Latest blog entries from Tampa Bay teams across every league
This week’s minor league roundup will only feature the numbers accumulated prior to the start of play on Monday. This was the 1st a week of full minor league play. According to FanGraphs (which factors in age and proximity to the big leagues), 22-year old backstop Caden Bodine the top hitter in the Rays system; […]
The underdog Montreal Canadiens were in Florida on Sunday night to start their playoff series with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The game had all of the intensity that their final regular season meeting suggested the series would eventually have, culminating in an overtime thriller. The Habs’ mission in going to Tampa was clear; try to take at least one of the two games and get a split before going back to Montreal. Not only did they accomplish that mission in game one, they have a chance to make i...
With a depleted group of relievers, the Pittsburgh Pirates promoted one of their top prospects ahead of their Sunday contest against the Tampa Bay Rays. 23-year-old Wilber Dotel got the call to pitch for Pittsburgh while on a road trip with Triple-A Indianapolis. Originally slated to start for the Indians on Saturday evening, Dotel instead […]
It’s not easy to sit down and answer questions fifteen minutes after losing a Stanley Cup playoff game. Heck, it’s not easy doing it after a win. Luckily, Coach Jon Cooper has a quite a bit of experience of doing both. Following the Lightning’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens, here is what he had to say to the media: When asked if had a problem with the penalties and the way the Lightning approached the game, he chuckled and replied, “No, I had a problem with us....
Despite taking the loss in the series finale against the first place Pirates, Shane McClanahan should be leaving Pittsburgh feeing really good about where he is at. Yes, he surrendered four runs over four and a third innings, allowing eight hits in the process. However, that was the sharpest the southpaw has looked in three […]
The Lightning deserve to lose this game just for picking that singer for O Canada. First period With the arena about as loud as when the Canadiens introduce their training camp in the home-opener, the puck drops in Game 1. A collision between Arber Xhekaj and Dominic James sends the Lightning forward to the ice writhing in pain. It looks like Tampa Bay is down to 11 forwards early. The Canadiens leave the slot completely abandoned and left Erik Cernak step up to the has...
2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs – Eastern Conference QFs Game 1: Montreal Canadiens (A3) @ Tampa Bay Lightning (A2) Start time: **5:45 PM EDT / 2:45 PM PDT** In Canada: CBC, Sportsnet (English), TVA Sports (French) In the United States: TNT, truTV In the Lightning region: The Spot Streaming: HBO Max , Sportsnet+ After 82 games, the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning each had 106 points, ranking fifth and sixth in the overall NHL standings. Their reward for such impressiv...
Matt Drake, Jared Book, and Patrik Bexell join the podcast for a round table ahead of the upcoming Stanley Cup Playoffs series between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Montreal Canadiens. The first thing that is being discussed is the physicality of the series and the fact that Montreal looks to be in a better position to handle it this season compared to last season’s series against the Washington Capitals. One of the key themes early in the podcast was the uncertainty around Victor Hedma...
Go Rays!
Game One: Montreal Canadiens (0-0) at Tampa Bay Lightning (0-0) Time: 5:45 PM EST Location: Benchmark International Arena, Tampa, Florida TV/Stream/Radio: The Spot, TNT, HBOMax, TruTV, ESPN+, 102.5 FM, Lightning App Odds: Lightning -185 Know the Opponents: Habs Eyes on the Prize The previews are done . We’ve talked all we can on how we think this series is going to go, and now it’s time for the action on the ice. After a long, fairly successful season that had a f...
COLORADO AVALANCHE vs. LOS ANGELES KINGS WHEN: 3 p.m. ET WHERE: Ball Arena – Denver, CO SEASON SERIES: Colorado won 3-0 ON THE TUBE: TNT PROJECTED STARTERS: Avalanche: Wedgewood (31-6-6 .921 / 2.02 4SO) Kings: Forsberg (16-12-5 .910 / 2.57 3SO) PLAYER STATS: Colorado / Los Angeles TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING vs. MONTREAL CANADIENS WHEN: 5:45 p.m. ET WHERE: Benchmark International Arena – Tampa, FL...
