GDT: 12/14/13 - 7:00PM EDT - Tampa Bay @ New Jersey

[Lord Stan 2020]

Also, lol at this team. Score 5 goals one night, get shut out the next. It's comical.

If only they could play a PP as well as they did with the empty net. Our PP is comical. We need to score on these power play chances we are getting, its getting ridiculous. Why Kucherov is not out there is beyond me. Come on Cooper, use your ****ing head. Our only finisher is not on the PP. Whenever Kucherov is out, it seems we get a good scoring chance. Put him out there if you want to see more.

I hate getting shut out, and I hate losing because of stupidity. Brewer cost us two goals pretty much. Not really leading by example there. Our D got burnt tonight by a man who's over 40, who skates like he's in peanut butter. Unacceptable.

I didnt want to mention brewer the last one was on him for sure but he is great as our 6/7 guy is just now we got him at 20 minutes. Think everyone is being over used now too we are tired. Marty is old being in top 10 in minutes? come on cooper use the head we got to balance this to work.

He is overusing one and two for awhile we were struggling yep but playing equal minutes I am fearful of way more minor injuries if we keep this up

Why want some movement of some guys and pray everyday for hedman to heal lol

 

[Steazy Doo]

All we have to do is play mildly entertaining until the new Godzilla comes out in March.

 

[2MinutesforGiraffing]

You are only a fan.

What the **** is that supposed to mean. I'm supposed to blindly trust in management? That's not the way it works, man. I thought this was a place to discuss the Bolts and what was going on with the team.

So accept that we might struggle and he will continue to do nothing or don't accept it.

These personal, condescending attacks are why you are going back to my ignore list. Maybe you're just dense, but a difference of opinion doesn't mean the other person is stupid.

I've been a fan for 21 years. I've seen the truly bad and what I see now is a roster that needs help. I've never had a team other than Lightning and I was a STM the first year. I may not be Steve ****ing Yzerman, but it doesn't take rocket science to see things are not going well.

 

[Steazy Doo]

Can we all just put our differences aside and agree that the guy in the Chase commercial is Richard Panik from the future?

 

[Coopers Gum]

Poor ****ing Lindback by the way. This team just cannot get him a win.

 

[Lord Stan 2020]

What the **** is that supposed to mean. I'm supposed to blindly trust in management? That's not the way it works, man. I thought this was a place to discuss the Bolts and what was going on with the team.



These personal, condescending attacks are why you are going back to my ignore list. Maybe you're just dense, but a difference of opinion doesn't mean the other person is stupid.

I've been a fan for 21 years. I've seen the truly bad and what I see now is a roster that needs help. I've never had a team other than Lightning and I was a STM the first year. I may not be Steve ****ing Yzerman, but it doesn't take rocket science to see things are not going well.

First SORRY hope this gets to you quickly wasnt trying to be condescending. I begged to get rid of malone before season and other trades and would kill to get girardi for the future among other things. I said we needed a power forward and a legit number two d man to compete for a cup.

I have been a fan also for 20 years appreciate everyone wants to say their piece but each time every week stevie comes out and says hey we aint doing nothing now. He has spelled his plan out and that is to build a core. I went through this in detroit. Just so you know in detroit it took 14 years 8 years after they had the core lol to win the cup. I get what he is doing I still question things and would like to see a power forward and a legit number two d man.

We are staying in the playoff race. I havent given up on the kids. I think we need to be healthy and need some tweaking to get the line ups to be better.

Purcell has been best with stamkos and marty or on third line him and flip do not play at all well together that is obvious.

Other things are obvious but as some other fans have said who do we have to trade?

I dont want vasi kucherov or drouin traded.

So I wait and be patient. I think we had unrealistic aspirations this season. I doubt even if had stamkos we would be the best team in east right now maybe we would be who knows?

We are fine imo.

Again I apologize was not meaning to be condescending just stating the obvious to me ive had to live with it since we let vinny go I want it faster lol and wanted moves that aint happened and probably wont

So with what we have I fully support and keep hoping they pull it together!!

 

[HoseEmDown]

Guys we aren't making a move anytime soon. SY is too busy working on his game so he doesn't embarrass himself in the alumni game. Plus we definitely aren't making a two for one deal with how depleted we are we can't be giving up more bodies then we get back.

 

[Glide5]

Poor ****ing Lindback by the way. This team just cannot get him a win.

This. He is starting to put together a solid string of starts, but the team in front of him seems confused that hockey takes place on ice...

Almost feel a little bit bad for the kid. His numbers look a lot worse than they really were his last few games.

It sounds like the team really played poor tonight. The bits I listened too sounded pretty scattered and poor. It sucks that we are so injured right now, cause I dont think we could even hope to trade for someone to give us a new body with how low reserves are. Looks like we will just have to ride out this slowly sinking ship.

