The Lightning deserve to lose this game just for picking that singer for O Canada.
First period
With the arena about as loud as when the Canadiens introduce their training camp in the home-opener, the puck drops in Game 1.
A collision between Arber Xhekaj and Dominic James sends the Lightning forward to the ice writhing in pain. It looks like Tampa Bay is down to 11 forwards early.
The Canadiens leave the slot completely abandoned and left Erik Cernak step up to the has...
2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs – Eastern Conference QFs
Game 1: Montreal Canadiens (A3) @ Tampa Bay Lightning (A2)
Start time: **5:45 PM EDT / 2:45 PM PDT** In Canada: CBC, Sportsnet (English), TVA Sports (French) In the United States: TNT, truTV In the Lightning region: The Spot Streaming: HBO Max , Sportsnet+
After 82 games, the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning each had 106 points, ranking fifth and sixth in the overall NHL standings. Their reward for such impressiv...
Matt Drake, Jared Book, and Patrik Bexell join the podcast for a round table ahead of the upcoming Stanley Cup Playoffs series between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Montreal Canadiens. The first thing that is being discussed is the physicality of the series and the fact that Montreal looks to be in a better position to handle it this season compared to last season’s series against the Washington Capitals.
One of the key themes early in the podcast was the uncertainty around Victor Hedma...
Go Rays!
Game One: Montreal Canadiens (0-0) at Tampa Bay Lightning (0-0)
Time: 5:45 PM EST
Location: Benchmark International Arena, Tampa, Florida
TV/Stream/Radio: The Spot, TNT, HBOMax, TruTV, ESPN+, 102.5 FM, Lightning App
Odds: Lightning -185
Know the Opponents: Habs Eyes on the Prize
The previews are done . We’ve talked all we can on how we think this series is going to go, and now it’s time for the action on the ice. After a long, fairly successful season that had a f...
COLORADO AVALANCHE vs. LOS ANGELES KINGS
WHEN: 3 p.m. ET
WHERE: Ball Arena – Denver, CO
SEASON SERIES: Colorado won 3-0
ON THE TUBE: TNT
PROJECTED STARTERS: Avalanche: Wedgewood (31-6-6 .921 / 2.02 4SO) Kings: Forsberg (16-12-5 .910 / 2.57 3SO)
PLAYER STATS: Colorado / Los Angeles
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING vs. MONTREAL CANADIENS
WHEN: 5:45 p.m. ET
WHERE: Benchmark International Arena – Tampa, FL...
2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs – Eastern Conference QFs
Game 1: Montreal Canadiens (A3) @ Tampa Bay Lightning (A2)
Start time: **5:45 PM EDT / 2:45 PM PDT** In Canada: CBC, Sportsnet (English), TVA Sports (French) In the United States: TNT, truTV In the Lightning region: The Spot Streaming: HBO Max , Sportsnet+
After a rough start to the 2024-25 season, the Canadiens had to exhaust their energy reserves over the final third of the season just to make the playoffs. It took winni...
Rain delays are the worst, unless they force Paul Skenes out of the game after four innings and expose the soft underbelly of the Pittsburgh bullpen requiring them. Then, long rain delays are great! Things were going great until that dawg, Brandon Lowe, drew a leadoff walk and came around to score in the 8th […]
The Rays had high expectations for Griffin Jax when he was acquired at last year’s trade deadline. After some poor batted ball luck but mostly good results to finish the 2025 season, Jax has gotten off to an uneven start in 2026. While it is unfortunate that he has allowed runs to score in four […]
Go Rays!
On Friday, the Tampa Bay Lightning did something they haven’t done for almost an entire month – had a long, almost fully attended practice. Due to the compressed nature of the schedule at the end of the season, the deluge of injuries both major and minor, and a coach that favors rest for his veterans over ice time, the Lightning really haven’t had a full fledged practice session since shortly after the Olympic Break.
The most encouraging part of the day was that everybody was on the ice. ...
Triple-A: Durham (Rays) 19, Norfolk Tides 9 If you can believe it, the Tides had a 6-0 lead at one point in this game and later on held a 9-1 lead. Even still, this happened. The scoring started when Enrique Bradfield Jr. led off the third inning with a home run, his second of the […]
This week will be full of prospect visits and ranks ahead of the NFL Draft. User “Ianmo” had a feed post we wanted to highlight that’s a fun exercise: Why Mike Evans chose the 49ers over more money “I’ve just been extremely blessed, bro,” Evans told Warner. “I really have to be in this position, […]
All winning streaks eventually come to an end. The Rays came into Friday night looking like a team that had figured out a little something. They had won six straight games, scored at least five runs in all six of those games. Instead, it turned into one of those games that spends six innings pretending […]
Go Rays!
Not sure if anyone has looked at the American League standings in the past 24 hours, but the following three teams are leading their divisions: Tampa Bay Rays (11-7): winners of six straight Minnesota Twins (11-8): winners of 8-of-10 Sacramento Athletics* (10-9): winners of 8-of-11, tied for first with the Texas Rangers *(I’m calling them […]
With the final regular season games concluding late Thursday night (and having a bearing on the final Western Conference seedings) the NHL’s first round schedule took a little while to complete. In the wee early hours of Friday morning, it finally dropped. Along with the other fourteen teams left competing, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens finally learned exactly when they’ll be competing against each other over the next two weeks.
For those of you in the Tampa area who feel...
Jacob Melton was acquired by the Rays as the centerpiece in the Brandon Lowe trade. He brings a high-impact toolset: fringe 70 power, plus defense across all three outfield spots (including center field), and above-average speed. Through his first 15 games with Triple-A Durham, that hasn’t translated to production. Melton is currently running a 74 […]
After the Buffalo Sabres clinched the Atlantic Division on Monday night, the only thing left to determine was where the first-round series between the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning would start. With Montreal’s loss on Tuesday night in Philadelphia, Tampa Bay secured the second seed in the division, and gets to play the opening two games, and Game 7 if it reaches that point, at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida.
The NHL released the full schedule for the series, ...
Despite the match-ups not being entirely set as the Western Conference is coming down to their final game for seedings, the NHL has released the dates (but not all of the times) for the opening games of the first-round playoff series.
The 2026 #StanleyCup Playoffs begin Saturday!
The one guarantee this year: There will be a new champion.
Tune in on /ESPN, /NHL_On_TNT, /Sportsnet and /TVASports. Full schedule to be announced after all First Round matchups are set later tonight.
Details...
The automatic ball/strike system sure was a White Sox buddy this afternoon. That is, until a time came when even your friends couldn’t help enough. The Rays tried to be friendly, too, leaving 14 runners on base. That is, until the Sox pitching staff decided it was unfair not to let them score. The first […]
The Rays were hoping that this afternoon’s game would continue their five-game winning streak, and also complete the sweep against the White Sox before they headed to Pittsburgh for their weekend series against Paul Skenes and the Pirates. To get there, they’d have Steven Matz on the mound, squaring off against Jordan Leasure for the […]
Today the BOCC held a workshop where county staff and the consultant who wrote the economic impact report would report to the commissioners. Let’s cut to the chase: My impression is that despite several commissioners seeming very bullish on the idea of this project, we are still a long way from getting a stadium deal, […]
The White Sox will be trying to salvage a win in a series where they’ve been pretty well thumped in the first two games, and the pitching staff may give a try at keeping the Rays to fewer than eight runs while they’re at it. This will be the first game where there’s no one […]
Go Rays!