News

TAMPA BAY – The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed forward Anthony Cirelli to a three-year, entry-level contract, vice president and general manager Steve Yzerman announced today.

Cirelli, 18, played in 62 games with the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League this season, recording 21 goals and 59 points to go along with 27 penalty minutes. He ranked first on the team for assists (38) and points. The Woodbridge, Ontario native also led all Oshawa skaters for power-play goals (10) and power-play points (16). Cirelli made his pro debut with the Syracuse Crunch on April 15, 2016 in a match-up against the Utica Comets.

The 6-foot, 171-pound forward has skated in 130 career OHL games over two seasons with the Generals, registering 34 goals and 95 points to go along with 49 penalty minutes. During his rookie campaign in 2014-15, Cirelli led all Oshawa rookies for points, also ranking ninth in the OHL in that category.

Cirelli was selected by the Lightning in the third round, 75th overall, at the 2015 NHL Draft.

BP Commentary:

Not mentioned in the Lightning's release is the face Cirelli was named captain of the Gens after the trade deadline this year. The Gens were in a rebuilding year after winning the Memorial Cup last spring on Cirelli's double overtime goal. He's a do-it-all player who has a high level of will and grit to battle along the boards or in front of the net, where he scored the Cup-winning goal. As with Vlad Namestnikov at this age, Cirelli has a lot of weight and bulk to add to his frame, but he has the makings of a versatile NHL forward one day who can excel in the faceoff circle.

He played fourth line with the Gens early in the championship year and worked his way up to Line 3 and eventually some scoring line time. He was a first-liner from the get-go last season and will be a focal point of Oshawa next year when he returns to the OHL.

Cirelli's journey to the NHL will likely include at least a couple years with Syracuse, but his versatility could get him there sooner than expected. Being prepared physically for the day-to-day grind of pro hockey will be a determining factor, but there's plenty of time for that.

Cirelli didn't have to be signed this spring as the Lightning had until next June to ink him to a contract. It was a nice gesture of confidence by Tampa Bay to do so now, and they could make a similar gesture to Mathieu Joseph of Saint John of the QMJHL, who had a similar breakout season to Cirelli. Another prospect signing to watch out for is Boko Imama, also of Saint John, who is eligible to play in the AHL next year. Imama could also come to camp without a contract and if the Lightning see fit, could send him back to the Q as an overager to continue his development. He could fulfill the David Broll-role with the Crunch next year, however.

Lightning out-everythinged in embarrassing loss.

Eastern Conference Finals

PIT-4
TB-2

Pittsburgh Leads the Series 2-1

Andrei Vasilevskiy stood on his head despite allowing 4 goals on a staggering 48 shots faced for the loss. He actually held the Lightning in this game for a good 25-35 minutes longer than they should have been. At this point, I'd expect Bishop to be back Friday for nothing other than the emotional change up to try and wake up a flat team, but Vasilevskiy's done nothing but play well in these three games. If he had any kind of support in front of him... well, you know.

First Period
NO SCORING

Second Period
19:50 PIT Hagelin(5), (Kessel)

Third Period
5:16 PIT Kessel(7), (Bonino, Hagelin)
5:30 TB Johnson(5), (Kucherov, Palat)
10:50 PIT Crosby(5), (Malkin, Schultz)(PP)
13:12 PIT Kunitz(2), (unassisted)
18:16 TB Palat(4), (Kucherov, Carle)

Unless someone tells me that the flu that Ryan Callahan had for Game Two is ripping through the team like an epidemic, there's no earthly excuse for the flatness and sloppiness of the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight. They came out well for the first ten minutes of the game, but they pretty much dominated the rest of the game and only Vasilevskiy kept the game from being over early in the Second Period. The Lightning were guilty of playing a weak, inassertive game. There were too many soft passes and clears. Too much hoping and wishing. Not enough of guys trying to take the moment by the throat and make things happen. At some point, you have to prove you want it more than Pittsburgh, and I haven't seen any indication that they do the past couple of games. I mean, gosh, if you fall in a 3 goal hole in the Third Period at least start a little line brawl and send a message that Game Four's going to be a different story. Show everybody you've got some pride and you care. We got none of that from the team tonight as they went out with a meek whimper.

