player overall to reach the milestone.

”I thought this was our best game of the year,” Luongo said. “The boys played phenomenal in front of me.”

Remember the way we beat the Bruins? Yes, more of that. [Tampa Bay Times]

The way the Lightning forechecked. The way it moved the puck out of the defensive zone. The way it did not turn the puck over. The way it forced turnovers. The way it limited scoring chances. The way it created scoring chances. If you built a template for how the Lightning should play in the postseason, it would look like Tuesday’s 4-0 win against the Bruins.

This is too great of a story for me not to share.

In honour of the Sedins’ retirement (more later), let’s look at the worst draft class in Tampa Bay Lightning history: 1999. [Raw Charge]

The Lightning then had the fourth overall pick and traded it off to the New York Rangers who took Pavel Brendl. So the Lightning ended up not really being burned by anyone in the first round that year because they did not end up with a first-round draft pick. While there were definitely some bright spots outside of the Sedins, only seven first rounders played in more than 500 NHL games. Only five made it to 250 career points. Pretty much a swing and a miss for most of the first round.

The Prospects

Playoffs are six games away. GET HYPE!

Hurray that our penalty kill is doing great! But five penalties a game??? Need to clean that up in time for the playoffs, boys.

The only game in the prospect schedule was the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds playing the Owen Sound Attack in game one of the second round. It...did not go well. [Bolt Prospects]

The OHL Western Conference semifinals got underway Thursday night with Lightning prospect Boris Katchouk scoring the lone goal, a power play marker in the 2nd period, for the Soo. The Attack however, perhaps taking advantage of some 1st period sluggishness, delivered the Greyhounds their first loss of the playoffs by building a 3-0 1st period lead.

The Game

Henrik and Daniel made their final appearance in Rogers Arena as players and it was a magical moment from pre-game to final horn, literally. [Sportsnet]

In the twins’ last touch of the puck in Vancouver – their final home game as Canucks at the end of 18-year Hall of Fame careers – Danny shot from Hank’s pass to lift the team they came to define to a 4-3 victory against the Arizona Coyotes.

No. 22 scored from No. 33 at 2:33 of overtime.

And before that in the second period. Three Swedes (Daniel, Henrik, and Alex Edler) combined to tie the game at ones. Daniel got his 22nd goal, it was at 0:33 into the period, and Edler’s number is #23 so the scoring play was 22 from 23 and 33. That’s really damn beautiful.

There were so many things about last night that exemplified the Sedin’s careers. The Province did a great job of including almost all of the tweets, messages, and videos from the night. [The Proivince]

This girl got my crying and I’m not even a Canucks fan! She almost got run over by Daniel as the two hopped on for their introductions and they had the cutest conversation about it as they were standing together for the Anthems. Then, Henrik took his helmet off and motioned to the girl to do the same. I’ve never seen a person try to undo four snaps with gloves and a stick to hold WITH HENRIK AND DANIEL SEDIN STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO YOU so quickly.

After 529 games of NHL hockey... Taylor Hall is going to the playoffs!

@EdmontonOilers

A great recap of the New Jersey Devils clinching win over the Toronto Maple Leafs [All About the Jersey]

I am so happy right now to type this. It has been five long seasons. I’ve written about the Devils throughout those seasons (and before them). There were good processes ending up badly. There was a teardown of the organization from all over. There was all kinds of drama from a Russian player to ownership to transactions made and not made. There was hot anticipation for draft picks from the ones the Devils made to the ones that perhaps they should have made. The Devils seemingly hit rock bottom in 2016-17. They have ascended in 2017-18.

Highlight of the Night: He just Phils the net.

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