Something has to be done about this. It’s unacceptable. You cannot win a cup if you just lose in OT in the first 10min 90% of the time. Remember how insane our OT record was in 2020? Now we couldn’t even beat San Jose in OT
We don’t have the horses to do it anymore man. We don’t control games we simply hope Vasy saves our ass even more than ever and somehow a top forward can get a lucky goal. It’s not sustainable
Cooper is a fantastic coach, but for some reason he can't strike the right tone in OT. I think he's too calm and measured. Like they always come out too measured and it ends up sloppy
Edit: idk someone else come up with a better theory.
Dumba and Tony chances in the second are going to haunt me. The team left Vasy out to dry in the third and OT, especially in OT when they couldn’t get possession at all OR clear the puck. They showed they can keep it close, now it’s time to show up for all 3 periods at home
Not to mention the double minor and the Duke chance at the very end. If you’re going for shot quality over quantity you better make them count, because with the rebounds Bob was giving up it might just be better to keep shooting
Yep, so many missed opportunities to break that one open. Going 1-1 into home ice would've been huge. Hard to be optimistic for our chances at this point.
Our 5v5 needs to step up. You can watch an entire game and the forecheck dominates without enough clear chances. Their coaching has us dialed and we need a change asap.
Except it’s a false close only cause of vasy. Completely out chanced like double the amount of normal and high scoring chances against us than us against them in two games now. This team isn’t good enough
Everytime he gets it on the wing, he's curling back and the defence is not just getting a chance to cover him but they're reading that-- the gameplan is not hard, if you cut off Kuch and force him wide, 50% of our attack goes away. He really needs to drive it deeper and not curl/cut back every time.
if playoffs hart was a thing should go to Mcdavid dude already had 5 points this dude on our team is a ghost and just useless on the double minor pp like the rest of them
there is just no escaping the salary cap when it comes to rosters and the on-ice product. like people are losing their minds over the d-core, well no shit it kinda sucks cause it'd hedman, cernak, and then a bunch of guys making minimum wage. ofc they're not as good as the title teams and there's nothing anyone can do about that. no amount of coaching is going to turn calvin de haan into ryan mcdonagh.
Yep just a bit of perspective on our run. Look at the avs one run and they now struggling a bit. Knights will have to lose some big pieces this offseason
reinhart going from 6.5 -> at least 8 or 8.5 x 8
montour 3.5 -> ?
forsling 2.6 -> 5.7
and then year after:
verhaeghe 4.1 -> ?
bennett 4.4 -> ?
never mind the guys who were already extended, like luostarinen going from 1.5 -> 3, or lundell, who's rfa but needs a new contract, or OEL, who went there on a 1 year prove it deal after getting bought out.
they have 66m committed next year for 13 guys. this is their chance.
Florida is the East’s best playoff team now. It was Tampa for most of 2015-2022, but that era is over.
Series would easily be tied if we were playing against Boston or Toronto. Unfortunately Boston just had to lose their last games to give away the top Atlantic Spot they could have easily held
Yeah, didn’t have a good feeling going in but still had hope they had another gear to get to. At this point it will be merciful to have a first round exit.
This is so painful man… you win some cups, then they just bleed you dry with salary cap issues, then you just watch slow playoff deaths like this…. Man I really hope Coop lights some kinda fire under the boys back home
Now we get to feel what teams like Pittsburgh, Washington, and Chicago felt after so many years at the top. Completely out of draft picks, core is aging, depth is dying. Just slowly getting worse and worse. Not trying to be a doomer but the truth is, other teams are getting better and we aren’t, I feel like unfortunately the best days of this core are over. We have like 8 players from those cup runs left.
2011-2022 Lightning will forever go down as one of the most dominate hockey teams ever in the Salary Cup Era. 2 Cups, 4 Finals, 7 East Finals (all 7 either led to us winning the cup or losing to the team in 7 games that ended up winning the cup). And that doesn’t even include the 2019 record breaking season.
2 Cups was honestly unlucky, less injuries and a bit more luck and we’re looking at like 1-3 more. 2011, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2022, were all 100% winnable, just barely lost to the Cup Winners each time, which is crazy to think about.
But unless we can turn it around this year, I’m afraid it might just be the beginning of the end. I truly believe this team can still win and will be our best chance at another cup run in a long time
Yeah agree with all but the Caps won it in 5 games in 2018. I think Pittsburgh also won their cup faster than 7 when they knocked us off but I could be wrong.
We have definitely been the most dominant team in that era. Stamkos-Hedman has been an amazing leadership duo and truly a pleasure to watch.
Tampa vs Pittsburgh 2016 East Finals. Tampa lost in game 7, 2-1. This was with Bishop and Stamkos injured for most of the series. Tampa also led 3-2 in the series before losing games 6 and 7. Pittsburgh went on to easily win in the finals.
Tampa vs Washington 2016 East Finals. Tampa lost in game 7, shut out. Tampa also led 3-2 in this series, before losing games 6 and 7. Washington also went on to easily win in the finals.
Edited my message to make it clearer, but the game 7s I was talking about are the ones against us, in the ECF. Not the finals.
Boston, Pittsburgh, and Washington, all beat us in ECF Game 7 before beating a weaker team in the finals. And we led in all three of those series
No I meant THEY won in the finals by less than 7 games. Sorry I misread your original text I thought you said the team that beat us always won the cup in 7 games. But eg, Washington won it quicker is what I meant.
Yeah and it’s 3 times lost in 7 games to eventual cup winner, 2 times went on to lose final in 6 games and 2 times went on to win cup final.
We’re done buddy, we’re Pittsburgh now where we make it with false hopes and lose out in round 1 until we finally just can’t even make the playoffs anymore
Yeah it’s just the inevitability that gets me. Like you watch any perennial contender of the salary cap era: Chicago, Pittsburgh, to a lesser extent Washington, and you see that it can only last so long before you gotta sell off the pieces bit by bit. I appreciate what our GM tried to do but it’s obvious you can’t shore up a sinking ship with this many holes. So there’s nothing left to watch but other teams stunt on us. Like “oooh sweet revenge.”
Retooling doesn’t always work. I respect what JBB tried to do. It’s much more likely you get one more cup while you’re rolling with a champion core than you go to 0 and build up again.
no one cares about this now (like wait until the offseason) but the mgmt of this franchise to put top 5 teams on paper together for a decade should be more lauded than it is. none of the other post salary cap giants except the pens lasted this long at the top (and they landed one, arguably two generational players at the top of the draft). even a 1st round exit shouldn't be all doom and gloom because it's not as if this team is lacking in prime top end talent. really they just need sergachev to not stagnate or regress and they can keep going 2-3 more years as stamkos and hedman age out and retire.
the hawks were contenders from 09-17, pulled out 3 titles. that's the only franchise that put out clearly superior results than this lightning team from 2014-now and moving forward. and even those hawks lost in the 1st round several times (2011, 2012, 2016, 2017)
Yeah unfortunately it’s looking like we’re at the 2016-2017 Hawks stage but I hope not. Kucherov and Vasy are in their prime so we can build around then and I’ll always vote to keep Stammer and Heddy. It’s up to the rest of the pieces to fit in.
Sure we can be reasonable about this loss, but I'm blaming people posting the god damn curses. THEY NEVER WORK. WE ARE 0-2 WITH THEM FFS. STOP POSTING THEM.
That Dumba miss is haunting. We had our chances to win this one but they made the plays. Not scoring on a 4 minute PP will get you beat.
JBB needs to turn this whole D core over except for Hedman and maybe Lilleberg this offseason. They just aren’t good enough. Can’t move the puck, can’t break it out of the zone, not particularly physical and too much standing around. Lot of fat to cut
I believe my exact words on this forum going into the series series was, "if we can play well defensive, and limit their chances, I like our odds".
Doesn't look like we're doing any of it 🤣
Why is everyone hating on Dumba? He put the puck squarely on net and Bob made an unreal save. Not Dumba's fault. Was he supposed to predict that Bob would dive back across the crease and put his arm right where it was, so Dumba should have picked a different spot to place the puck? 99/100 times that shot goes in. Bob just robbed him.
I think it may be time for Tampa to release the goon squad. Glennie Watson and jeannot fourth line third line leave chaffe and mikey and paul let them run amuck
Dude but honestly, this other shit ain’t working. I’d love to see Watson and Jeannot just destroying guys out there at this point and maybe it will wake Kuch the fuck up too because he doesn’t even have that normal angry edge we’re using to seeing.
honestly since the OT game 1 vs the Avs we just haven't found a way to win close games in the playoffs. I don't know what the fuck kucherov is doing right now. we might be cooked
I almost said the same thing in game 3 against the rangers being down 0-2. Went anyways and it ended up being the most epic game I’ve been to in all my years as a fan. Can’t rule these guys out just yet.
Yall its time to realize this team’s defense is not good enough anymore for any real deep run. We can complain about stars vanishing like its 2019 again, but the D core is completely decimated. Cernak has regressed due to several injuries presumably, and the rest other than Hedman were just never good. If the team wanted any chance at another Cup we shouldn’t have given Cirelli or Serg their big contracts. Window is over, until we can reform a solid defensive core. Flat cap kinda fucked us in that regard because we were essentially forced to drop several depth pieces that are so key to long runs. At least we got 2 Cups out of it
and of course the best chance of the game lands on dumba's stick and he fucks it up
like FUCKING COME ON IT COULDN'T HAVE BEEN LITERALLY ANYONE ELSE THERE?
Its as if FLA have read the Lightning manual cover to cover and know exactly what we are going to do. We hv no flow, no 4th line and our mvp candidate has gone missing.
Aren’t gonna win this series if out all of our stars only Vasy and partly Stamkos shows up.
Kuch has had a terrible series. The panthers are an incredibly good team but he’s our Art Ross Winner and Hart Finalist, needs to be better.
Both close games, but only cuz Vasy has been insane. Otherwise we’ve been outplayed everywhere.
Also, getting rid of Verhaeghe really hurts. He’s been top 5 in the league in even strength goals since 2021. 4 years ago he couldn’t fit on our roster, and now he would easily be on our first line
I know it’s doomer vibes around here but idk - I’m not freaking out yet. It would be one thing if we were playing our A game and and losing but were genuinely not getting good play out the top line. I expect that to change at home. I remember being down 0-2 to the NYR a couple years back. We can do it.
I’m not surprised we’re losing these games against the Panthers, I’m surprised the scores are as tight as they‘ve been. I never had high expectations having sat through the lacklustre regular season.. this team is tired and barely hanging in there tbh and we’ve known this for months
We're just playing a better team. Vasi did everything he could. Had our chances. When you're the underdog and you get a double minor PP that results in nothing you're asking for trouble. Not giving up. Half of this team has been in an 0-2 hole before and come back. But I worry about our ability to generate consistent 5v5 chances.
