Did you have a nice 12 hours, living up last night’s victory and advancing to the Semifinals? Yeah? Good.
Over. Done with. Moot.
Sorry to rain on your parade, but we’re back to square one. Forget the highs of the last round, forget the lows for that matter. Forget the fact the Lightning allowed a single power play goal in the first round, forget they’ve won three straight. Forget they were on the verge of elimination.
We’re back at zero. 0 for 0 with an .000 win percentage in 0 games played.
The Washington Capitals are not the Pittsburgh Penguins. You know this. Lightning faithful saw the Bolts fall four times this season at the hands of the Capitals during the 2010-11 regular season. While the Bolts were lucky that Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby (as well as Matt Cooke) were not part of the Quarterfinal contest against the Pittsburgh Penguins, they’ll have all the Capitals as well as the rockin’ red of Verizon Center to deal with come Friday.
Alexander Semin, Brooks Laich, Mike Green, and Mister stick-on-fire himself, Alex Ovechkin. And company.
Below the jump, however, you’ll find the schedule for the series as well as ticketing information.
A quirk of the Semifinal contest between the Caps and Bolts will be games 3 and 4 at the St. Pete Times Forum. They’re being played back-to-back. Many will wonder why – and blame NHL schedule makers for another inanity. SB Nation Tampa Bay clarified the why: blame USF Graduation ceremonies.
The series schedule will be thus:
Game 1 Fri., April 29 Verizon Center (Washington, DC) 7 p.m.
Game 2 Sun., May 1 Verizon Center (Washington, DC) 7 p.m.
Game 3 Tues., May 3 St. Pete Times Forum (Tampa, FL) TBD
Game 4 Wed., May 4 St. Pete Times Forum (Tampa, FL) 7 p.m.
Game 5* Sat., May 7 Verizon Center (Washington, DC) 12:30 p.m.
Game 6* Mon., May 9 St. Pete Times Forum (Tampa, FL) TBD
Game 7* Wed., May 11 Verizon Center (Washington, DC) TBD
Single game tickets for games 3, 4, and 6 go on sale tomorrow morning. The following is the official release from the Tampa Bay Lightning regarding this, as well as prices:
LIGHTNING SECOND ROUND SINGLE-GAME PLAYOFF TICKETS
ON SALE FRIDAY
Pre-Sale to Begin Immediately Tonight
TAMPA BAY – The Tampa Bay Lightning will make single-game tickets for home games during the Eastern Conference Semifinals of the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs available to the general public on Friday, April 29 at 10 a.m. A pre-sale will be held beginning immediately tonight for season ticket holders, suite holders, sponsors, groups and individuals looking to purchase season ticket packages or playoff pack plans. There will be a maximum of three games at the St. Pete Times Forum by nature of the final playoff seeding.
The NHL’s Conference Semifinals are scheduled to begin on Thursday, April 28, but the Lightning’s individual schedule may vary with additional details forthcoming.
Ticket prices start at just $27 for terrace level corner and endzones while going up to $120 for plaza level centers plus applicable taxes and fees. Season ticket holders have the opportunity to save on their playoff tickets by locking in 2011-12 Lightning season tickets. Not only will fans freeze pricing from this season, but they will also have the opportunity to “Cheer Now, Pay Later” for the playoffs. Benefits also include concert and event priority, free tickets to the 2011 Lightning Launch Weekend Concert, guaranteed giveaways and more. For more information call Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000 or skate to http://www.ticketmaster.com/lightningplayoffs.
Second Round Single-Game Playoff Ticket Pricing
Location Price
Plaza Center $120
Club Center $110
Plaza Corner $90
Plaza Endzone $80
Club Endzone $80
Terrace Center $45
Terrace Corner $27
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