Around the NHL in 30 Days – Tampa Bay Lightning

FanSided takes it back to the East Coast today to check in on the Tampa Bay Lightning. The excited writers of the Bolts By The Bay blog are pumped up for their Around the NHL in 30 Days preview. What’s not to be excited about? The Bolts came so close to the Stanley Cup Finals last year.

I must admit that the Bolts are one of the more entertaining teams in the NHL. They have a trio of top-notch offensive talent in Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, and Steven Stamkos. I don’t know about you, but I love watching highlights of Stamkos ripping one-timers into the net while he is on one knee. The more I think about it, that was probably the inspiration for the NHL 12 video game achievement “On Bended Knee”, since Stamkos is also the cover athlete this year.

Here’s a snippet of what the great writers at Bolts By The Bay have to say about their Lightning:

"The team lost faces like Sean Bergenheim and Simon Gagne, but overall, not too much has significantly changed for the Tampa Bay Lightning when it comes to the roster. It seems that they are out to prove that last season’s team wasn’t a one-hit wonder and that this is a consistent team when it comes down to making a genuine Stanley Cup playoff run."

In the lone meeting between the Sharks and Bolts last year the Sharks prevailed by a 5-2 score. Interesting to note once again that Antero Nittymaki (ex-Bolt) was in net for the Sharks. If you remember in the Philadelphia season preview I mentioned that Nittymaki was also in net for that win as well. It seems that Sharks coach Todd McLellan has a hunch that Nittymaki will come up big when facing his former teams.

As long as goaltender Dwayne Roloson stays healthy, I expect the Bolts to make some noise in the Eastern Conference this year and challenge for a berth in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Check back tomorrow for another team to be spotlighted in FanSided’s Around the NHL in 30 Days.

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