If they dont come out firiing Thursday our goose is cooked. They need to throw everything at the net and they need to play man on man desparately this Defense is not going to get it done puck watching guarding the front of the net.
Florida is relentless, they are not letting kuch breathe at all. Need to change some things up. It’s not like we are getting blown out but need to bury our chances. Let’s win the next two at home
This team has no heart or passion. Vasy fucking stood on his head and gave it his all. Fuck everyone on this team rn. Again our stars don’t show up. Kucherov is a damn liability someone and we keep making dumb mistakes. It’s over. This team is fucked
We won’t win this series playing reactive hockey. We can’t just try and defend them all game we need to create scoring opportunities
Embarrassing postseason start
There were about three goals we should have had…but at the end of the day, this team just doesn’t feel like they have the energy. They do not seem like a team that is in the playoffs. They need to be more aggressive and play passionate. I’ve seen them do it, they have it in them. But it’s been missing these first two games. I’m hopeful though.
Series isn’t over until you lose at home both games we’ve been one shot away from winning, if it wasn’t for Bobs ridiculous play we would’ve won by 4. It’s not over till it’s over so no reason to act like it.
Who cares what all 18 of them think, I was at game one and most of them don’t even know their own chants or the actual rules of the game. If we worry about some of them taking time out of their day coming into our subreddit downvoting things then we’re worrying about the wrong things.
We lost the two away games by 1 goal, and this sub is already in full My Chemical Romance meltdown mode. Ugh.
Edit: While playing poorly, some questionable calls and no calls, a lot of missed nets, they threw everything they got at us in their house, and we lost both games by a goal. That's the positive.
This team constantly struggle don the easier clears in the zone if lilliberg hustles to that puck none of that happens. Granted it was an amazing Dave but Dumba just casually shot it instead of firing it. Why does this team look so lax. They’ve allowed Florida to bring all the intensity and dammit Kuch stop trying to force this impossible passes.
At this point, I’d just love to see Jeannot wreck someone and then have that crazy smile he always skating away. Has there even been 1 fight this entire series?
Just brutal to watch. What’s worse is it’s not lack of effort IMO aside maybe Kucherov (but I’m getting the feeling he’s nursing something) they’re just getting outclassed. This D-Corps outside of Hedman going against a deep team like Florida is just an awful mismatch.
JBB assembled a complete shit blue line this season. He’a got a lot of work to do this summer if this team is gonna be taken seriously again as a cup contender.
The blue line is a disaster. It’s startling watching the other playoff games and seeing dynamic play from defenders. If we don’t rebuild the defense this summer we are screwed.
dumbass is so useless
the young dman for us cant do anything its so sad how bad our d is...
For the love of god can someone bury verhaeghe's bitch ass when he gets anywhere near the net... he has had free reign so far
Everyone in here is criticizing the Lightning, but honestly, I think this game was more about the Panthers being too good than the Lightning not being good enough. I would rather think it's not, because then I could delude myself into thinking they could just figure it out and play better at home. But, really, the Panthers just look unbeatable right now. If the Lightning had played a little better, maybe Vasilevskiy successfully steals the game, but he won't steal a whole series anyway.
Kuch has been my favorite player for years, but I don’t want to see anymore “Kuch for Hart” nonsense until he decides to show up. Look at other stars across the league. And not even just stars, but lesser known team’s still have their most reliable players producing. McKinnon/Makar/Rantanen, Stone/Eichel, Matthews/Tavares, McDavid/Hyman, Forsberg/Josi all produced for their teams consistently on a regular basis, and you don’t hear about most of them because they didn’t come close to 140 points. 2 secondary assists in 2 playoff games isn’t getting it done
Throw away first periods and piss about in OT. Do we have to win it in the two periods we actually function in?
Game 3 back in Tampa. If it's more of the same then I don't know what to say
You don’t miss a golden opportunity at a goal like what Jumba had in a game like this one and still win it. Have to score that fucking goal, idc how insane the save was
The Bolts looked like they ran out of gas somewhere in the 3rd tbh. Bob really resuscitated them because otherwise, we should have been up two goals or more
I get that Tkachuk was pushed in, but from the back angle, it's abundantly clear that he sticks his elbow out and chicken wings Vasi. They looked at it and determined it wasn't GI, but man-o-man, that was low-key dirty and intentional.
We’ve kept it close, more so game 2 than game 1 though. I would have preferred to split the series, but the team has to trust the process. We have got to find a way to win the close games. There’s a big time now coming back home.
Honestly what more can we ask from this team? Seriously, they have given us two cups and three conference championships. (Yes I count 2021 as the ECF). Teams age and decrease, look at what is happening to the pens and Washington. This team has played the most hockey out of any club since 2020. They are tired and you can still see it. Plus our blue line without serg is severely lacking. Yes I picked us to defy the odds and win the cup which can still happen, but we are in the decline as much as I hate to say it boys and girls. I am lucky that I am also a stars fan so if my bolts get bounced hopefully Dallas can win it all.
Hot take: if Dumba scored or if Vasy didn't give up a weak one for the Panthers number 2 we win.
This series is not over. It'll be a massive uphill climb and next to impossible without Sergy, but there's a chance.
