Steven Stamkos

Stars struck by Lightning in Texas

January 21, 2012

The Tampa Bay Lightning were looking to snap a 6 game losing streak on the road as they travelled to the American Airlines Center to take on the Stars. The tough times continued for the Stars as they were without their top 2 centreman in Jamie Benn and Mike Ribeiro. Drifting in and out of the playoff spots everyday, the Stars would have been aiming for 2 points going into the game as they were taking on a struggling Lightning side.

The game lacked any sort of flow early on, but Sheldon Souray woke the crowd up with a shot that rattled the iron behind Mathieu Garon in the Lightning net. The first period turned out to be all about Kari Lehtonen, the Stars goaltender, as he produced a ...

Habs' Win-Streak Ends at One

December 30, 2011

czechtacular

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The Montreal Canadiens were unable to build on their performance against the Ottawa Senators earlier in the week, as they dropped tonight's matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning by the score of 4-3 despite being up 3-1 past the halfway mark of the second period.

Vincent Lecavalier completed Tampa's rally at 8:37 of the 3rd and former Canadiens JT Wyman and Marc-Andre Bergeron scored for the Lightning. Steven Stamkos was the one who opened the scoring just under four minutes into the game, redirecting a Pavel Kubina shot for his third goal in two games.

Some time later, two...

Stamkos Scores Twice as Bolts Strike Flyers

December 28, 2011

Shane Brennan

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Steven Stamkos is one of the NHL’s most prolific offensive players. So, when the forward gets open looks in front of the net the Lightning are tough to beat. The Flyers found out the hard way on Tuesday night in a 5-1 defeat.

With two goals tonight Stamkos tied the Rangers’ Marion Gaborik with 22 goals for the season and the lead for the top goal scorer in the league.

Stamkos’ first goal came 8:30 into the second period, breaking a 1-1 tie. Stamkos took the rebound from a Ryan Malone shot and put a backhand shot past Ilya Bryzgalov.

Bryzgalov let in five goals on only 16 shots. The theme throughout the game was missed Flyer opportunities that turned into Lightning goals. Usually when a team dominates on shots, possessions, and scoring opportunities they find themselves on the celebratory side of a blowout.

Not tonight.

Flyers Look For Spark Against Lightning

December 27, 2011

Larry DAngelo

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After a short holiday break, the Philadelphia Flyers (21-9-4) will continue on their current five game road trip in Florida when they take on the Tampa Bay Lightning (14-17-3).

Despite losing their last road game to the New York Rangers, the Flyers are still sporting the league's best road record (13-4-2).

The Flyers are now 2-2-1 in their last five and surrendered 17 goals. But that last five games' woes go beyond the score board.

Moulson Is Seeing Stars

December 5, 2011

Rob McGowan

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Matt Moulson scored the first four-goal game of his NHL career Saturday night against the Dallas Stars; it was also the first individual four-goal game of the 2012 season. As a result, the Islanders were able to hold on for a thrilling 5-4 win.

Although the win is what ultimately matters most for the Islanders, who took seven out of eight possibly points on their four-game road trip, Moulson was the recipient of this week's NHL's First Star honors.

Flyers Look To Continue Energizing Play In Tampa

November 9, 2011

Larry DAngelo

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The Flyers kick off their three game road trip in sunny Florida tonight when they face the Tampa Bay Lightning at 7:30 PM. Philly is off to their best road start since 1993-94 season and will face a tough challenge tonight as Tampa is 4-1 at home and have won 6 of their last 8 games.

Six Games In

October 23, 2011

Tanner Kovach

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Instead of writing some game recaps, I decided to give my take on some players that are playing well, some that aren't, and some keys to winning games.

Looking Good:

Michal Handzus – This guy might be the prototypical 3rd line center that every team needs. Remember Malhotra? Handzus is the bottom six player the Sharks needed last year, and he has not disappointed. Defensively he is really good, he is always above 50% in the...

Isles Can't Strike Lightning Twice

October 21, 2011

Brian Bock

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In their first road game of the season, the New York Islanders dropped a 4-1 decision to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Islanders fall to 3-2 on the season.

Much speculation was made leading up to the game as the team announced Rick DiPietro would be making the road trip to Florida with the team. Evgeni Nabokov was coming off an excellent game against the rival Rangers, and Al Montoya sported one of the top GAA’s and Save Percentages in the NHL.

Coach Jack Capuano gave Montoya the nod, and Montoya looked sharp at times when he was tested. While Montoya did not play poorly in this game, perhaps only the fourth and final goal would be one that he woul...

Can the Islanders Catch the Lightning in a Bottle?

October 13, 2011

Brian Bock

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Preview: Islanders (1-1-0, 2 pts, 4th in Atlantic, 11th in East)

The Islanders are coming off of a pair of games in which they have failed to put together 60 good minutes of hockey. A disappointing performance against the Panthers on Saturday was followed up by one good period and two "hang on for dear life" periods in Monday's matinee against the Wild. As discussed in Rob McGowan's post here at The Checking Line on Tuesday, New York's young forward unit is having difficulty getting pucks to the net. Rob also keys in on the Isles' difficulty staying out of the box through 120 minutes of competition. Against the highly skilled a...