Sunday, December 12, 2010

Hello, My Name Is Awesome.


Photo by: Getty Images. Used without permission.



Even with all of the hot stove business, I've still been paying attention to the Lightning. It's not always easy. Believe me. After witnessing the 8-1 beat down in Boston on December 2nd, I was walking the streets near the Garden yelling about how much I hated my team. But, like any good masochist I am back for more.

I watched the first period of the game against Vancouver last night, but was tired and full of food and drinks from my mom's early birthday celebration. I saw Brett Clark's goal, wished them good luck, and went to sleep. My parents get the NHL Network in their cable package, so I sat through a bunch of NHL on the Fly replays before finally getting the highlights from the game. My immediate thought? Steven Stamkos definitely seems to have gotten out of that 7 game scoreless streak. A goal against Edmonton and two last night against Vancouver, most importantly being that #24 was the game winning goal in overtime. So, Stammer is awesome. There you go.

The main thing I wanted to write about was the shoot out loss to Edmonton on Friday night. The Lightning made a great come back in regulation to tie things up. The effort was definitely there. But they ended up coming off as sore losers. Linus Omark of the Oilers won the shootout on this goal:



In the post game press, both Mattias Ohlund and Ryan Malone were quoted as how they thought the spin move was "disrespectful" and "a joke". It was extra disrespectful because it was his first NHL game and he was already being a cocky young whippersnapper. Ok, maybe they didn't actually say that. But judging by the quotes, you could almost see them shaking their canes at the young upstart. I mean, heaven forbid a player do something different or show some personality. Seeing as how I am a fan of Jeremy Roenick, it's easy to see why I would come down on the side of personality.

I also find the verbal barbs pretty hypocritical given that Marty St. Louis has done something similar in shoot outs before. Not the full on spin-o-rama, but he definitely turns his back to the goalie. As seen here against Marc Andre Fleury from January of 2007:



A bit of an overreaction, probably stemming from the frustration that Khabibulin was showing flashes of the brilliance he showed at the end of the 2004 playoffs and the fact that they could not seal the deal in regulation or OT. Put the blame where it belongs. Don't shove it on a kid who scored the game winning goal in his first NHL game.


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