Too Long to be a Tweet, Too Short to be a Recap

"Mathieu Garon and the Tampa Bay Lightning refused to come home for Christmas empty-handed," was the opening line of Peter Puppelo's recap of tonight's 2-1 overtime loss for the Tampa Bay Lightning to the opportunistic Colorado Avalanche.

They refused to come home empty-handed. They wanted at least an overtime loss.

Imagine if they had refused to come home without a win?

But that's what losing is: a compromise between desire and ability.

They refused to come home empty-handed. They also fell short of actually winning the game.

An overtime loss eliminates you in the playoffs, remember everybody? Settling for a single point is meaningless.

Rainbow Happytime Heartwarming Moment (in a loss):

 

Nice to see Pavel Kubina score on assists from Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier. These are, of course, the only three current players that were with the Lightning before the lockout. Were it not for the new uniform "system," you could almost fantasize that the Lightning still had depth at forward, a legitimate NHL defence, and an All-World goalie. And a chance in the playoffs, never mind a chance to qualify.