 

[2MinutesforGiraffing]

Yeah, SFY is probably trying to re-learn how to skate. If you believe him and he's not skated much in the past 6 years.

Right now, I'm regretting buying fancy seats for the 1/17 Islanders game. If we're just gonna tank the season, I could have spent that money at Epcot drinking around the pavilions.

 

[jg39]

Looks like I missed a really good one tonight. What is it about NJ and Boston with us that causes complete failure every single time?

I'm not saying complete blow up of the power play, but would complete blow up cause any kind of worse results? Couldn't hurt to try something completely different.

Oh...and we need to score more. Scoring more than 0, in my expert opinion, typically keeps us in the game.

 

[FinnLightning26]

Oh god... I've resisted the urge to post here for years but now I'm drunk and I absolutely have to open up somewhere.

Ok. I understand that this team has been absolutely devastated with injuries. We're icing about 10 rookies, or whatever, and I shouldn't be surprised that we lost. BUT, I'm still surprised. Why do we ALWAYS have such a difficult time with the Devils? It's like it's a automatic loss every time we play Brodeur. He hasn't been good before this game at all but suddenly he's Jesus Christ when he plays us. This is the first game I've ever walked out on when I've watched the Bolts live. After the third Devils goal I just had to get out and go for a smoke.

I really feel bad for Lindbäck. No, I'm not one of those fans that wants Lindbäck to start after Bishop has a bad game. I know that Bishop is the #1 goalie this team has lacked FOR YEARS besides the few months of solid goaltending that Roloson gave us. He has showed it time and time again. But I firmly believe that Lindbäck is cursed. There is just no other explanation. Whenever he has a good game the team just plays like complete and utter ****. He held us in the game against the Jets and what does he get? A OTL. He made some great saves tonight but the team doensn't bother to score at all.

Ok, back to the main problem. Where are the veterans on this team? St. Louis has been leading the way like he always has and Filppula has had good games too. But where is Purcell? I swear to god, whenever he has the puck, the budding scoring chance will just die. He has scored twice in what, 15 games? And those goals came in the same game. He is one of the guys that has to raise his level when we hit an injury bug like this. Watching Purcell makes me miss Malone and that tells something because Malone has been mostly awful this season.

Also on defense, our rookies have wiped the floor with the veterans. I couldn't stand Carle last year but this season he's actually been pretty good. Tonight, however, he was just bad. Couldn't hold the puck in the zone on the powerplay and please tell me what was he doing on the first Devils goal? Also, Brewer was horrible tonight and made me wish he was still injured.

Last, but not least, our powerplay has been just awful without Stamkos. There you can see how important he is to this team. After we get a powerplay, I just spend two minutes facepalming at our powerplay. It's just so horrible. When we get to our opponents zone, which isn't so many times, we just spend all the time passing the puck around. When somebody decides to shoot, it hits the first man that's in front of the shot and the opponent clears it to our end. Countless times I've shouted at my TV for them to just shoot the ****ing puck when they have an opening but instead they just decide to pass it around. We have to find other ways to score on the powerplay than just pass it to Stamkos if we're going to be a legit team.

Ok, that's pretty much my rant. I'm sorry but I just had to vent somewhere. I'm also sorry if it doesn't make any sense beacause I'm really drunk right now. I, like others on this board, hope that we win about half of our games before Stamkos gets back. If we do that, we have a good chance at making the playoffs. But it's games like this we should be winning. That's what makes me blow a gasket. However, if we were going to lose one of these three games, I'm happy we lost this one as losing points to a non-divisional rival isn't THAT bad. We absolutely have to win tomorrow however, or at least get a point, against our division rivals.

It's almost 6 am here in Finland and I'm drunk as hell so I again apologize for this post but it had to be made. I hope even some of you agree with whatever points I made . Have a good night fellow Lightning fans and lets take home two points tomorrow!

 

[Lord Stan 2020]

This. He is starting to put together a solid string of starts, but the team in front of him seems confused that hockey takes place on ice...

Almost feel a little bit bad for the kid. His numbers look a lot worse than they really were his last few games.

It sounds like the team really played poor tonight. The bits I listened too sounded pretty scattered and poor. It sucks that we are so injured right now, cause I dont think we could even hope to trade for someone to give us a new body with how low reserves are. Looks like we will just have to ride out this slowly sinking ship.

I really dont believe we are a sinking ship

We win in detroit or steal a win? They have almost as much missing as we do argue wise on offense and d right now honestly. They are starting their AHL goalie tomorrow.

We have a shot and than we beat NY Islanders which have been amazingly terrible we are tied TIED for third best record in east. Going into two games at home and a very easy rest of month schedule.



43 points in 34 games tied with montreal. Behind boston and pittsburgh.

