From: wilson@cs.ucf.edu (tom wilson)
Subject: Lightning dethrone Kings (TB vs. LA 1/6)
Organization: University of Central Florida, Orlando
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 10:25:56 GMT

It was less than a month ago when TB was last out west. It was an exciting
win with TB winning on a penalty shot. Well things were a little different
this time. Both teams were suffering through bad slumps. To get LA out of
their slump, they had the return of Gretzky. To get TB out their slump, they
were getting to play in above 0 temperatures. J.C. Bergeron was in goal for
the second time in LA. Besides just plain winning, his task was to show Terry
Crisp that he is to be one of the two goalies (the starter in my opinion).

I can't comment on the atmosphere during the pregame since I was listening on
radio, but you can bet the fans were eager to see the return of #99. In the
first period, LA got a power-play about 3:30 into the game when Bradley took
a penalty. They didn't score and upon his return to the ice, Bradley scored
from McRae and Crossman at 6:09. This gave TB the lead and quieted the crowd.
At 8:55, McRae scored his 1st from Tucker and Chambers to make it 2-0. Things
got worse for LA when Reichel (sp?) took a major for spearing with about 2:30
left. Maltais scored a power-play goal from Tucker and Crossman at 19:33 to
possibly blow the game open at 3-0. With 10 seconds left, Ramage took a minor
to make it 4v4. Shots were 11-9 in favor of TB.

Things got even worse for LA when they got minor only a few seconds into the
2nd. TB had a 4v3 power play. Bradley scored his 31st from Crossman and
Chambers at 0:46 to make it 4-0. A few minutes later, Chambers hit the post.
Not much later, he took a penalty and put LA on the power play. Blake scored
from Gretzky (lots of cheers from the crowd) and Coffey at 5:30 to make it
4-1. At 7:21, Donnelly scored from Taylor and Thompson to make it 4-2. I got
worried now. TB wasn't mounting any offense and LA was. Later in the period
Ramage took a minor. On the power play, Donnelly scored again from Blake and
Gretzky (cheers again) at 14:02 to make it 4-3. Shots were 14-2 in favor of
LA. Gnar! I was really worried. BUT the designated-goon-while-McRae-was-injured
Hartman scored his 1st from Ramage at 16:35 to make a little breathing room at
5-3. Hartman had a 2v1 break with Bureau but opted to shoot. Shots at the end
of the period were 16-4 in favor of LA (25-15 overall). Taglianetti was injured
sometime during the period and never came back. I don't know what happened.

In the third, TB got a power play and Beers scored from Bradley at 9:28 to
basically put the game away at 6-3. The game wasn't out of reach for LA, but
no more goals were scored and 6-3 was the final.

The stars for the game were: 1-Bradley, 2-Donnelly, and 3-Crossman. LA's woes
still continue. The hopeful quick-fix of Gretzky's return didn't work, but I'm
sure he didn't feel at ease in his first game back. He did assist on both
power-play goals.

For TB, it was the end of their longest road losing streak and prevented them
from equalling the longest losing streak of the season (6). Before losing to
Edmonton on Saturday, TB was at least guaranteed of having a non-losing record
against one team (they lost and are 2-2-0 vs. Edm). By beating LA, TB is
guaranteed of having a winning record against one team (2-0-0 vs. LA with one
game in TB left). TB is 3-0-0 in California with one game left in SJ on 2/1.
TB climbed within 2 points of 5th place St. Louis (who have 2 games in hand)
and 7 points of 4th place Toronto.

TB can make a major move with a few wins in the next week. The 9-game road
trip is near an end with divisional games in Minnesota, Toronto, and Detroit,
before returning to TB (finally) to meet St. Louis. The home game will be the
first of 7 in a row.

The win was TB's 7th on the road. They have more road wins than 8 other teams.

On a different note, the announcers said Phil Esposito was pretty upset with
the expansion rules for drafting. Evidently teams can only protect one goalie
next year, so Miami and Anaheim will have damn good goalies. Not only that,
but I think this year's expansion teams can lose players. Not only that,
because they are playing so well, they won't draft very low (I think I could
live with that, but the other 2 aren't fair). I think Ottawa management should
be even more pissed (even though they'll draft first).

So two years ago, SJ got special draft rules because of the Gunds. This year,
Miami and Anaheim will get special draft rules because of the league's
desireable competitive image (I guess). While TB and Ottawa get the short end
of the stick. I'll have to hear more before I adhere to that conclusion.

Tom
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