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Lightning On to round two
Fans glory in their team's spotlight as the Tampa Bay Lightning advances beyond the first round of the playoffs for the first time.
By JOHN BALZ, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 21, 2003
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[Times photo: Dirk Shadd]
Martin St. Louis, center right, celebrates with Lightning teammates after his game-winning goal in triple overtime against the Washington Capitals. |
TAMPA -- Hockey fans around these parts are no strangers to losing, so the Tampa Bay Lightning's 2-1 triple overtime win Sunday was particularly sweet.
After all, this is the team a Sports Illustrated hockey preview issue ranked dead last among the league's 30 teams. A team that loses millions of dollars every season, according to the owner, who lives in Detroit.
A team that lost its only other playoff series, seven years ago.
So forgive Lightning fans for being exuberant over something fans of more established hockey franchises take for granted: advancing beyond the first round of the playoffs.
"They've had a lot of long years," said Andy Bieschke of Davis Islands, as he enjoyed a plate of wings at the Press Box lounge on S Dale Mabry Highway. "It's exciting that another professional team has some of the spotlight.'
Not that a shadow will be cast over One Buc Place just yet. The Lightning now turns its attention to a second-round series, against the New Jersey Devils beginning Thursday.
In 1996 the Lightning lost to the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round of the playoffs. The games were played in St. Petersburg in what is now Tropicana Field, and attendance records were set by fans getting their first taste of playoff hockey.
What followed were ownership changes, a move to Tampa and the St. Pete Times Forum, and a string of dismal seasons.
Which helps explain why chants of "Let's Go Lightning" filled the Press Box lounge after the team's 39-year-old captain, Dave Andreychuk, tied the game late in the third period.
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[Times photo: Kathleen Flynn]
Kevin Miner, right, high-fives Kevin Conroy at the Press Box in Tampa. |
Jim Douglas, a fan since "Day One," screamed when Martin St. Louis scored in the third overtime to win the game.
A loss would have sent the Lightning and the Washington Capitals back to Tampa for a seventh and deciding game.
"Did I want it to come back for game seven?" asked Douglas, who had attended games 1, 2 and 5 at the St. Pete Times Forum. "No, you want to win this when you can."
No more than two minutes after St. Louis' goal, those same fans who had felt so much frustration and anguish were already thinking ahead, to the second round.
"I've got to try to get tickets," said Warren Stokes of Tampa. "This is a big day for Tampa Bay hockey."
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