So, it's soul-searching time. There's plenty of things tactically to clean up like the team's breakouts and erasing some of the turnovers and coverage errors, but first has to come effort. They've allowed a 21 year old netminder, Murray, a free pass the last couple of games. They've allowed a pretty soft Penguins defense a free pass the last couple of games. That's got to stop immediately in Game Four. A 3-1 series deficit heading back to Pittsburgh would feel like a death sentence. So, the first thing that has to happen Friday is the Lightning need to make a total commitment to staying alive.

Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.

Lightning can't pull off another smash and grab.

Eastern Conference Finals

TB-2
PIT-3 (OT)

Series Tied 1-1

Andrei Vasilevskiy sparkled, allowing 3 goals on 41 shots for the tough luck OT loss. Pittsburgh threw the kitchen sink at Tampa Bay in the First Period and although Vasilevskiy did allow the 2 goals, he stopped several other Grade A chances to keep Tampa Bay hanging around in the game until the cavalry arrived. Unfortunately, he just didn't have enough support in the form of possession tonight and eventually the game was lost on a 2-on-1 early in OT. I think Tampa Bay goes back to Bishop in Game Three if he's healthy enough to go, but Andrei did nothing to hurt his stock in these two games in Pittsburgh and the Lightning should feel completely comfortable if he has to go again in Game Three. It really is the mark of the good ones that if they give up a couple of goals in the First Period they resolve to close the door the rest of the way, and that's largely what Vasilevskiy accomplished tonight.

First Period
4:32 PIT Cullen(4), (Fehr, Kuhnhackl)
9:37 PIT Kessel(6), (Bonino, Haegelin)
16:37 TB Stralman(1), (Marchessault, Hedman)
19:10 TB Drouin(3), (Brown, Carle)

Second Period
NO SCORING

Third Period
NO SCORING

Overtime
0:40 PIT Crosby(4), (Rust, Dumoulin)

Jonathan Drouin was the game's third star. I have no idea how Vasilevskiy got robbed of a star.

Frankly, Pittsburgh was desperate and wanted this game more and it showed. The Lightning did a really good job of clawing their way back into the game in the First Period after taking a big haymaker from Pittsburgh, aided partially by the semi-soft goal Murray allowed to Drouin late in the period, but all in all the Lightning forecheck just wasn't there consistently. They were second to pucks all night. They allowed Pittsburgh to get out of their zone cleanly too easily and generate rush opportunities. It just wasn't Lightning hockey. They were going for the old 90's Devils playbook of waiting for a counterattack goal, and they nearly got in with Killorn ringing the crossbar on a 2-on-1 late in the Third Period, but that's not their style. The Lightning simply fail when they try to play this rope-a-dope style. They're the only ones who end up looking like dopes.

The biggest bit of good news from the game was the return of Anton Stralman. He looked a little stiff and a little slow and was a central figure in allowing the odd man rush on the OT winner. But, it's to be expected he's not in game condition quite yet after missing nearly two months. That'll come with time.

Ryan Callahan missed the game with the flu, which is unfortunate because in a loss like this you'd have at least liked to have gotten more hits on that soft Penguins defense. As I said, they were allowed to stay too clean tonight, and the Lightning really need to take more of a chunk out of them in Game Three. As a side note, I certainly hope some of the lethargic play seen from the Lightning wasn't a symptom of the flu spreading through the team a la Game Five of the Detroit series. This is a heck of a time of the year for the locker room to get hit by a bug.

It's too bad the Lightning are particularly lousy at faceoffs, because that's one way you can get some cheap possession when the game's tilting against you like it was against them tonight. That's a lesson they should've learned in the series against Chicago last year when the Blackhawks manufactured a couple of wins early on off of goals generated from faceoffs when they were getting otherwise dominated in the run of play. I kept hoping maybe the Lightning could manufacture the smash and grab goal tonight off a faceoff, but it never materialized. It's a weakness in their game that's a detail thing they have to work out moving forward. I'm shocked it hasn't been addressed better to this point, frankly.

The referees in this game went from a very one-sided way of calling hooking infractions that favored the Pens in the First Period to pretty much not calling anything the second half of the game. Tyler Johnson was tackled exiting the zone on a play right before the eventual OT winner. I suppose I can't protest too much because both teams got away with it as the game wore on, but there were a couple of particularly egregious ones Pittsburgh got away with late in the Third Period and on that play in Overtime once they realized the refs had pocketed their whistles.

