Outlook: It's just not the time for the Lightning yet. Throw in the fact that it's not out of the question for Crawford to try to assault an opponent in the middle of a play and for Bishop to just flat out fall asleep in the crease, and we could have a few 5-4 games waiting for us. The 2.75 number is rather impressive when you consider the Lightning had to go through Carey Price and Henrik Lundqvist to get here. The Blackhawks jumped to 3.29 goals per game in the postseason, while the Lightning are at 2.75, which ranks third and fourth, respectively. Though the Blackhawks (2.68) were only 17th, opponents have struggled keeping both teams off the scoreboard during the playoffs. The Lightning (3.16 goals per game) were the NHL's highest-scoring team in the regular season. Since his disastrous showing against the Nashville Predators, Crawford has a. This is not a showdown between Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy.Ĭorey Crawford won a Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks in 2013 but lost his job to Scott Darling for most of the first round. This may be the round the Lightning’s depth will have to come through and help win a series. The sledding for those players may be a little tougher because of the aforementioned top-four defensemen of the Blackhawks, who should see a lot of those Lightning stars. It weakened the depth but fortified the top of the lineup, and that’s all the Lightning needed to beat the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers. Tampa Bay Lightning forward scoring, postseasonĬooper moved Valtteri Filppula to center on the top line with Alex Killorn and Steven Stamkos and left his dynamic line of Ondrej Palat, Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov together. Quite frequently, a top-six forward will take an extra shift with the third or fourth line. Will it matter against the Lightning? Probably not, and here’s why…Ĭan the Lightning win another series with only two lines scoring goals?Ĭoach Jon Cooper has used a lineup with 11 forwards and seven defensemen quite frequently in the playoffs, so the Lightning don’t have a “bottom six” up front like most teams. It did not matter against the Ducks, as the punishing style did not wear down the Blackhawks, at least not enough for it to matter. Some of Oduya’s workload is due to the Blackhawks playing 11 overtimes to date in the postseason, but it also has a lot to do with the lack of depth beyond these four defensemen.Ĭoach Joel Quenneville has used Kimmo Timonen, David Rundblad and Kyle Cumiskey sparingly since Michal Rozsival was lost for the season with an ankle injury at the end of the second round. Oduya, meanwhile, is playing more than 25 minutes a game in the postseason after averaging around 20 minutes a night during the regular season. Keith is probably the Conn Smythe favorite if Chicago wins the Cup and Seabrook already has six playoff goals to his name. The 2003-04 Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup.Blackhawks defensemen, time on ice in postseason John Grahame recorded a 2.06 goals against average, pacing regularly-used goaltenders. Nikolai Khabibulin earned 28 wins in front of the net for the squad, while John Grahame added 15 or more wins, too. Louis netted 38 goals for Tampa, and Vincent Lecavalier tallied 30 or more as well. The Bay Lightning scored 245 goals and allowed 192. The team compiled a postseason mark of 16-7. The Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League ended the 2003-04 season with a record of 46 wins and 22 losses (and 6 overtime losses) and 8 ties for 106 points, finishing first in the NHL's Southeast Division. Stanley Cup Finals - Defeated Calgary Flames 4-3Ĭoach: John Tortorella (46-22-8, 6 OTL) Location: Tampa, Florida 2003-04 Tampa Bay Lightning Statistics 2003-04 Tampa Bay Lightning Results Postseason: 16-7 Won Stanley Cup Conference Quarter-Finals - Defeated New York Islanders 4-1Ĭonference Semi-Finals - Defeated Montreal Canadiens 4-0Ĭonference Finals - Defeated Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Finishing 1st in the NHL's Southeast Division
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |