Monday, December 7, 2009

Moved!

The Hockey Bay has now joined the Bloguin family!

Our new home is now http://thehockeybayblog.com

Don't worry the blog will still be the same as before, except for a site design change and a spiffy banner.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Game 28: Islanders in Tampa Preview

Draft pick #1 comes to draft pick #2's kitchen tonight.

Enemy blog: Another team that I don't keep up with much, except with Tavares lands himself in the highlight reel, neverless check out Islanders Hockey Blog

John Tavares and someone named Matt Moulson is the Islanders team these days. Where did this Moulson character come from? The whole team. He breathes hope into Islander fans much like Crosby did for the Penguins. So much hope that a report says that Charles Wang has given GM Garth Snow permission to add payroll for a playoff run. Whoa. I don't know if the playoffs are in the picture just yet, but Tavares certainly is making a case for being a Calder Trophy candidate. He has had 7 goals and 7 assists with a plus 6 rating in the last 17 games.

Not related to this game but still interesting: TSN reports that mythical player Rick DiPietro may be back playing for the team in mid December. Someone already picked him up in my fantasy hockey pool.

Line-up Notes:
  • Mike Smith in goal
Game time: 7:30pm ET on SUN.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Game 27: Tampa in New Jersey Preview

I never keep up with how the Devils are doing. I know that Brodeur will likely be the starting goalie for Team Canada...but I'll be the first to admit that I don't exactly keep up with the Devils.

Enemy blog: Although I don't keep up with them, I know someone who does, check out Running with the Devils

The Devils played against the Canucks at home on Wednesday and lost to Vancouver 5-2. The Lightning have lost their first two games against the Devils already this season back in October and need to beat the Devils to stop this current slide. It's not sure if Brodeur will start in net tonight as the Devils haven't released any official word yet.

Line-up Notes:
  • To be updated
Game time: 7:00pm ET on SUN.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Lightning 1, Bruins 4 - Bolts LOSE

I don't usually get to catch the first period because I live on the Westcoast and by the time I have most likely missed the 1st and sometime a bit of the second period. So when I get home and see that the Lightning are losing 4-0, I'm not even going to bother watching the game. Losing 4-0 shows a lack of effort. That just adds to the 4 out of the last 5 games that we've lost.

Marc Savard just signed a extension so it was expected that he would score a goal non? The other goals from the B's came from Bergeron and two from Sturm. Former Bolt Mark Recchi got 3 assists.

Halpern got the only goal for the Lightning and Matt Smaby played for the first time this season. The Lightning as a team is going to need to put together a good performance, especially in the defense on Friday because they'll play the Devils. The play between tonight's game of offense from the B's will be a stark contract to the defensiveness from the Devils. Let's move on and hope that the team can put together some effort to stop the losing.

Game 26: Tampa in Boston Preview

*Updated*

The Bruins just signed Savard to a seven year extension...cue the rumors of Kovalchuk to the Leafs now please....


Enemy blog
: Check out
Something's Bruin where they are currently dissecting the contract extension that has Savard on the team till he's 40 years old (clearly front loaded).

The Bruins have won five of their last six games, and the Lightning have now been losing more than they've won in the past few games. The Lightning need to turn this around. With the new contract announcement, I expect Marc Savard to have a good game tonight, of course with any new contract, he may begin sucking next game for the rest of the year....

The plus for the Lightning is that Ohlund has returned back to the lineup last game which will give the D some leadership direction. It wasn't that the defense played horribly while Ohlund was out, it just looked like they were lost during some games.

Line-up Notes:
Game time: 7:00pm ET on SUN.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Bolts Across the Globe

Although I have not entered....sad I know, the Lightning are running a contest for people to choose their favorite photo of a Lightning fan that doesn't reside in the Tampa Bay area. Fans submitted photos to the Lightning Facebook fan page and now 10 photos have been selected, go here to vote for your favorite.

Karsums to the KHL?

So this rumor hasn't really had legs yet because not many people care about the player, but Dmitry Chesnokov tweeted "according to some reports in Latvia, Lightning's Martins Karsums wants to play in the NHL".

He then followed his tweet with this "I have never even heard of the guy" which just says it all. Karsums has just been all but forgotten of playing down in the AHL. Not a huge loss to the Lightning or anything since he was a little disappointing, thought I did think his name was fun to say.