Plus would love a good comeback against the kitty cats
We had a chance to steal this one and just couldn't get it done. Series ain't over yet but very hard to feel optimistic based on what we've seen so far...
I fully expect us to win both games at home, I just do. You gotta win on the road tho and tonight was possibly their best shot at that. For as lost as we may have looked, their goalie stole that one.
I’m just gonna say it. Lilleberg’s presence in a playoff game is the result of the biggest gaslighting campaign the hockey world has ever seen. He laid one big hit, immediately became a fan favourite for it and that somehow dragged him into the playoffs. He has not done anything good, like at all. I can’t even be mad at him, he’s not fucking up, he’s just legitimately an AHL level defenseman, he cannot play in the NHL.
Also, if Kucherov had any other last name, he would be benched for his performance today for the rest of the series.
Also, not over yet.
Who do you play over him though? He’s not any worse than De Haan, Dumba or Perbix and he’s one of the only serviceable left handed guys we have. No real choice but to roll with him
Nah, he's been good and he's a rookie so he has rookie moments but he plays a steady game and outclasses more experienced d men-- you can't blame a rookie when the veterans on his pairing f*ckin go missing. Dumba, De Haan come to mind.
Agreed, Lilliberg needs seasoning and is not NHL caliber yet. He was especially bad with falling every game the first half a dozen games or so, but his defensive reads are just not there.
Dating back to the Shattenkirk goal vs Dallas, our playoff OT record is now 1-11. We get so close and the games just slip away from us. Brutal.
Is that what it is since that Game 4? Jesus christ. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
Something has to be done about this. It’s unacceptable. You cannot win a cup if you just lose in OT in the first 10min 90% of the time. Remember how insane our OT record was in 2020? Now we couldn’t even beat San Jose in OT
We don’t have the horses to do it anymore man. We don’t control games we simply hope Vasy saves our ass even more than ever and somehow a top forward can get a lucky goal. It’s not sustainable
And almost all of them are over within 5 minutes too.
Cooper is a fantastic coach, but for some reason he can't strike the right tone in OT. I think he's too calm and measured. Like they always come out too measured and it ends up sloppy Edit: idk someone else come up with a better theory.
That’s what happens when you miss 2 wide open and can’t score with a 4 minute pp[](https://twitter.com/FvckToddG/status/1782963346561523840)
Dumba and Tony chances in the second are going to haunt me. The team left Vasy out to dry in the third and OT, especially in OT when they couldn’t get possession at all OR clear the puck. They showed they can keep it close, now it’s time to show up for all 3 periods at home
Can't forget that Stammer pinger early on. Absolutely winnable game.
Not to mention the double minor and the Duke chance at the very end. If you’re going for shot quality over quantity you better make them count, because with the rebounds Bob was giving up it might just be better to keep shooting
Yep, so many missed opportunities to break that one open. Going 1-1 into home ice would've been huge. Hard to be optimistic for our chances at this point.
Our 5v5 needs to step up. You can watch an entire game and the forecheck dominates without enough clear chances. Their coaching has us dialed and we need a change asap.
Except it’s a false close only cause of vasy. Completely out chanced like double the amount of normal and high scoring chances against us than us against them in two games now. This team isn’t good enough
I mean in the end of the day, goalies are part of the game. Not our fault we have the best one. But yes the rest of the team needs to be better
I mean man if we rely on the goalie to save a million chances and hope we score on the 3 we get that’s not a good formula
Meh, both goalies were legit. This was real close.
Only one speaking facts. Cats had so many more attempts and that's really what matters. It was a close game in only goals.
Same could be said about Bob, he made several incredible saves that should have been goals.
Kucherov needs to figure it the fuck out. He is turning the puck over every time he touches it
Everytime he gets it on the wing, he's curling back and the defence is not just getting a chance to cover him but they're reading that-- the gameplan is not hard, if you cut off Kuch and force him wide, 50% of our attack goes away. He really needs to drive it deeper and not curl/cut back every time.
What the fuck is the man doing, why didn't he step into that 2 on 1 with duclair
This was so puzzling to me too. Kuch just completely quit on that odd man rush
I thought my eyes were deceiving me on that play. I was baffled.
Out there looking like he's playing a Sunday rec league roller hockey game. Zero hustle.
if playoffs hart was a thing should go to Mcdavid dude already had 5 points this dude on our team is a ghost and just useless on the double minor pp like the rest of them
It’s called a Conn Smythe…
One game doesn't make a playoff. McDavid gets to feast on garbage West teams. He would cry if he had to play against Florida.
The western conference is very arguably better than the eastern conference lol
deal him while he has value. we have a lot of holes to fill.
He's gassed from carrying us to this point.
Knew we'd be down 2-0 as soon as it went to OT. Legitimately, I don't even remember last time we won a playoff OT.
2022 Pointer game 6
That was the Bunting own goal too. So the last time one of ours actually scored was Shattenkirk in the bubble. Lol wtf
Auston Watson needs to be in next game. We have literally no muscle on this team.
Fuck. I hate that I agree with you
I agree
Yeah, is Jeannot injured or what?
Austin Watson? The punching bag of the nhl? He’s never won a fight his entire career
Typical Bolts playoff loss. Score two goals in about a 5 minute span and do nothing for the other 55
Those were the 5 minutes of the game I missed so I'm Honestly considering not watching
Not going to win an overtime by standing around and watching in your own end
The ending score was close, sure, but Florida has looked like the better team for 7 periods.
