Game 1 was epic...in length and in shots against.
Korpi was by far the best player on the ice. Tampa kept attacking, he kept making saves. The only reason TBL made it to OT was because he kicked the puck in for them to tie the score at 2. The game-winner took an awful bounce from the upper body (maybe head or neck) of Gavrikov directly to Point who was johnny-on-the-spot to throw it by Korpi and end the epic struggle.

For the most part the Jackets were without a real opportunity to end the game after regulation. However, just before the game ended Cam had clear separation from Hedman. Through contact with Hedman, Cam was knocked from his feet and ended up in the net without scoring opportunity. I was jumping up and down screaming for a penalty shot. Shockingly there was not even a penalty called. Even given that there was not guarantee that Cam would have scored on a penalty shot nor that the Jackets would have scored on the power play.

To their credit, Tampa kept the pressure on, didn't get frustrated (too much) and wore down the Jackets defense. Good grind-it-out victory by the Lightning.

On to Game 2...

What impact will that marathon game have on the rest of the series. Columbus has played several OT games leading into the second game of this series. Fatigue could be a factor for both teams, but the CBJ has certainly played more hockey over the last two weeks (8 days really).

Coming off the high of the Game 1 victory, maybe having less fatigue and also having a grudge to settle leads me to favor TBL this afternoon.

I don't think an 0-2 deficit is a death sentence for this Jackets team. They have bounced back at every opportunity this season. Look at how the injuries mounted and they kept on winning earlier in the season. Or when pushed to the brink by TOR they calmly controlled Game 5 of that series. This has the potential to go 6-7 games and is anyone's guess who wins.

Almost game time....Good Luck and GO JACKETS!

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