We have work to do but we outplayed New Jersey we needed to hit more be more physical.

We have to fix this power play atrocity. I still think we are fine. Now if we tank like 8 out of next 10 games I will start to worry. We were in this game.

Bad line change we had our shots we didnt convert. Is all ok. I still say we will be fine

We havent been winning on road but I feel good on next two games!!

 

[2MinutesforGiraffing]

We're icing about 10 rookies, or whatever

13, as it was pointed out to me, like 66% of our roster

This is the first game I've ever walked out on when I've watched the Bolts live.

I turned the game off with 5:00 left because I was too angry.

I really feel bad for Lindbäck.

I think we all do. I'm not a Lindback fan, but if the team can't ****ing score, it's not on him.

Ok, back to the main problem. Where are the veterans on this team?

Outnumbered? Overworked? We have some veterans, but let's be honest. Several of our veterans aren't that hot.

Purcell? Cold
Filp? Playmaker
Salo? Nearly 40
Carle/Brewer? Meh

Last, but not least, our powerplay has been just awful

Full stop. Our powerplay sucks. Jesus tap-dancing Christ. Put Kucherov out there. Can't get any worse.

I'm also sorry if it doesn't make any sense beacause I'm really drunk right now.

So say many of us. I'm on bourbon now and have been since I turned the game off in anger. I'm more frustrated now than we really sucked, because there are moments of genius, but they are few and far between. Even when we get them, then we get Ovi scoring 4 goals. Grrr.

Anyway, welcome Bolts fan from Finland. I recommend vodka for the season.

 

[FinnLightning26]

Full stop. Our powerplay sucks. Jesus tap-dancing Christ. Put Kucherov out there. Can't get any worse.

Yeah, I wouldn't be against that. Kucherov has been one of the few that isn't afraid to shoot. He's quickly becoming one of my favourites on the team. I don't think it would make our #1 PP unit any worse if we put him on there. We could, maybe, score a ****ing goal.

So say many of us. I'm on bourbon now and have been since I turned the game off in anger. I'm more frustrated now than we really sucked, because there are moments of genius, but they are few and far between. Even when we get them, then we get Ovi scoring 4 goals. Grrr.

Anyway, welcome Bolts fan from Finland. I recommend vodka for the season.

Thank you! Now that I've made my first real post here I think I'll be posting here more often. And thanks for the suggestion. I think I'll try that at the latest when we play the Devils again and I'm watching the game with a friend that's a Devils fan, like I did tonight.

 

[2MinutesforGiraffing]

I'm watching the game with a friend that's a Devils fan, like I did tonight.

My BFF is a Devil's fan. She was at the game and chirping me until she just decided to have pity and stop.

 

[CarpeNoctem]

I'm glad we've been able to let it out a bit here. The current roster makes this very tough to watch and though it's not a guarantee that anything will happen, we can still dream

 

[FinnLightning26]

My BFF is a Devil's fan. She was at the game and chirping me until she just decided to have pity and stop.

Yeah, I know the pain. Actually two of my best friends are Devils fans so I can guarantee you that I'll be hearing about this game for a long time. And to make things worse, also one of my best friends is a Red Wings fan so I can't win, can I?

 

[FDfranklin]

It's so up and down with this team. We really need some consistency on top of everything else that has already been said.

I also agree with Lindback being cursed... It seems the team puts in a much better effort in front of Bishop..

I don't really know how we are still 3rd in the division and 4th in the east... Those points against West teams have really helped us.

 

[Vasilevskiy]

Is it so hard to put Kucherov in the PP?

He has been the best player on the team the last games and they just don't put him out there.

Ridicolous.

 

[IdealisticSniper]

I think everyone needs to settle down.

Yes it's frustrating with the team right now. Yes we all wish we could win every game.

But here's the facts. We are 4th in the conference right now with games in hand. We are 7 PTs up on the first missed playoff spot at 9th. We are 7 games over .500. We finally have great goaltending, even Lindback is playing very well lately.

If someone told me our record would be what it is and Stamkos would be out for a month along with Hedman out for weeks among all the other injuries, I would have laughed in their face. This team is treading water. Yes they need to figure things out such as the PP and scoring more consistently in general, but they are .500 at 6-6-2 since Stamkos went down and the other injuries started mounting.

If they play .500 hockey and maybe here and there string a few wins together in the next month and a half we will still be in a playoff position and everyone will be coming back along the way.

I know it's been frustrating because of the great start we had and the team really looked like not only a legit team to make the playoffs but could make some noise, but lets not lose sight of the fact that even though we aren't fighting for the conference lead right now we are still very much in the playoff picture.

You don't make a trade of one of your high potential rookies just to try to bring in a piece that doesn't fit. Have patience, this is valuable experience for these guys and we should be impressed that this team is doing what it's doing with all the rookies.

 

[Ricebox]

really glad i left to go out after the 2nd period. i knew the loss was coming,

i want to be a pessimist so badly right now and say that this slow decline we have fallen into is only going to get worse, and we'll fall short of the playoffs again

but you never know, and either way, nothing we can do sitting here, its all on cooper and the guys to start making it look like they want to win.

 

[The Macho King]

I think everyone needs to settle down.

Yes it's frustrating with the team right now. Yes we all wish we could win every game.

But here's the facts. We are 4th in the conference right now with games in hand. We are 7 PTs up on the first missed playoff spot at 9th. We are 7 games over .500. We finally have great goaltending, even Lindback is playing very well lately.

If someone told me our record would be what it is and Stamkos would be out for a month along with Hedman out for weeks among all the other injuries, I would have laughed in their face. This team is treading water. Yes they need to figure things out such as the PP and scoring more consistently in general, but they are .500 at 6-6-2 since Stamkos went down and the other injuries started mounting.

If they play .500 hockey and maybe here and there string a few wins together in the next month and a half we will still be in a playoff position and everyone will be coming back along the way.

I know it's been frustrating because of the great start we had and the team really looked like not only a legit team to make the playoffs but could make some noise, but lets not lose sight of the fact that even though we aren't fighting for the conference lead right now we are still very much in the playoff picture.

You don't make a trade of one of your high potential rookies just to try to bring in a piece that doesn't fit. Have patience, this is valuable experience for these guys and we should be impressed that this team is doing what it's doing with all the rookies.

I don't agree with you often, but I agree 100% with you now.

We've been .500 without Stammer, and that's not even factoring in the myriad of other injuries we've suffered. Nate's not a third line center, TJ isn't a second line center, and Flip is not a first line center, but they're forced into those roles. It's not only the offense that is missing from Stamkos, it has a trickle effect where it hurts our secondary scoring too. Same thing with Hedman being out and what it does to our D.

All in all, we're getting points more often than we really have reason to expect, so I'm proud as hell as this team right now. I'm more than a little annoyed by a lot of the posters on here that are doom and gloom, sky is falling attitude and wanting to trade away the players for a band-aid. I trust the **** out of SFY and Coop - they've put a hell of an organization together and we are actually seeing the benefits of that "five year plan". Our depth is being tested, and it's performing quite well.

 

[MattM92]

I don't agree with you often, but I agree 100% with you now.

We've been .500 without Stammer, and that's not even factoring in the myriad of other injuries we've suffered. Nate's not a third line center, TJ isn't a second line center, and Flip is not a first line center, but they're forced into those roles. It's not only the offense that is missing from Stamkos, it has a trickle effect where it hurts our secondary scoring too. Same thing with Hedman being out and what it does to our D.

All in all, we're getting points more often than we really have reason to expect, so I'm proud as hell as this team right now. I'm more than a little annoyed by a lot of the posters on here that are doom and gloom, sky is falling attitude and wanting to trade away the players for a band-aid. I trust the **** out of SFY and Coop - they've put a hell of an organization together and we are actually seeing the benefits of that "five year plan". Our depth is being tested, and it's performing quite well.

I agree nearly completely with both you and IS but it doesn't mean there aren't some pretty serious issues to fix. I agree that the injuries have forced players to play above their head, but then why doesn't Coop give the guys that are killing it more time (ie. Kucherov) and try to limit the guys that are getting dominated (the entire 4th line and Taormina). I still trust SFY and Coop but sometimes Coop's personnel decisions make me wonder what the hell he's thinking.

 

[DFC]

The reality is we're missing our two biggest cornerstone players and we're still in a playoff spot. Brodeur played like vintage Brodeur last night, which didn't help. I agree that Kucherov needs to be given a more prominent role with the team, because right now he looks like our most dangerous offensive player, and I include Marty in that.

But the only way a trade is even possible is if it's one that doesn't handcuff us in the future. It has to be a trade that makes sense with a roster that includes Steven Stamkos.

It's also becoming clear that Teddy Purcell's main problem isn't that he doesn't shoot. It's that his instinct is to take the puck to the perimeter, which usually renders whatever play he makes, shooting included, pointless. I still think we move him at the trade deadline.

 

[Sky04]

So what happens if we get Stamkos back and still go .500 or under because of the lack of secondary scoring? You guys are also assuming Stamkos comes back and plays exactly how he did before he was injured, might wanna lower your expectations from a guy who will have missed 3 months of hockey.

Losing your best player is always going to hurt the team, especially when it's a top-3 player in the game. But I'd like to at least see some resilience, getting shut-out 3 times in 10 games is a flat-out joke. At least if they're scoring they can help back up Stamkos when he comes back, but at the looks of things, all the pressure is going to be on him right when he steps on the ice because this team can't score for ****.