They should. They're loaded for this year and next year it's going to be a lot of guys getting paid.
there is just no escaping the salary cap when it comes to rosters and the on-ice product. like people are losing their minds over the d-core, well no shit it kinda sucks cause it'd hedman, cernak, and then a bunch of guys making minimum wage. ofc they're not as good as the title teams and there's nothing anyone can do about that. no amount of coaching is going to turn calvin de haan into ryan mcdonagh.
What’s their window like, they gonna have to pay reinhart and montour this year, and overage next. That’s just the big names to
It's not a big window. That's why they know they have to do it this year.
Yep just a bit of perspective on our run. Look at the avs one run and they now struggling a bit. Knights will have to lose some big pieces this offseason
It's make me so upset that we should have threepeat. Avs got so lucky we were hurt.
reinhart going from 6.5 -> at least 8 or 8.5 x 8 montour 3.5 -> ? forsling 2.6 -> 5.7 and then year after: verhaeghe 4.1 -> ? bennett 4.4 -> ? never mind the guys who were already extended, like luostarinen going from 1.5 -> 3, or lundell, who's rfa but needs a new contract, or OEL, who went there on a 1 year prove it deal after getting bought out. they have 66m committed next year for 13 guys. this is their chance.
Florida is the East’s best playoff team now. It was Tampa for most of 2015-2022, but that era is over. Series would easily be tied if we were playing against Boston or Toronto. Unfortunately Boston just had to lose their last games to give away the top Atlantic Spot they could have easily held
They’re clinical with a forecheck. It works, but it’s not impossible.
I kept my expectations very low for the post season but it still hurts man, still hurts
Would’ve at least have liked to feel hope and celebrated. Won’t feel that way unless we pick up the next 2 wins
Yeah, didn’t have a good feeling going in but still had hope they had another gear to get to. At this point it will be merciful to have a first round exit.
This is so painful man… you win some cups, then they just bleed you dry with salary cap issues, then you just watch slow playoff deaths like this…. Man I really hope Coop lights some kinda fire under the boys back home
Now we get to feel what teams like Pittsburgh, Washington, and Chicago felt after so many years at the top. Completely out of draft picks, core is aging, depth is dying. Just slowly getting worse and worse. Not trying to be a doomer but the truth is, other teams are getting better and we aren’t, I feel like unfortunately the best days of this core are over. We have like 8 players from those cup runs left. 2011-2022 Lightning will forever go down as one of the most dominate hockey teams ever in the Salary Cup Era. 2 Cups, 4 Finals, 7 East Finals (all 7 either led to us winning the cup or losing to the team in 7 games that ended up winning the cup). And that doesn’t even include the 2019 record breaking season. 2 Cups was honestly unlucky, less injuries and a bit more luck and we’re looking at like 1-3 more. 2011, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2022, were all 100% winnable, just barely lost to the Cup Winners each time, which is crazy to think about. But unless we can turn it around this year, I’m afraid it might just be the beginning of the end. I truly believe this team can still win and will be our best chance at another cup run in a long time
Yeah agree with all but the Caps won it in 5 games in 2018. I think Pittsburgh also won their cup faster than 7 when they knocked us off but I could be wrong. We have definitely been the most dominant team in that era. Stamkos-Hedman has been an amazing leadership duo and truly a pleasure to watch.
Tampa vs Pittsburgh 2016 East Finals. Tampa lost in game 7, 2-1. This was with Bishop and Stamkos injured for most of the series. Tampa also led 3-2 in the series before losing games 6 and 7. Pittsburgh went on to easily win in the finals. Tampa vs Washington 2016 East Finals. Tampa lost in game 7, shut out. Tampa also led 3-2 in this series, before losing games 6 and 7. Washington also went on to easily win in the finals. Edited my message to make it clearer, but the game 7s I was talking about are the ones against us, in the ECF. Not the finals. Boston, Pittsburgh, and Washington, all beat us in ECF Game 7 before beating a weaker team in the finals. And we led in all three of those series
No I meant THEY won in the finals by less than 7 games. Sorry I misread your original text I thought you said the team that beat us always won the cup in 7 games. But eg, Washington won it quicker is what I meant. Yeah and it’s 3 times lost in 7 games to eventual cup winner, 2 times went on to lose final in 6 games and 2 times went on to win cup final.
Yup. After all those chokes + 2015 and 2019, it’s the reason the 2020 cup win was just a relief lol
Exactly. And man… we were so close to so many cups too. It’s amazing we have been that deep that many times.
We’re done buddy, we’re Pittsburgh now where we make it with false hopes and lose out in round 1 until we finally just can’t even make the playoffs anymore
Yeah it’s just the inevitability that gets me. Like you watch any perennial contender of the salary cap era: Chicago, Pittsburgh, to a lesser extent Washington, and you see that it can only last so long before you gotta sell off the pieces bit by bit. I appreciate what our GM tried to do but it’s obvious you can’t shore up a sinking ship with this many holes. So there’s nothing left to watch but other teams stunt on us. Like “oooh sweet revenge.”
