Lightning Insider: April 20, 2014

The Lightning’s first round series against the Montreal Canadiens shifts to the heart of Quebec tonight as the Bolts and Canadiens meet for Game 3 at the Bell Centre in downtown Montreal.  Tampa Bay trails the series two games to none and are still looking to find the game that propelled them to second place in the Atlantic Division during the regular season.  Steven Stamkos said this morning that the most disappointing thing so far in the series is that the Lightning have not played their game.  Hopefully they will be able to find it tonight to avoid going down 3-0.
 
Jon Cooper left a lot to the imagination this morning in regard to tonight’s line-up, not revealing any changes.  Anders Lindback came off first after the morning skate, but Cooper said the goaltender would be a game time decision as well.  Ondrej Palat, who missed Game 2 with an upper body injury, skated both yesterday and today and will also be a game time decision.  He said he feels good.  Palat has been a huge part of Tampa Bay’s success this season so hopefully he is ready to go.
 
Something struck me on the team charter yesterday from Tampa to Montreal.  There were a lot of career NHL goals on that plane, 2,992 to be exact. Here’s a breakdown:

• Radio Color Commentator, Phil Esposito - 717
• Vice President and General Manager, Steve Yzerman - 692
• Vice President, Dave Andreychuk - 640
• Assistant General Manager, Pat Verbeek - 522
• Assistant Coach, Steve Thomas - 421

That’s a pretty impressive group.
 
In what is a strange occurrence, the Lightning held a 10:30 a.m. morning skate today.  The 10:30 a.m. time slot is usually reserved for the home team, with the visitors skating at 11:30 a.m., but with the Canadiens practicing at their facility in Brossard, Quebec the Bolts elected to take the earlier time.  They are scheduled to practice tomorrow at the Bell Centre before Tuesday’s Game 4.
 
TV: Sun Sports
Radio: AM 970 WFLA
 
Salt in the Wound – Jon Cooper took what was a playful job at the Canadiens this morning when speaking with the media.  “It’s not like they’ve ever had a 2-0 lead heading home and blown it,” Cooper said, referring to the 2011 playoffs when Montreal took a 2-0 lead to Montreal against the Boston Bruins and ended up losing the series.  Boston went on to win the Stanley Cup, also defeating the Lightning in the Eastern Conference Final.
 
Non-Believers – Cooper also pointed out this morning that before the series began they looked at somewhere near 40 media predictions.  Of those 40, only about five picked the Lightning to win.