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Quick Strikes: Tampa Bay Lightning’s 25th anniversary season was memorable

Posted on by Acha

The Tampa Bay Lightning system

The season did not end in a Stanley Cup, but the Tampa Bay Lightning did a million excellent things along the way to get there, including setting franchise records, and throwing a little party called the All-Star Game. What did you like best? We wrote about it yesterday.

A few of our favorite things from the Tampa Bay Lightning this season [Raw Charge]

Recency bias is hard to overcome. As fans, what happened yesterday always seems more important than what happened a month ago. The Lightning’s loss to the Capitals in the Eastern Conference Finals left a bitter taste for a lot of fans. So bitter that some fans just want to burn the whole thing to the ground. Whether this season was a success or a failure is a debate for another time. What the Lightning did provide was a long ride that had a lot of good times along the way.

Here’s one from friend of the site Lauren Burg: Lightning’s Stamkos Deserves a Cup [The Hockey Writers]

Lightning captain Steven Stamkos, on the other hand, has been through so much both on and off the ice. He’s lived through some terrible years, with unstable ownership and questionable coaches, to put things nicely. More than that, he’s battled one ailment after another, to the point that he’s come out publicly saying his body will never be 100 percent again.

Tampa Bay clears out 2 assistant coaches; Could Crunch’s Ben Groulx be candidate for promotion? [Syracuse.com]

Groulx has one year left on his coaching deal with Syracuse. At the end of this season, he said he expected to return as Crunch head coach. When asked if Groulx is a possibility for one of the two open assistant’s positions, BriseBois would only say “we will make proper announcements in due time.’’

Stanley Cup Playoffs

Game 3 Recap: Washington Keeps the Pedal Down, Overpowers Vegas 3-1 [Japer’s Rink]

Except for his one extremely sizeable and significant gaffe, Holtby was otherwise strong again tonight. He saved 21-of-22 shots for a .955 SV%, and continues to be a calming force for this helter-skelter Caps squad.

Jonathan Marchessault trolls Alex Ovechkin with ‘hot lap’ before Game Three [RMNB]

After seeing Ovechkin doing them during the Tampa Bay Lightning series, Marchessault told reporters that he’s been taking a hot lap since Game Two in the Winnipeg Jets series. The Golden Knights haven’t lost a road game since.

Stanley Cup goalies Fleury, Holtby a contrast in personality, style [Sportsnet]

“They go about achieving success in pretty different ways,” added Washington defenceman Brooks Orpik, like Niskanen a former teammate of Fleury’s when all three were with the Pittsburgh Penguins. “The main component of their success is probably their competitiveness and preparation.”

The Future

Dahlin says Scouting Combine testing ‘kind of hard’ but fun [NHL]

The 18-year-old, who is the No. 1 ranked International skater by NHL Central Scouting, said he didn’t pay too much attention to the cameras and reporters that followed him from station to station. “I just focused on what I should do and all the testing,” he said. “I didn’t feel the cameras (were there). I noticed but I didn’t think about it.”

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