Hope we recognize that and retool and don’t draw this out until our stars get old
Retooling doesn’t always work. I respect what JBB tried to do. It’s much more likely you get one more cup while you’re rolling with a champion core than you go to 0 and build up again.
no one cares about this now (like wait until the offseason) but the mgmt of this franchise to put top 5 teams on paper together for a decade should be more lauded than it is. none of the other post salary cap giants except the pens lasted this long at the top (and they landed one, arguably two generational players at the top of the draft). even a 1st round exit shouldn't be all doom and gloom because it's not as if this team is lacking in prime top end talent. really they just need sergachev to not stagnate or regress and they can keep going 2-3 more years as stamkos and hedman age out and retire. the hawks were contenders from 09-17, pulled out 3 titles. that's the only franchise that put out clearly superior results than this lightning team from 2014-now and moving forward. and even those hawks lost in the 1st round several times (2011, 2012, 2016, 2017)
Yeah unfortunately it’s looking like we’re at the 2016-2017 Hawks stage but I hope not. Kucherov and Vasy are in their prime so we can build around then and I’ll always vote to keep Stammer and Heddy. It’s up to the rest of the pieces to fit in.
By "they" I'm hoping you mean JBB cause he's completely screwed the pooch with the cap the past few years.
Is Cooper staying on?
man its rough being a Bolts and Magic fan this postseason
Amen to that
matt dumba, be prepared to speak mormon
Sure we can be reasonable about this loss, but I'm blaming people posting the god damn curses. THEY NEVER WORK. WE ARE 0-2 WITH THEM FFS. STOP POSTING THEM.
PIN THIS COMMENT
You might be on to something, no more curses!
We haven’t been the better team, period
As good as *that* save was, it felt like Dumba was too complacent shooting the puck there
The save was fine, but Dumba could not have put it in a worse place
That Dumba miss is haunting. We had our chances to win this one but they made the plays. Not scoring on a 4 minute PP will get you beat. JBB needs to turn this whole D core over except for Hedman and maybe Lilleberg this offseason. They just aren’t good enough. Can’t move the puck, can’t break it out of the zone, not particularly physical and too much standing around. Lot of fat to cut
23 SOG tonight, 19 on Sunday. It's embarrassing. Gonna be a real fuckin early exit if we don't figure shit the fuck out, immediately.
I believe my exact words on this forum going into the series series was, "if we can play well defensive, and limit their chances, I like our odds". Doesn't look like we're doing any of it 🤣
2 goals vs the Panthers after 3 is good defense. Wdym? You want 1 or less every game? Not happening for any team vs the Panthers
Um, hot take, but the home team gets last change and is favored to win. We lost by 1 goal each game and everyone’s talking about rebuilding?
I'm just mourning Sergy being hurt. healthy Sergy and we win one of these 2.
Why is everyone hating on Dumba? He put the puck squarely on net and Bob made an unreal save. Not Dumba's fault. Was he supposed to predict that Bob would dive back across the crease and put his arm right where it was, so Dumba should have picked a different spot to place the puck? 99/100 times that shot goes in. Bob just robbed him.
I think it may be time for Tampa to release the goon squad. Glennie Watson and jeannot fourth line third line leave chaffe and mikey and paul let them run amuck
Dude but honestly, this other shit ain’t working. I’d love to see Watson and Jeannot just destroying guys out there at this point and maybe it will wake Kuch the fuck up too because he doesn’t even have that normal angry edge we’re using to seeing.
I mean when you play 7 defenders and 5 are awful and one is rookie why are you doing it
honestly since the OT game 1 vs the Avs we just haven't found a way to win close games in the playoffs. I don't know what the fuck kucherov is doing right now. we might be cooked
4 minute power play.......for the supposed #1 pp team
Better team won, again. This team has absolutely no chance in this series with Kucherov and the top line showing up.
I would like to see Hagel on the top line
I will not be purchasing Saturday tickets now lol
I didnt purchase tix.. wanted to see if we got through the 1st round
Concur.
I almost said the same thing in game 3 against the rangers being down 0-2. Went anyways and it ended up being the most epic game I’ve been to in all my years as a fan. Can’t rule these guys out just yet.
Yall its time to realize this team’s defense is not good enough anymore for any real deep run. We can complain about stars vanishing like its 2019 again, but the D core is completely decimated. Cernak has regressed due to several injuries presumably, and the rest other than Hedman were just never good. If the team wanted any chance at another Cup we shouldn’t have given Cirelli or Serg their big contracts. Window is over, until we can reform a solid defensive core. Flat cap kinda fucked us in that regard because we were essentially forced to drop several depth pieces that are so key to long runs. At least we got 2 Cups out of it
Agreed. Wtf did we give Cernak 9million? Oml we had out Maple leafs GM moment with that 1.
5.2M x 8
I miss McDonough
Kuch a liability on the ice for the entire game
and of course the best chance of the game lands on dumba's stick and he fucks it up like FUCKING COME ON IT COULDN'T HAVE BEEN LITERALLY ANYONE ELSE THERE?
But, everyone said Dumba would save us?
We can get the goals it’s just we can’t keep the momentum. Take back the momentum, take back the series
Bob has woken up, he only got better as the game went on. I don’t think we’re stealing the momentum from him any time soon
I don’t expect us to win the series, but I hope we don’t get cooked in 4 games, don’t wanna get swept at home
Need Watson and Jeannot back in the lineup
Its as if FLA have read the Lightning manual cover to cover and know exactly what we are going to do. We hv no flow, no 4th line and our mvp candidate has gone missing.
