Lightning

Focus only on the present

SHELTON E-mail: Click here Archive

The Montreal Canadiens have won 24 Stanley Cups. The Tampa Bay Lightning has played 22 playoff games.

The Canadiens have won 391 playoff games. With a late rush, the Lightning is at 11.

The Canadiens used to win championships as if they were spit out of a Xerox machine. The Lightning had a bad fax machine.

The Canadiens' Elmer Lach, Rocket Richard and Toe Blake formed the Punch Line. The Tampa Bay Lightning, for most of its history, has been a punch line.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We get it.

Back in the day, when your grandfather was buying a Nash, when Britannia ruled the waves, when carrier pigeons filled the sky, when Cumberland was all the rage of college football, when Elvis was banned from TV, the Montreal Canadiens used to be swell.

Let's face it. If these two teams stood at 10 paces and lobbed their history books - or in Tampa Bay's case, a pamphlet - at each other, the Lightning wouldn't stand a chance.

These are the Canadiens, for crying out loud. They lead the NHL in yesterdays. Not only did the Canadiens write the history book of professional hockey, they wrote the rule book. And they wrote both of them on Gutenberg's press. Also, they invented ice.

In the other corner, we have the Lightning, a franchise that would just as soon you not bring up the past. It is only in the past two seasons it has distanced itself from the ooze of its ancestors. Montreal's players might be the Habs; Tampa Bay's have been the Hab-nots.

And here's the thing:

So what?

Yep, the Canadiens used to be a big deal, all right.

On the other hand, so were the Mings.

The Canadiens have 51 players and contributors in the Hockey Hall of Fame. The Lightning hopes Denis Savard will leave tickets at will call.

The Canadiens are the team of the Rocket and the Pocket Rocket. The Lightning is the team of Studs and Duds.

The Canadiens have a history of other great nicknames: Boom-Boom, Big Bird, the Roadrunner and the Old Lamplighter. The Lightning has had Iggy Pop, Poops, Alexander Son-in-Law-Of and the Duke of Manchester.

The Canadiens once had a player, Guy LaFleur, who was called "The Flower." Lightning owner Art Williams once called his players "pansies."

Don't get me wrong. I love history. If not for history, I might have had to take another algebra class.

And to be honest, when a team that has achieved as much as Montreal finds itself in a playoff against a team that has achieved as little as the Lightning, well, people are going to notice.

The truth of it is this, however. Both teams are about an equal distance from their pasts. The Canadiens haven't been a dynasty for a very long time. The Lightning isn't a desert outpost anymore.

As it turns out, the franchises passed each other coming in. The Lightning's first season in the NHL was the last season the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup. In the years since, the Lightning has gotten better. The Canadiens have gotten worse. Consider this: Over the past three seasons, Tampa Bay has won 109 games. Montreal has won 107.

And so they meet. One trying to live up to its unforgettables. Another trying to distance itself from days we'd all prefer to forget.

It's interesting conversation. On the other hand, I checked.

Rocket Richard isn't playing tonight.

Fortunately for the Lightning, neither is Bill Ranford.

The Canadiens pay their players in dollars called loonies. The loonies of the NHL gave Phil Esposito a franchise even though he didn't have any dollars.

The Canadiens won Stanley Cups in five straight seasons. The Lightning has won at least 30 games in only five seasons.

The Canadiens had Howie Morenz, once called "The Babe Ruth of Hockey." The Lightning has Vinny Lecavalier, once called "The Michael Jordan of Hockey."

The Canadiens' Jacques Plante was the father of the modern goaltenders mask. Former Lightning goaltender Manon Rheaume was the mother of a son named Dylan.

You want to talk about the impressive past of the Canadiens?

Fine. Talk about last week.

Talk about the resiliency of a team coming back from a 3-1 deficit to win three straight. Talk about Alex Kovalev's rebound from scorn to stardom. Talk about the brilliance of goaltender Jose Theodore. Talk about how the Canadiens overwhelmed the Bruins, even though Boston lost fewer games than any team in the league this season.

For the Lightning, that's the part of yesterday worth sweating. The old Montreal teams aren't going to beat Tampa Bay. (For one thing, check the ages of those guys.) This isn't a matter of Patrick Roy vs. Andre Roy, or the Richards vs. Brad Richards.

This Montreal team will be a full day's work. Yes, the Canadiens are capable of winning the series.

But if they do, they'll win it because of Theodore and Kovalev and Saku Koivu and Richard Zednik and Michael Ryder.

That's the secret here.

They're playing this game in present tense.

The Canadiens' Doug Harvey once won seven out of eight Norris Trophies as the league's best all-around defenseman. The Lightning once played in the Norris Division.

The Canadiens' Maurice Richard didn't invent the hat trick, but he had 26 of them. The Lightning's Chris Kontos had a hat trick in the team's first game, and when a fan tossed his cap on the ice to celebrate, he was ejected.

The Canadiens had Jacques Demers, who won a Stanley Cup. The Lightning also had Jacques Demers, who was 60 games under .500 in two seasons.

The Canadiens inspire debate when fans talk about their all-time team. The Lightning's all-time team is starting tonight.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright