Grats Lightning and their fans. My concern as a long time hockey fan is that I just hope the residents appreciate what they have there, in that skilled young team and support them.
I thought it was a pretty entertaining series. Had great skating, great goaltending, a lot of physical play (which I love as both a player and a fan)and 2 teams that just wouldn't quit. A lot of players gave outstanding performances: Richards all the way through, ditto for St Louis and Lecavalier, you have to love Fedotenko who goes from a nasty head shot in game 4 to potting 2 goals in game 7, and what else needs to be said about the 'Bulin Wall? The Flames had a great run on the backs of Iginla, Regehr, Conroy, Gelinas and the Kipper.
A lot of people have criticized the officiating, and as someone who lives in and was pulling for Calgary (after my beloved Islanders were sent golfing in round 1... wonder if we can punt Milbury and hire Burke...), think it wasn't really one sided as much as silly and inconsistent. IMO it was the thing that detracted from the series. They called some stupid things: the tripping call that led to Tampa's 1st goal in Game 7 was weak. The interference call on Pratt was as well, and I'm not going to comment on the clusterfuck of the last minute.
Tampa deserved this: they played hard and they kept it going all the way through. Their strategy and execution on the powerplay was the better and IMO the decisive factor in the series. People talk about the "non-goal" and I agree with what Darryl Sutter said: it was one camera angle, that you couldn't tell if the puck was in the air or not... and it has to be ALL the way across the line, thus it was non-conclusive. If the puck was in the air, it may not have been across, thus was not a goal, but we'll never know.
Heheheh just don't brag too loud in front of the Leaf fans out there: they may get a little homicidal
