55 minutes of painfully boring hockey capped by 9 minutes of pure drama.

TB-3
NYI-2 (OT)

Sean Burke stopped 28 of 30 shots faced for the win. Vincent Lecavalier with the overtime winner on a pretty deke on a breakaway set up by a long Martin St. Louis stretch pass. Young Paul Ranger had his 10th assist of the season on Fredrik Modin's game opening goal.

Ryan Craig led all Lightning rookies with 17:07 of even ice time with 1 shot and one hit. Ranger had 14:24 of playing time and was +1 with 1 shot on goal and a slew of shots that were blocked by the Islanders defenders. Evgeny Artyukhin played 12:20 and was -1 with just 1 hit. Norm Milley played a sparing 4:12 and was -1.

Game sheet from NHL.com.

Goaltender Fredrik Norrena returned today from a groin injury to help Linkopings to a 4-1 win over Timra. Norrena made 30 saves on 31 shots faced for the win. Norrena is now 18-9-5 this season.

The Hockey News has released their annual future watch issue and the underestimated Lightning were once again pigeon holed in last place with a D+ grade. Tom Jones of the St. Pete Times, who is a contributor to the publication, penned an article today portraying the Lightning prospect system as one on the precipice of disaster. The melodramatic key line of the piece states:

"Still, it cannot be ignored that the Lightning system is at a crossroads."

Really?

You have got to be kidding me.

DAY-4
JHN-3 (SO)

Brian Eklund stopped 39 of 42 shots faced in his Chiefs debut before falling 2-0 in the shootout. The Chiefs blew an early 2-0 lead in the contest and once again allowed Dayton to steal a point away from them. Randy Rowe scored 2 goals for the Chiefs while Justin Kelly had 1G 1A.

Game sheet from ECHL.com.

How'd that taste Caps fan losers?

WSH-0
TB-5

John Grahame stopped 29 of 29 for the shutout. With Vincent Lecavalier out of the lineup with the all encompassing "upper body injury" Brad Richards stepped up and registered 2 goals. Amongst Lightning prospects, Ryan Craig scored his 8th goal on a beautifully ugly scrum in front of the Caps net while in garbage time Norm Milley scored his second career goal on the power play.

Ryan Craig played 21:11 stepping up to fill Vincent Lecavalier's minutes with a +3 rating and 3 shots on goal. Paul Ranger played 15:29 with three shots on goal and an even rating. Evgeny Artyukhin played 10:31 with 1 shot on goal and 1 hit. Norm Milley played 6:59 and made his lone shot on goal count.

Game sheet from NHL.com.