Lightning Look To Stay Alive

We have seen this 8-ball before.  The Lightning were behind the 8-ball in their opening round series against the Penguins and managed to claw all the way back from a 3-1 series deficit to eliminate Pittsburgh.  I don't think fear is in their vocabulary at this point, even when they are up against a far superior team like the Bruins.

The Bruins can thank their lucky stars for a guy like Tim Thomas in their crease, as he really put one hell of a game together to get to the brink of the Stanley Cup Finals, keeping the Lightning onslaught in Game Five at bay for three periods, minus a goal.  There is a reason why Thomas is the most popular goalie in the hockey pool this year, his determination when he wants to play.  Of course, timely leadership and production from Patrice Bergeron has been a positive shot in the arm for the Bruins as well.

If the Bruins are going to pull this one out in Tampa Bay tonight, the formula remains the same.  Thomas will need to be on top of his game yet again, because the Lightning offense won't stop, and continue to use that forecheck effectively, making the lives of the Lightning defense miserable.  The Lightning are going to come at them with all they have early on, so there has to be a special amount of mental preparation for that, trying not to panic in the face of the waves.

The Lightning will be going back to Dwayne Roloson on Wednesday night and he will have to be pretty good as well.  Probably not as necessary as Thomas on the other side, but he'll have to make all the stops that he knows he can make, plus a few that will be of the difficult variety.  The Lightning offense will be ready to fire pucks at Thomas, but they will have to generate some open space with some good passing, which will open both the defense and Thomas up, moving from side-to-side efficiently.  If these passes don't happen and one-timers aren't away, there is a good chance that the shots will be blocked or seen all the way.  That's the biggest key to the Lightning game, in my opinion, if they want to win this one.

This game has all sorts of potential for movement in the pool and it would be very interesting for everyone involved in the top 10 (or 12) that this series continue on to a Game Seven, the more points, the more excitement.

	Tryst'n'Grant	Langdon River Dogs	All She Wrote	Superstar	Pucking Luck	Hollywoods Heroes	Granny Smith	seaherwet	Kalenab	Thieves on the Cheechoo Express
	255 points	-1 points	-17	-21	-21	-21	-23	-24	-25	-27
Steven Stamkos (13)			x							x
Martin St. Louis (14)	x		x	x	x				x
Vincent Lecavalier (15)	x				x	x		x	x
Steve Downie (17)										x
Simon Gagne (18)		x				x
Teddy Purcell (19)	x	x	x					x
Victor Hedman (20)							x
Pavel Kubina (21)							x			x
Eric Brewer (23)		x		x			x	x
Dwayne Roloson (24)				x					x
Patrice Bergeron (13)							x	x
David Krejci (14)		x					x	x
Nathan Horton (16)		x							x	x
Michael Ryder (18)				x	x				x
Brad Marchand (19)				x		x				x
Tomas Kaberle (20)			x
Zdeno Chara (21)	x		x	x	x	x			x
Johnny Boychuk (23)	x
Tim Thomas (24)	x	x	x		x	x	x	x		x

Missed in the post-game assessment of Game Five, Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk left the game with an upper-body injury and didn't return after taking a hit from Steve Downie. The word is that he will be dressed for Game Six, but it is unclear if he will be playing at his full capacity, which works out to be 16-to-20 minutes a night.

The Lightning are waiting on news as to whether or not non-pool winger Sean Bergenheim will return to their line-up. He left Game Four with a lower-body injury and didn't play in Game Five. Bergenheim leads the Lightning in goals in these playoffs, but has been slightly less effective against the Bruins. Nevertheless, his speed and touch will be an asset, if he is inserted into the line-up tonight.

I tried to call the Lightning to pull one out in Boston the other night, but they fell short on the offensive side of the puck.  They have been resilient in these playoffs already and I would say it's tough to count them out, but Tim Thomas has that swagger about him now and that'll be tough to beat.  I feel another overtime game coming up in this series.