2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs – Eastern Conference QFs Game 1: Montreal Canadiens (A3) @ Tampa Bay Lightning (A2) Start time: **5:45 PM EDT / 2:45 PM PDT** In Canada: CBC, Sportsnet (English), TVA Sports (French) In the United States: TNT, truTV In the Lightning region: The Spot Streaming: HBO Max , Sportsnet+ After a rough start to the 2024-25 season, the Canadiens had to exhaust their energy reserves over the final third of the season just to make the playoffs. It took winni...
Rain delays are the worst, unless they force Paul Skenes out of the game after four innings and expose the soft underbelly of the Pittsburgh bullpen requiring them. Then, long rain delays are great! Things were going great until that dawg, Brandon Lowe, drew a leadoff walk and came around to score in the 8th […]
The Rays had high expectations for Griffin Jax when he was acquired at last year’s trade deadline. After some poor batted ball luck but mostly good results to finish the 2025 season, Jax has gotten off to an uneven start in 2026. While it is unfortunate that he has allowed runs to score in four […]
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On Friday, the Tampa Bay Lightning did something they haven’t done for almost an entire month – had a long, almost fully attended practice. Due to the compressed nature of the schedule at the end of the season, the deluge of injuries both major and minor, and a coach that favors rest for his veterans over ice time, the Lightning really haven’t had a full fledged practice session since shortly after the Olympic Break. The most encouraging part of the day was that everybody was on the ice. ...
Triple-A: Durham (Rays) 19, Norfolk Tides 9 If you can believe it, the Tides had a 6-0 lead at one point in this game and later on held a 9-1 lead. Even still, this happened. The scoring started when Enrique Bradfield Jr. led off the third inning with a home run, his second of the […]
This week will be full of prospect visits and ranks ahead of the NFL Draft. User “Ianmo” had a feed post we wanted to highlight that’s a fun exercise: Why Mike Evans chose the 49ers over more money “I’ve just been extremely blessed, bro,” Evans told Warner. “I really have to be in this position, […]
All winning streaks eventually come to an end. The Rays came into Friday night looking like a team that had figured out a little something. They had won six straight games, scored at least five runs in all six of those games. Instead, it turned into one of those games that spends six innings pretending […]
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Not sure if anyone has looked at the American League standings in the past 24 hours, but the following three teams are leading their divisions: Tampa Bay Rays (11-7): winners of six straight Minnesota Twins (11-8): winners of 8-of-10 Sacramento Athletics* (10-9): winners of 8-of-11, tied for first with the Texas Rangers *(I’m calling them […]
With the final regular season games concluding late Thursday night (and having a bearing on the final Western Conference seedings) the NHL’s first round schedule took a little while to complete. In the wee early hours of Friday morning, it finally dropped. Along with the other fourteen teams left competing, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens finally learned exactly when they’ll be competing against each other over the next two weeks. For those of you in the Tampa area who feel...
Jacob Melton was acquired by the Rays as the centerpiece in the Brandon Lowe trade. He brings a high-impact toolset: fringe 70 power, plus defense across all three outfield spots (including center field), and above-average speed. Through his first 15 games with Triple-A Durham, that hasn’t translated to production. Melton is currently running a 74 […]
After the Buffalo Sabres clinched the Atlantic Division on Monday night, the only thing left to determine was where the first-round series between the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning would start. With Montreal’s loss on Tuesday night in Philadelphia, Tampa Bay secured the second seed in the division, and gets to play the opening two games, and Game 7 if it reaches that point, at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida. The NHL released the full schedule for the series, ...
Despite the match-ups not being entirely set as the Western Conference is coming down to their final game for seedings, the NHL has released the dates (but not all of the times) for the opening games of the first-round playoff series. The 2026 #StanleyCup Playoffs begin Saturday! The one guarantee this year: There will be a new champion. Tune in on /ESPN, /NHL_On_TNT, /Sportsnet and /TVASports. Full schedule to be announced after all First Round matchups are set later tonight. Details...