First to Go

The Tampa Bay Lightning were eliminated in the quickest way possible last night in Montreal.  Was Montreal that good or Tampa that bad?

In the beginning of the season I didn't think Tampa would make the playoffs.  My concern was their goaltending.  It turned out to be their strength.  Ben Bishop came into the season having never been a number one NHL goalie.  Ottawa traded him to Tampa at the end of last season for Cory Conacher.  Bishop became the go to guy this season winning 37 games and posting a 2.23 goals against average.  Conacher was waived by Ottawa.

Outside of the large shoulders of Bishop Tampa saw the rise of rookie Andrej Palat who led the team in points and finished second in rookie scoring.  Not bad for the guy picked 208th.  Victor Hedman showed why he was the second overall pick in 2009.  Coming into the season he had scored 16 goals in over 250 NHL games.  He had 13 this season ending up 5th in defensive scoring.  Let's not forget Tyler Johnson.  He played in all 82 games scoring 24 goals as a rookie.  He was never drafted at all.  Both Palat and Johnson were named two of the three finalists for the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year.

They managed a successful season without the best pure goal scorer in hockey in Steven Stamkos who missed half the season with a broken leg.  They also lost long time Tampa star Martin St. Louis when he asked for a trade.  And biggest of all, lost their starting goalie for the playoffs with an injury.

Backup Anders Lindback did not have a very good series.  I hope his family in Sweden gets a Swedish feed of the game instead of the CBC broadcast.  The crew was not particularly fond of his play.  I doubt Lindback was very pleased either.  Couple that with an early Palat injury and a Stamkos at less than 100% and things quickly turned.  The good news for Tampa is the team is still young.  Not only that but they have more young players on the way like Jonathan Drouin who could have his name in the mix for the Calder next season.

The Answer:  Tampa played that bad.  No disrespect to Tampa or Detroit but the thought of a potential second round series of Boston against Montreal gives me great pleasure as a hockey fan.