Game Three is obviously huge, and it's a moment where Jon Cooper needs to take the matchup advantage and his players need to take the faceoff rules advantage and use them to leverage gaining more of a possession edge and get the momentum of the series back. Suffice it to say I expect a more high energy effort next time out.

Slater Koekkoek had 1 blocked shot in 5:47 of ice time. A rookie d-man in a tie game in the Eastern Conference Finals simply isn't getting a ton of ice time. With that said, my goodness, when he got a shift in the Third Period he showed no fear of going for it. He was in on the forecheck like a winger trying to make it happen.

Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.

United States Hockey League

Tri-City Storm 4 @ Dubuque Fighting Saints 2
Clark Cup Finals
Tri-City leads best-of-5 series, 2-0

D Ryan Zuhlsdorf, DBQ: 0-0-0, -1, 0 PIM, 0 SOG
Playoff totals: 11 GP, 0-3-3, +3, 10 PIM
Season totals: 46 GP, 0-27-27, -2, 59 PIM
(University of Minnesota signee)

Tri-City won both games in Dubuque and now go home with a chance to clinch the USHL championship on home ice.

United States Hockey League

Tri-City Storm 5 @ Dubuque Fighting Saints 1
Clark Cup Finals
Tri-City leads best-of-5 series, 1-0

D Ryan Zuhlsdorf, DBQ: 0-0-0, -1, 0 PIM, 3 SOG
Playoff totals: 10 GP, 0-3-3, +4, 10 PIM
Season totals: 46 GP, 0-27-27, -2, 59 PIM
(University of Minnesota signee)

Tri-City stole home ice advantage away from Dubuque by winning Game 1 of the Clark Cup finals in Dubuque, 5-1. The Storm scored five times in the third period to erase a 1-0 deficit. Game 2 is Saturday.

Somehow. Some way.

Eastern Conference Finals

TB-3
PIT-1

Tampa Bay Leads the Series 1-0

Ben Bishop stopped all 9 shots he faced before leaving the game on a stretcher from a freak injury where he landed awkwardly on his own left leg. I'm going to guess it's a high ankle or knee sprain, as x-rays have already ruled out a break. Either way, Bishop looked in anguish on the ice and it looks at this hour like his postseason may be done. Stepping into another moment of panic in his young career, like in the Stanley Cup Final last year, young Andrei Vasilevskiy again proved himself by stopping 25 of 26 shots the rest of the way for the victory. He looked fantastic under the circumstances, and you can see bits of his game he's picked up from Ben like smart stickwork around his crease. Athletically he's capable of giving the Lightning a chance to still advance, but losing Bishop clearly nullifies the biggest advantage the Lightning had coming into this Eastern Conference Finals. Bishop was, on paper, the best and most experience netminder still standing among the NHL's final four teams. Vasilevskiy isn't drastically less experienced than Murray, so it's not like Pittsburgh gets a dramatic goaltending advantage like Montreal got when Bishop got hurt late in the regular season 3 years ago. But, it's a blow to the team's hopes, for sure. There's no sugar coating that.

First Period
18:46 TB Killorn(4), (Hedman)

Second Period
2:33 TB Palat(3), (Filppula, Garrison)(PP)
18:25 TB Drouin(2), (Palat, Filppula)
19:05 PIT Hornqvist(6), (Crosby, Kessel)(PP)

Third Period
NO SCORING

Ondrej Palat and Jonathan Drouin were the game's first and second stars. How the heck Vasilevskiy didn't get a star is beyond me.

Wow. I confess to being a little speechless. I have no idea how the Lightning survived a First Period that we may well refer to from here on out as "The Period From Hell," much less how they got out of it with a 1-0 lead. Even before Bishop's injury, Ryan Callahan took a 5 minute boarding major that will likely lead to a 1 game suspension. The Lightning somehow managed to kill that off against the best power play unit in this playoff year thus far. The Lightning lost all their early 5v5 momentum after that kill and looked on the ropes at times before Bishop got injured. Somehow, some way, the Lightning managed to reset their composure in the 10-15 minutes it took to stretcher their MVP off the ice, and they started to play an efficient, opportunistic game. A Hedman stretch pass found Killorn at the Pens blueline and he worked his way into a breakaway where he sweetly stashed a backhand deke under Murray to make it 1-0. But "The Period From Hell" wasn't done with the Lightning yet, as Chris Kunitz hit Tyler Johnson knee to knee very late in the period leading Johnson to leave the ice until deep into the Second Period. Thankfully he returned and didn't look too limited after coming back.

