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Quick Strikes: Tampa Bay Lightning and the Syracuse Crunch play their respective Penguins

Long time no see in the mornings, y’all! The Lightning sadly lost against Pittsburgh, the Syracuse Crunch won against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, and we all get to drink coffee together again.

The Bolts

The Tampa Bay Lightning lost 5-2 while visiting the Pittsburgh Penguins last night in a game where special teams were the problem for the Bolts. Hope is certainly not lost, however. [Raw Charge]

...the Tampa Bay Lightning did very well in 5v5 shot attempts, but not well at all either shorthanded or on the power play, only converting on 1 chance out of 6. Bryan Rust's shorthanded goal, and goals by Phil Kessel and Sidney Crosby on two different 5-on-3 penalty kills, sank the Bolts beyond where they could rally.

Tonight also marked the Bolts' first consecutive set of losses so far this season, which is actually a kind of heartening statistic.

Organizational forward Cory Conacher, recalled from the Syracuse Crunch, scored his first goal of the season last night:

Lightning forward Chris Kunitz had an emotional day yesterday. Kunitz, who signed with the Lightning this past summer, won three Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh. He received his ring from the 2017 championship upon his return to his old city:

The Organization

The Crunch beat the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins last night by a 4-3 final. The win brings the Crunch’s streak to three games, their longest yet this season. [Syracuse Crunch]

The Crunch pick up all six points this week and build a three-game win streak as they advance to 7-9-1-2 on the season and take a 2-1 lead in the four-game season series against the Penguins.

Part of the success the Crunch has had lately is due to their PK:

Crunch forward Michael Bournival leads the league with four shorthanded points (3g, 1a).

It appears Crunch forward Matthew Peca has found his groove:

Syracuse also got some help yesterday in the form of a conditioning assignment. Newly acquired Tampa Bay forward Chris DiDomenico was loaned to the Crunch. [Raw Charge]

Conditioning assignments do not need waivers and are only for a short period of time. Many fans are used to AHL conditioning stints occurring when a player has been injured and is ready to come back and needs to get into game day shape....However, they have also been used by other teams, such as the Nashville Predators, when players just seem to need a boost in their ice time and their confidence.

DiDomenico made his debut last night:

As Syracuse Crunch fans thirst to get to know their new team, any tidbit of information is helpful. They were delighted, then, to find out that captain Erik Condra and third year defenseman Daniel Walcott have decided on a great way to unite the team and recognize the player of the game: A football helmet from Syracuse University. [Syracuse.com]

“It's pretty unique to have an AHL city in a town that's so ingrained in their university. It's fun to support the local team. So I thought why not have a fun football helmet as our player of the game helmet?'

Want to stock up on Crunch gear for the holidays? The AHL Store still has their Black Friday sale going on:

Lightning prospect Taylor Raddysh hit 100 career OHL goals last night:

The Adirondack Thunder, the unofficial ECHL affiliate of the Lightning and the Crunch, had Thor theme jerseys last night:

The Game

Former Lightning forward Brian Boyle, who is currently battling chronic myeloid leukemia, scored a very meaningful goal on Hockey Fights Cancer night:

In a related story, former Syracuse Crunch’er and current New Jersey Devil Kyle Palmieri upped the feels with this amazing tweet:

A third heartwarming story came out of the weekend: Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals has formed a special bond with a young cancer patient. [SB Nation NHL]

On Saturday, Alex Ovechkin was at the heart of this special moment for 13-year-old Alex Luey. Luey was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, within the past year, and was slated to meet Ovechkin after the Capitals’ star surprised him on “Rogers Hometown Hockey” segment on Sportsnet...Ovechkin and Luey were inseparable on Saturday night.

''The NHL: 100 Years'' will air tonight, a century to the date of league's founding on Nov. 26, 1917. [Sports Illustrated]

The four-part, two-hour documentary is broken up over the 25-year periods of the league: the beginnings, Original Six era, expansion and modern times.

Today’s coffee testimonial:

It’s been a long time since I’ve joined y’all for a cup of coffee in the morning. So, I bring you my new favorite coffee company: Scotty P’s Big Mug Coffee. Brought to you by Scott “Luke Danes” Patterson, you could say this brand is straight out of Stars Hollow. Though I haven’t tried it yet - the coffees are only available for pre-order at the moment, and should be shipping in December - Scott has gone above and beyond in the creation of his coffee brand:

I have personally selected these beans over a long period of time, and the blends that I have crafted reflect my own experiences for that particular category of coffee.

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