I'm a Tampa fan, but I have to agree. A southern hockey final would mean that neither Canada or the northern US would watch. And most of the south doesn't care about hockey.
IIRC, the Calgary-TB stanley cup finals had pretty bad ratings for 2 otherwise good teams.
Luck can only last so long, but their run will last as long as Roloson plays like this. I do hope the Bruins play them so that I can see them up here. I may end up being the only TB fan in the garden, but it would be fun. I'll probably get the same dirty looks l got when the Rays played the Red Sox in the 2008 playoffs.
I'd love to see a Tampa/Nashville final, it'd be a fun defensive matchup.
Rolo has been good for sure, and Neuvirth even better (stopped more quality scoring chances). The difference has been the defense for sure. Neuvirth is getting no help whereas Rolo doesn't have to worry much because of Tampa's trademark 1-3-1 wall (definitely a fan of it). Luckwise, any team that gets spotted a goal per game off of the other team (skates, sticks, w/e) is a huge advantage, you probably see that only once a series for a team. However, the Bolts get credit because they're pressuring the Caps D with their speed and being the aggressor. Neuvirth can only bail WASH out so many times before they get to him. All in all, WASH are dead men walking at this point and can really just play the spoiler role by forcing a couple more games and not allowing Tampa to rest (which they could really use). Coaching wise, it was good to see Wash's regular lines back (Boudreau had switched them up earlier in the series), although putting Ovi on the point at the end of the game was a head scratcher. I don't recall other coaches switching up lines this much and messing with the chemistry that got the team there. All in all, what the Bolts did last night was amazing: WASH was 41-0-3 after scoring 3 goals in a game and 29-0-3 leading after 2 periods.
Glad to see Canucks/Preds went to OT. The longer the series goes, the better the shot the Preds have due to wearing the Canucks down and placing more pressure on heavily favored Vancouver to win. Although it sucks the Preds lost Sullivan.
Boston/Philly, they are saying that Jeff Carter could be back which would be huge for Philly. It could set up a JVR/Carter/Giroux line which would be ideal since Carter scores 1/3 of his goals off rebounds and of course JVR has proven he can blow by Boston defenders to put the puck on Tim Thomas. Regardless, Philly needs to stop the Krejci/Horton/Lucic line if they want to win.