Tampa Bay "Bolts" in 5

Well, the Senators came up big and put the Tampa Bay Lightning away rather quickly in 5 games. While they did lose a single game, it was one in which they had a 3-2 lead and gave up a pair of goals in about a minute of play in the late stages of Game 2. That kind of mental lapse is to be expected and they managed to learn that particular lesson when closing out Game 5 by a narrow 3-2 margin.

Do I feel like Nostradamus given that the players I asked you, my good fans, to watch, ended up as the stories of the series? Not particularly. They were the obvious selections and this series was one in which the stars were the main attractions.

Where was I right?

Chara DID play rather a lot against Lecavalier, and managed to keep him under wraps fairly well.

Havlat DID come back with a bang, was probably Ottawa's MVP and dominated the Lightning defence in a playoff performance no Senators fan has seen before. He picked up 6 goals and 10 points himself, dragging Schaefer and Fisher along for the ride.

Phillips DID step up in a big way, playing relatively error free hockey and chipping in one of the most timely goals of the series, the 2-2 tying goal in Game 4 which was a springboard for the win.

Richards and St. Louis were HUGE for the Lightning, largely responsible for any dangerous plays the Lightning were able to muster.

The fearsome foursome of Fisher, Schaefer, Vermette and Eaves, who I'd expected to provide some timely secondary scoring, ALL managed to score goals, potting 6 between the four of them.

And Emery outdueled his rather pedestrian goaltending colleagues of Grahame and Burke quite emphatically.

What did I miss?

Daniel Alfredsson did not have the kind of impact I expected of him, though it may not be apparent from my blog post. He was relatively solid defensively, picked up 4 points, and killed penalties well, but was not the Hart trophy candidate player that he was for much of the season.

Despite my misgivings, Spezza DID show up in the series, amassing an amazing 10 points (along with Heatley) and showing a lot of effort and drive to the net. My comment about scoring on the PP being crucial certainly ended up looking prophetic, with 8 of 23 goals scored by the Senators with the man advantage.

Wade Redden stepped up in a huge way, given his mother's passing from cancer DURING the series, and was crowned the team's MVP by coach Bryan Murray. Solid, both offensively and defensively, it was hard not to get a little emotional when he was named 1st star in the 5th game with his family in attendence. Him pointing his stick towards his teary-eyed brother and father is an image I won't forget anytime soon. It's probably no coincidence that the only game Ottawa lost in the series did not have Redden playing in it.

Dan Boyle was probably the most underrated guy on the Lightning, but it shouldn't be too much of a surprise given that he's an Ottawa native and players often want to step up when playing in their home town. I didn't make note of this before the series but the guy definitely earned some respect.

Chris Neil managed to do more for the team on two occasions than a lot of players manage to do in an entire series. Him goading Dingman into the fight may have turned the tide in the series, effectively dampening any hope of a Lightning comeback in Game 3 and then he put the heartbreaking 5th goal past Sean Burke in Game 4 to seal that game as well.

On to Round 2!