So, you had a team head into the locker room that could've gone into shock, but they instead dedicated to put their noses to the grindstone and see what they could work out of the game. They got an early power play and with some good work by Killorn and resulting puck movement, Filppula made a nice play with a shot-for-rebound that found Palat for the goal that put the team up 2-0. Later in the period, Palat teed up Drouin on a 2-on-1 and the Lightning put themselves in position for a nearly perfect road win at 3-0, especially under the circumstances. Unfortunately, they put themselves in some jeopardy by allowing a power play goal late in the period that gave the Pens a chance to make a Third Period push. They're lucky that didn't come back to bite them, as Pittsburgh outshot the Lightning 16-5 in the final frame, forcing young Vasilevskiy to make some big stops. But, they ultimately did enough to get it done.

Tampa Bay came to Pittsburgh with the mission of getting at least one of the first two games on the road. Mission accomplished. Now they are playing with house money heading into Game Two. They can play free and fast and see if they can steal another one out from under Pittsburgh before the scene shifts back to Tampa Bay. Once back in Tampa, if not sooner, I'd expect to see Anton Stralman, and eventually I'd expect to see Steven Stamkos back late in this series. The urgency for them to return only goes up now with Bishop's injury. If the Lightning can get at least Stralman back and continue to play a structured game in front of Vasilevskiy, they've still got a decent shot of advancing, even with the Bishop injury. Certainly there's 26 other teams in the league that wish they were in the Lightning's shoes at the moment, so there's no time for hand wringing for pity parties. This team's story is still to be written and it still can have a happy ending.

On a tangent, with Callahan getting a 5 minute major for boarding Letang in the First Period and Palat getting a 2 minute minor for board Dumoulin late in the game, one of the Lightning's big strategic goals became obvious. Certainly no one's advocating dirty hockey, but the Lightning's agenda clearly seems to include testing a fairly soft Penguins defense physically. And, quite frankly, I don't think the Penguins passed that test all that well tonight. I think they showed they're not comfortable taking hits along the wall and they can be intimidated a little. Callahan's impending suspension shouldn't diminish that strategy, in my opinion. With the Lightning taking home ice away with the win tonight, they've put themselves in a position to, at a minimum, make this a very long series. If so, the cumulative effect of a constant pounding on the Penguins' D is going to yield dividends, and could be the difference between winning or losing this series.

Welcome back J.T. Brown. We missed you.

Slater Koekkoek had 1 shot, 1 hit, and 1 blocked shot in 9:31. When Stralman does return, there's no way Koekkoek should sit for Nikita Nesterov. No way. Koekkoek has clearly passed Nesterov on the depth chart, in my mind, and he seems to get a little steadier and a little more confidence with each shift.

Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League

Shawinigan Cataractes 2 @ Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 7
QMJHL Finals
Rouyn-Noranda wins best-of-7 series, 4-1

W Dennis Yan, SHAW: 1-0-1, -1, 2 PIM, 3 SOG, 5 Hits
Playoff totals: 20 GP, 10-5-15, +2, 32 PIM
Season totals: 62 GP, 32-37-69, +8, 86 PIM

Rouyn-Noranda won the President Trophy as QMJHL champs with a 7-2 win Thursday over Dennis Yan and Shawinigan. The Huskies advance to the Memorial Cup where they will join tournament host Red Deer and OHL champ London. Seattle and Brandon continue to battle in the WHL for the last spot. Yan completes his year with a bounce-back post-season after a lackluster finish to the regular season. He finishes the playoffs 10th in league goal scoring and second in penalty minutes. He’ll return to the Q next year.

Ryan Zuhlsdorf of USHL Dubuque is the lone Lightning prospect left playing. His Saints take on Tri-City in the USHL Clark Cup Finals.

