What lovely weather we’re having today. Just think, if we were in Buffalo this would be quite the blizzard going on on right now and it would create quite the havoc on the roads tonight!!!!! But that’s why we live in Florida, right?

Everybody was on the ice this morning, which means no type of trades are imminent at this point, but the day is still young. Jay Feaster wasn’t around, which has been the norm lately as I’m sure he’s burning up the cell phone towers.

And for those of you heading to the game tonight or planning to watch on TV, keep in mind that this game could very well be the last game we see the team as we have come to know it. All bets are off when it comes to who might be in the lineup for Wednesday’s game against Minnesota.

Here’s an interesting twist, however, in regards to tonight’s lineup - the Lightning will dress five defensemen tonight and 13 forwards, with Doug Janik the odd-man out.

John Tortorella’s thoughts on this are a couple. First, he said that even though Janik has not seen much ice time since Brad Lukowich has been out, Torts said Janik hasn’t done enough in the short amount of time he has played to be warrant getting more ice time. Also, he wants to keep Andreas Karlsson in the lineup because of his ability to kill penalties and for the quality minutes he put in before he had to miss a couple of days while dealing with a personal issue. And finally, Tortorella wants to give Andre Roy an opportunity to re-establish himself on the ice as he hasn’t played well since his three-game sitting for disciplinary reasons.

Here’s what the line rushes were this morning…

Vinny Prospal-Vinny Lecavalier-Marty St. Louis
Jan Hlavac-Brad Richards-Michel Ouellet
Nick Tarnasky-Chris Gratton-Craig MacDonald
Andre Roy (Mathieu Darche)-Andreas Karlsson-Jason Ward

Johan Holmqvist is in goal while Alex Auld starts for Boston. Forward Chuck Kobesew will be out for Boston with a slight groin issue.

FIRST INTERMISSION

This team didn’t play like it was just going through the motions out there, which is a comendable act, as far as I’m concerned. Yes, I know, they are professionals and it’s their job to show up every day and play as hard as they can and put forth the effort and blah, blah, blah.... When there is no incentive, I don’t care what the job is, sometimes you tend to give maybe 90 percent or 75 percent, but it’s hard to give it your all. Maybe the incentive tonight is that it’s likely the last game together for the team as we have known them this year. Dan Boyle’s contract status is still up in the air, although word is they might be closing in on an extension. Brad Richards’ name is running hot and heavy through the rumor mill this week. Vinny Prospal is all but gone. There could potentially be a half-dozen players dealt before the deadline on Tuesday, and the players know it.

Speaking of Richards, there was a rumor floating around from my favorite unnamed rumor website that said he had agreed to waive his no trade clause. As usual, it’s a false rumor. I spoke with Richards’ agent tonight and he said Brad has not been approached about waiving the no trade clause. It doesn’t mean he won’t, it just means he hasn’t been asked by the team to do so.

Now, about that first period. Saw some flashes of the old Vinny in the first period, which I haven’t seen the past few games. He made a nice play to set up Mathieu Darche for his first career shorthanded goal, and his first goal since Dec. 4, a span of 33 games between goals for Darche.

Tampa Bay took two penalties, however, and gave the shorty back on Milan Lucic’s slap shot from the left circle that beat Holmqivst over his glove to the far post.

Now Tampa Bay has a power play that carries over for 1:19 into the second period.

SECOND INTERMISSION

Again, there’s some spunk in this team, even after falling behind twice in the second period. Tampa Bay holds a 25-22 shot advantage, with 11 of Boston’s shots coming on the power play. But they have to stop taking penalties. Boston has scored twice with the man advantage, including the go-ahead goal on a 1:50 two-man advantage, which is a shame because it makes Johan Holmqvist’s spectacular diving glove save on Marco Sturm look like a waste as 28 seconds after that save, Glen Murray backhanded in a rebound from the top of the crease for the 3-2 lead.

There’s an interesting shift on Tampa Bay’s power play tonight as Brad Richards and Vinny Lecavalier have swapped spots with Vinny running the right point while Richards is along the half-boards. I thought it was just a shift after a play or something, but after a line change, they had Vinny still out running the point with Richards heading to the bench. It hasn’t resulted in anything yet, but it is a bit of a different look.

Cherish this last period folks, because things are going to change in the near future. I don’t know if it’s going to be a major overhaul, but that possibility certainly exists.