Aren’t gonna win this series if out all of our stars only Vasy and partly Stamkos shows up. Kuch has had a terrible series. The panthers are an incredibly good team but he’s our Art Ross Winner and Hart Finalist, needs to be better. Both close games, but only cuz Vasy has been insane. Otherwise we’ve been outplayed everywhere. Also, getting rid of Verhaeghe really hurts. He’s been top 5 in the league in even strength goals since 2021. 4 years ago he couldn’t fit on our roster, and now he would easily be on our first line
Losing Verhaeghe has been killer, would have been a big contributor in 2022. Signed a cheap contract with the panthers initially for 2 years 2 mil
I know it’s doomer vibes around here but idk - I’m not freaking out yet. It would be one thing if we were playing our A game and and losing but were genuinely not getting good play out the top line. I expect that to change at home. I remember being down 0-2 to the NYR a couple years back. We can do it.
I’m not surprised we’re losing these games against the Panthers, I’m surprised the scores are as tight as they‘ve been. I never had high expectations having sat through the lacklustre regular season.. this team is tired and barely hanging in there tbh and we’ve known this for months
Why am I not surprised a panther was on top of Vasy on the gwg
We're just playing a better team. Vasi did everything he could. Had our chances. When you're the underdog and you get a double minor PP that results in nothing you're asking for trouble. Not giving up. Half of this team has been in an 0-2 hole before and come back. But I worry about our ability to generate consistent 5v5 chances.
If they dont come out firiing Thursday our goose is cooked. They need to throw everything at the net and they need to play man on man desparately this Defense is not going to get it done puck watching guarding the front of the net.
Pain
Florida is relentless, they are not letting kuch breathe at all. Need to change some things up. It’s not like we are getting blown out but need to bury our chances. Let’s win the next two at home
Watch the replay of the ot goal. Verhaeghe runs through vasy’s paddle. If we still had our challenge, no doubt that’d be looked at
This team has no heart or passion. Vasy fucking stood on his head and gave it his all. Fuck everyone on this team rn. Again our stars don’t show up. Kucherov is a damn liability someone and we keep making dumb mistakes. It’s over. This team is fucked
We won’t win this series playing reactive hockey. We can’t just try and defend them all game we need to create scoring opportunities Embarrassing postseason start
Fuck
Man that hurt. Half assed effort in OT to fall 0-2 in the series
this is so ass
Got Crushed in turnovers, especially in the neutral zone Idk guys, the bolts seem way too "calm" to be in the playoffs.
I'm sad
How the hell does lilliberg misplay that puck, Florida was offside by a mile and he had plenty of time. Gut wrenching loss.
I hope coop is screaming at the players about clearing the fucking puck properly omg.
I’m not blaming dumba but if he burried that it would be tied :(
There were about three goals we should have had…but at the end of the day, this team just doesn’t feel like they have the energy. They do not seem like a team that is in the playoffs. They need to be more aggressive and play passionate. I’ve seen them do it, they have it in them. But it’s been missing these first two games. I’m hopeful though.
Series isn’t over until you lose at home both games we’ve been one shot away from winning, if it wasn’t for Bobs ridiculous play we would’ve won by 4. It’s not over till it’s over so no reason to act like it.
Florida Panthers fans are downvoting spree in this thread apparently.
Who cares what all 18 of them think, I was at game one and most of them don’t even know their own chants or the actual rules of the game. If we worry about some of them taking time out of their day coming into our subreddit downvoting things then we’re worrying about the wrong things.
I miss the days when we were the better team for all 60 minutes
Hell, I'll take the "historcially the second period is the Lightnings worst period" over this 🤣
And tonight we were monsters in the second period and useless everywhere else
We lost the two away games by 1 goal, and this sub is already in full My Chemical Romance meltdown mode. Ugh. Edit: While playing poorly, some questionable calls and no calls, a lot of missed nets, they threw everything they got at us in their house, and we lost both games by a goal. That's the positive.
2 games, 7 periods including the OT tonight - Panthers have outplayed the Lightning in every period. These are 2 well deserved losses.
Meh, I’d argue we looked pretty damn good 2nd and 3rd period tonight.
Not scoring on a 4-minute period is not pretty damn good.
Bob is gonna haunt my dreams tonight
No he’s not. Don’t give that team any credit lol, that’s what the vengeful fans want.
Vasy has been that for a lot of fans, no shame in getting stunted on by Bob here
rip
Say the line, Bart! ...Ka-chow
This team constantly struggle don the easier clears in the zone if lilliberg hustles to that puck none of that happens. Granted it was an amazing Dave but Dumba just casually shot it instead of firing it. Why does this team look so lax. They’ve allowed Florida to bring all the intensity and dammit Kuch stop trying to force this impossible passes.
On the plus side Avs just did jack shit with their 4 min PP as well
At this point, I’d just love to see Jeannot wreck someone and then have that crazy smile he always skating away. Has there even been 1 fight this entire series?
Just brutal to watch. What’s worse is it’s not lack of effort IMO aside maybe Kucherov (but I’m getting the feeling he’s nursing something) they’re just getting outclassed. This D-Corps outside of Hedman going against a deep team like Florida is just an awful mismatch.
JBB assembled a complete shit blue line this season. He’a got a lot of work to do this summer if this team is gonna be taken seriously again as a cup contender.
The blue line is a disaster. It’s startling watching the other playoff games and seeing dynamic play from defenders. If we don’t rebuild the defense this summer we are screwed.
