First intermission vs. Montreal

Posted Dec 30, 2008 by Erik Erlendsson

Updated Dec 30, 2008 at 08:22 PM

You can say this about the Lightning right now, they can be an entertaining team to watch. They are hitting, Artyukhin is fighting and they are skating. And what I’ve really noticed about this team in the last few games is that guys look like they are sticking up for each other and protecting each other, and to me, that’s a good sign. In this game, Matt Pettinger went after one of the Canadiens’ players - didn’t catch who it was - in front of the Tampa Bay net as said Montreal player tried to get to the net for a rebound. That hasn’t always been there this year.

Speaking of Artyukhin, he set the tone again on the first shift, landing a solid hit in the corner. He came back again about 4:30 into the game and laid a solid shoulder-to-shoulder hit to Alex Tanguay that completely knocked one of the glass panels to the ice (amazingly, it didn’t break) and may have knocked Tanguay out of the game. Tanguay went to the bench favoring his left shoulder and then left the ice.

And does anybody this side of Alex Ovechkin truly enjoy scoring goals than Vinny Prospal? I love to see that kind of genuine joy.