The Bolts
“As seasons come and go, so do the players. Tampa Bay Lightning will be embarking on their 25th anniversary season this fall—a club that just over a decade ago hoisted the Stanley Cup. Sandwiching that magical season, however, was a run of rather forgettable first round picks. Let’s take a look back at some of those selections and see where these players are today.” [Raw Charge]
“When an article featuring an interview with Nikita Kucherov in Russian came out, it was a bit of a shock. It’s not often that you see a quote from a player and go ‘Whoa! Did he actually say that?’… This article will be my attempt to dig in to the season from Kucherov’s view point. I’m going to try to see it from where he skates on the ice.” [Raw Charge]
Scouting the 2017 NHL Draft: Tampa Bay doesn’t need Lias Andersson (but he’s good). “A projected mid-first-round center, Andersson is a talented do-it-all forward who may become a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning this summer.” [Raw Charge]
The Prospects
Syracuse Crunch defeat Toronto Marlies 8-5 to take a 2-0 lead in the North Division Finals.
Mathieu Joseph (#21 in blue) earned third-star honors with his two-point performance (1G, 1A) and Bokondji Imama (#51) picked up an assist as the Saint John Sea Dogs defeated the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada 4-0. Saint John has a 2-0 series lead in the QMJHL Finals.
The Worlds
With ten members of the Tampa Bay Lightning participating across four teams at the IIHF World Championship, we’ll be keeping a close eye on Canada (Jon Cooper, Alex Killorn, and Brayden Point), Russia (Nikita Kucherov, Vladislav Namestnikov, Andrei Vasilevskiy, and prospect Nikita Gusev), Sweden (Victor Hedman and Anton Stralman), and Switzerland (Tanner Richard).
Sweden defeats Germany 7-2.
Stralman had two assists and Hedman had a single assist as the Swedes routed the Germans.
Switzerland defeats Slovenia 5-4 in the shootout.
Richard picked up a single assist. Switzerland led the game 4-0 early on, but Slovenia fought their way back into the game eventually forcing a shootout.
Team Russia did their own version of highlights from their Friday night victory against Sweden. Translation of the tweet (courtesy of @forgotten_night): “A bit of old school in our traditional atmospheric post-game videos – goals, shots and saves to Prokofiev’s music. Ooh!”
Немного старой школы в наших традиционных атмосферных роликах после матча – голы, броски и спасения под музыку Прокофьева. Ух! pic.twitter.com/yedAqA6zan
— Хоккей России (@russiahockey) May 6, 2017
Namestnikov working on faceoff drills. Considering he rarely plays center in Tampa, this is probably something he needs to work on.
Apparently Team Russia players had to take a bus and walk through a parking lot to get from the locker room to the rink where they practice? Anyway, here’s another awesome set of photos from the Russian Ice Hockey Federation.
The Game
Facing the possibility of elimination, the Washington Capitals showed up – defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 and keeping their Stanley Cup hopes alive. “The Capitals looked the Devil in the eye Saturday night, took a long drag of a fiery cigarette, and muttered, ‘Not yet.’” [Japers’ Rink]
The Senators rallied late in the game to defeat the Rangers 5-4 in overtime. “The Sens’ offence came together re-energized, and propelled the Sens to a 5-4 overtime win over the New York Rangers. Mark Tuesday evening off your calendar, as the Sens could potentially defeat the Rangers to go to the third round of the playoffs for the first time since 2007!” [Silver Seven Sens]
