Tampa Bay Lightning

Author's Note: This is part of a five-part series detailing players who dazzled with their play and presence while lacing up the skates for the Tampa Bay Lightning.  Some are currently on the roster, while others either play elsewhere or have retired.  The other players covered in the series are Nikolai Khabibulin, Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier, and Steven Stamkos.

Author's Note: This is part of a five-part series detailing players who dazzled with their play and presence while lacing up the skates for the Tampa Bay Lightning.  Some are currently on the roster, while others are either no longer with the club or have retired.  The other players covered in the series are Dave Andreychuk, Martin St. Louis, Nikolai Khabibulin and Steven Stamkos.

Author's Note: This is part of a five-part series detailing players who dazzled with their play and presence while lacing up the skates for the Tampa Bay Lightning.  Some are currently on the roster, while others are either no longer with the club or have retired.  The other players covered in the series are Dave Andreychuk, Nikolai Khabibulin, Vincent Lecavalier and Steven Stamkos.

Author's Note: This is part of a five-part series detailing players who dazzled with their play and presence while lacing up the skates for the Tampa Bay Lightning.  Some are currently on the roster, while others are either no longer with the club or have retired.  The other players covered in the series are Dave Andreychuk, Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier and Nikolai Khabibulin.

Author's Note: This is part of a five-part series detailing players who dazzled with their play and presence while lacing up the skates for the Tampa Bay Lightning.  Some are currently on the roster, while others play elsewhere or have retired.  Dave Andreychuk, Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier, and Steven Stamkos are also covered in the series.

Being a Tampa Bay Lightning fan is not the easiest task in the world right now. 

In his 14th season now, Vincent Lecavalier is enjoying early success this year with the Tampa Bay Lightning, after experiencing consecutive years of dropped-off production dating back to 2007.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are one of the most talented teams in the NHL, with enough offensive firepower to make an opponent's head spin.

The Lightning also happen to run one of the league's most frustrating defensive systems, the 1-3-1.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the team should drop its identity and change overnight simply because people don't like the system.

Steven Stamkos ended all of the speculation of Steve Yzerman trading him or dealing with an offer sheet from a team coveting arguably the best young center in the NHL. Stamkos signed a 5 year, $37.5 million deal to stay with Tampa Bay.

The 2011 Stanley Cup Finals between the Boston Bruins and the Vancouver Canucks promises to be one for the ages. 

Both teams are evenly matched in all areas of the game and dominated in the regular season and the playoffs. 

It will be difficult to predict who will take home Hockey's holy grail this season, so as a suggestion, just sit back, relax and enjoy the great hockey we are about to experience in these next couple weeks. 

As the final seconds ticked off, you could see the anguish in the face of Martin St. Louis and Dwayne Roloson. Both are cagey veterans on the backside of their careers; they knew this opportunity might not come again.

Roloson played one of his best games of the playoffs after struggling most of the series. He made 37 saves—many of the ten bell variety—and held his hockey team in the game.