Wow, there are a lot of Penguins fans here. I mean a lot. Seriously, where did all of these representatives of the Steel City come from? It would be my luck to sit in the only Pittsburgh dominated section in the entire Forum. But no matter. I’m here to see the Lightning send the Pens back to Pittsburgh with their tails tucked.
The atmosphere is literally electric. The Tesla Coil that sits near the Forum’s pipe organ fires of bolts of lightning, pumping up the home crowd. The large Lightning logo at the top of the organ lights up in multiple colors and different sequences, and the organist busts out a few short tunes to bring the home crowd to a loud “Let’s Go Lightning!” chant. The lights around the ice fade into darkness, and the broadcaster announces the arrival of the Bolts from the locker room. The team skates onto the ice, led by star captain Vinny Lecavalier and right wing Marty St. Louis. The rest of the squad, including top goal scorer Steven Stamkos and new goalie Ben Bishop, fresh off a dominant performance against his former team, the Ottawa Senators, follow the team’s two leaders.
After the Bolts and Penguins went through their opening warm-ups and the national anthem streamed through the stadium’s loudspeakers, the teams took center ice to start the game. A hush fell over the crowd as Stamkos and Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin opposed each other on the opening faceoff. The referee dropped the puck, and Stamkos passed it back to his teammates. Good start for the Lightning.
Now, the Penguins are the best team in the Eastern Conference. Even without star Sidney Crosby, who is sidelined for the rest of the regular season, they still sport one of the league’s best goalies in Marc-Andre Fleury, as well as a dynamic offense spearheaded by Malkin, the Russian sniper, as well dependable scorers in Kris Letang, who was returning from an injury of his own, and Pascal DuPuis among others. However, the Lightning were on their home ice. Despite a sub .500 record that has them at 13th in the East, the Bolts have been playing a lot better lately under the leadership of under newly promoted head coach Jon Cooper and the acquisition of Bishop. They had a 5-0-1 record at home in the last six games. And through the first two periods, they were only down by the score of 3-2, due to goals from forwards Teddy Purcell and Brett Connolly.
During the first two periods, the Lightning home crowd was boisterous. They roared chants and exclamations when the Lightning struck, as well as when penalties were issued. However, by the time the third period, and the game had ended, the home crowd had gone all but silent and were replaced by a jeering Pittsburgh fan base.
The Penguins scored three breakaway goals to take a 6-2 advantage before Purcell scored in the closing seconds to make the final score a 6-3 margin. Even though the Bolts lost, the game itself was one of the best times that I have at a sports event, and the experience was totally worth it. I’m looking forward to the home finale in two weeks against the Florida Panthers.
Jordan Llanes can be reached at jordan.llanes@spartans.ut.edu.