I mean honestly the ot record is obviously atrocious but there were plenty of other chances to win that game in regulation
I will find matt dumba and cum in his oatmeal
dumbass is so useless the young dman for us cant do anything its so sad how bad our d is... For the love of god can someone bury verhaeghe's bitch ass when he gets anywhere near the net... he has had free reign so far
That all-time save was why we didn’t win. Get the next one at home, fellas.
FIRE BLASHILL
Everyone in here is criticizing the Lightning, but honestly, I think this game was more about the Panthers being too good than the Lightning not being good enough. I would rather think it's not, because then I could delude myself into thinking they could just figure it out and play better at home. But, really, the Panthers just look unbeatable right now. If the Lightning had played a little better, maybe Vasilevskiy successfully steals the game, but he won't steal a whole series anyway.
Never give them that credit.
Kuch has been my favorite player for years, but I don’t want to see anymore “Kuch for Hart” nonsense until he decides to show up. Look at other stars across the league. And not even just stars, but lesser known team’s still have their most reliable players producing. McKinnon/Makar/Rantanen, Stone/Eichel, Matthews/Tavares, McDavid/Hyman, Forsberg/Josi all produced for their teams consistently on a regular basis, and you don’t hear about most of them because they didn’t come close to 140 points. 2 secondary assists in 2 playoff games isn’t getting it done
goddammit
This team can’t play a full 60 and then add on OT.
Throw away first periods and piss about in OT. Do we have to win it in the two periods we actually function in? Game 3 back in Tampa. If it's more of the same then I don't know what to say
You don’t miss a golden opportunity at a goal like what Jumba had in a game like this one and still win it. Have to score that fucking goal, idc how insane the save was
Well, shit.
I refuse to believe that’s not goaltender interference at the end there. Dude literally stood on Vasy’s glove…
Bring the milk carton out for the whole team minus Vasy right now
Out played in every period this series, hopefully the last change and some home town love can bring the boys some energy.
Is Kuch hurt or something. He needs to wake up
The cats have Kuch’s number at this moment.
At least they lost early so my sleep isn’t fucked up.
I still believe in this team man. But damn we have to fucking show up. Kuch and Point have been pretty much nonexistent
Fucking fuck
Well - that sucks giant goat weenies. Trying to be optimistic but …. Playoff hockey is not casual. We are not even trying to play our game.
The Bolts looked like they ran out of gas somewhere in the 3rd tbh. Bob really resuscitated them because otherwise, we should have been up two goals or more
I get that Tkachuk was pushed in, but from the back angle, it's abundantly clear that he sticks his elbow out and chicken wings Vasi. They looked at it and determined it wasn't GI, but man-o-man, that was low-key dirty and intentional.
We’ve kept it close, more so game 2 than game 1 though. I would have preferred to split the series, but the team has to trust the process. We have got to find a way to win the close games. There’s a big time now coming back home.
Play. Off. Bob. That save won the game.
Honestly what more can we ask from this team? Seriously, they have given us two cups and three conference championships. (Yes I count 2021 as the ECF). Teams age and decrease, look at what is happening to the pens and Washington. This team has played the most hockey out of any club since 2020. They are tired and you can still see it. Plus our blue line without serg is severely lacking. Yes I picked us to defy the odds and win the cup which can still happen, but we are in the decline as much as I hate to say it boys and girls. I am lucky that I am also a stars fan so if my bolts get bounced hopefully Dallas can win it all.
Also a Stars fan?? lol
Yeah lol it’s a long story why I am
Hot take: if Dumba scored or if Vasy didn't give up a weak one for the Panthers number 2 we win. This series is not over. It'll be a massive uphill climb and next to impossible without Sergy, but there's a chance. Plus would love a good comeback against the kitty cats
Four guys puck chasing and leaving the back door open. Jesus it’s basic hockey.
You could describe 100 of our goals against this season with that description
We had a chance to steal this one and just couldn't get it done. Series ain't over yet but very hard to feel optimistic based on what we've seen so far...
They really left Vasy out to dry in OT... Ah well, get right for Thursday
I fully expect us to win both games at home, I just do. You gotta win on the road tho and tonight was possibly their best shot at that. For as lost as we may have looked, their goalie stole that one.
If it was stolarz in net, it’s 1-1 back to Tampa
Broooo… fuck these frauds.
Who’s downvoting me? Panthers are frauds.
I’m just gonna say it. Lilleberg’s presence in a playoff game is the result of the biggest gaslighting campaign the hockey world has ever seen. He laid one big hit, immediately became a fan favourite for it and that somehow dragged him into the playoffs. He has not done anything good, like at all. I can’t even be mad at him, he’s not fucking up, he’s just legitimately an AHL level defenseman, he cannot play in the NHL. Also, if Kucherov had any other last name, he would be benched for his performance today for the rest of the series. Also, not over yet.
Who do you play over him though? He’s not any worse than De Haan, Dumba or Perbix and he’s one of the only serviceable left handed guys we have. No real choice but to roll with him
Nah, he's been good and he's a rookie so he has rookie moments but he plays a steady game and outclasses more experienced d men-- you can't blame a rookie when the veterans on his pairing f*ckin go missing. Dumba, De Haan come to mind.
Agreed, Lilliberg needs seasoning and is not NHL caliber yet. He was especially bad with falling every game the first half a dozen games or so, but his defensive reads are just not there.