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League

Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 4 @ Shawinigan Cataractes 6
QMJHL Finals
Rouyn-Noranda leads best-of-7 series, 3-1

W Dennis Yan, SHAW: 1-0-1, +2, 0 PIM, 2 SOG, 3 Hits
Playoff totals: 19 GP, 9-5-14, +3, 28 PIM
Season totals: 62 GP, 32-37-69, +8, 86 PIM

Shawinigan staved off elimination for at least one more game, avoiding a sweep at the hands of Rouyn-Noranda with a 6-4 win Tuesday. Dennis Yan’s ninth goal of the playoffs gave the Cataractes a 3-0 lead they’d later relinquish. The Huskies came back from 3-0 and 4-1 deficits to tie the game before Shawinigan went ahead for good late in the third period. Former Lightning camper Philippe Cadorette stopped 33 of 37 shots for Shawinigan, earning second star. Game 5 is Thursday in the Huskies’ arena.

United States Hockey League

Bloomington Thunder 0 @ Dubuque Fighting Saints 3
Eastern Conference Finals
Dubuque wins best-of-5 series, 3-2

D Ryan Zuhlsdorf, DBQ: 0-0-0, +1, 0 PIM, 1 SOG
Playoff totals: 9 GP, 0-3-3, +5, 10 PIM
Season totals: 46 GP, 0-27-27, -2, 59 PIM
(University of Minnesota signee)

Dubuque advanced to the Clark Cup Finals with a 3-0 shutout win over Bloomington Tuesday. Hunter Miska (undrafted Minnesota-Duluth commit) stopped 25 shots for the shutout win. The Saints will face Adam Wilcox’s old team, the Tri-City Storm, in the finals starting Friday.

TAMPA BAY – The Tampa Bay Lightning have hired Benoit Groulx to become the head coach of its American Hockey League affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, Crunch General Manager Julien BriseBois announced today.

Groulx, 48, was the head coach and general manager for the Gatineau Olympiques of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League during the 2015-16 season, guiding his team to a record of 46-19-2-1. The Olympiques were defeated in the 2016 QMJHL Quarter-Final by the Moncton Wildcats four games to two.

Groulx has worked 13 total seasons as a head coach in the QMJHL with the Hull/Gatineau Olympiques, posting a career record of 460-293-18-59. He led his teams to league championships in 2003, 2004 and 2008, earning QMJHL Coach of the Year honors for the 2003-04 season while coaching the Olympiques.

The Hull, Quebec native also served on the coaching staffs for Team Canada at the 2004 U18 World Championships as well as the 2014 and 2015 IIHF World Junior Championships. Groulx was an assistant coach for the Gold Medal winning Team Canada at the U18 World Championships in 2004. Groulx was also an assistant coach for Team Canada at the World Junior Championships in 2014 as Canada was defeated in the Bronze Medal game by Russia. The following year, Groulx was the head coach for Team Canada, winning the Gold Medal and earning a perfect 7-0 record during the tournament.

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League

Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 2 @ Shawinigan Cataractes 1
QMJHL Finals
Rouyn-Noranda leads best-of-7 series, 3-0

W Dennis Yan, SHAW: 0-0-0, -1, 0 PIM, 1 SOG, 6 Hits
Playoff totals: 18 GP, 8-5-13, +1, 28 PIM
Season totals: 62 GP, 32-37-69, +8, 86 PIM

The Huskies are within one win of the President Cup after a 2-1 Game 3 win in Shawinigan Sunday. Rouyn-Noranda won the completion of Game 2 Saturday, 4-1. Game 4 is Tuesday. Yan is the last remaining Lightning prospect playing outside the NHL.

United States Hockey League

Dubuque Fighting Saints 2 @ Bloomington Thunder 3 (OT) (Saturday)
Eastern Conference Finals
Best-of-5 series tied, 2-2

D Ryan Zuhlsdorf, DBQ: 0-0-0, E, 0 PIM, 0 SOG
Playoff totals: 8 GP, 0-3-3, +4, 10 PIM
Season totals: 46 GP, 0-27-27, -2, 59 PIM
(University of Minnesota signee)

Dubuque outshot Bloomington 9-6 in overtime, but the Thunder snuck out the win to avoid elimination and force a deciding Game 5 in the USHL’s Eastern Conference Finals. The series will end one way or another Tuesday in Dubuque.