Light Gate Conclusion handled well in all aspects

Well, as Hasan already posted, the Lightning and Devils finally completed Friday's game earlier before 3,000 who returned to The Rock in which fans were allowed to move down for the third. Tampa Bay held off New Jersey 4-2, earning a valuable two points that put them into a 11th place tie with idle Atlanta- four points behind Ottawa and Montreal. Busing back from Philly while the host Devs flew in following last night's overtime win in Brodeur land, it wasn't too conventional. But the Bolts still took Light Gate despite getting outscored 2-1. As one Dev fan on Twitter noted, that's gotta be a first.

It was a tough situation to be sure but both teams handled the adversity well, fitting in the final 29:12 to get on with hectic schedules the rest of the way.

“It was a little weird,” super soph Steven Stamkos expressed after getting his second of the game over two days. “We prepared twice for this game. It was a half-game and a half-game. The travel wasn’t bad. We were in Philly, so it was only a bus ride away. It was something a lot of guys haven’t experienced in a while. It felt like we were back in junior, but it was worth it.”

For winning goalie Mike Smith who finished with 33 saves, he actually flashed back to a couple of years back in junior for Sudbury when their playoff game against Toronto-St. Michael's encountered a similar electrical issue.

“We were up 3-1 in the series before the lights went out and we ended up playing the game the next day and lost in overtime, and ended up losing the series,” the Tampa Bay goalie noted. “It was a little better outcome this time.”

Of a game that needed just 67 minutes to finish off, perhaps goalscorer Travis Zajac summed it up best:

“It’s a little weird when you start a faceoff in the neutral zone and then you feel like you’re getting going and the period is over. I think going into it we felt we had a chance to come back and make it interesting. We skated well, made some plays, but it just didn’t happen for us.”

It wasn't ideal either for the same two referees Steve Kozari and Tim Peel, who both returned for the conclusion while linesmen Derek Nansen and Jean Moran subbed for David Brisebois and Don Henderson. Kudos must go out to the officials and a hard working crew who readied the ice on short notice. At least everyone made the best of an odd situation.


“Everything about this situation was odd, from Friday sitting around here waiting to see what would happen, to playing a game when you’re worried about something the night before,” Devil and new Team USA Olympic captain Jamie Langenbrunner said. “Under the circumstances, we handled it well. We played well all weekend. Now we move forward.”

Game To Resume At Future Date

Updating Light Gate, according to WFAN's Matt Loughlin via NHL spokesman Frank Brown, the game will be rescheduled at a later date with it being resumed with the Bolts up 3-0 with 9:12 remaining in the second period. There should be some sort of future announcement. The question becomes when. Hopefully, they'll be able to work at out ASAP because the points could be crucial for both teams. For the Devils, perhaps a top seed at stake while for Tampa Bay, maybe the playoffs.

We'll have a much better idea down the road. Special thanks to Matty and Sherry Ross for keeping fans informed during Devils postgame.

Light Gate A Black Eye For League

I know it's cheesy. But I can't think of anything else at the moment for what just happened in Newark. How else do you explain a two hour delay for a bank of lights that went out on a second-year arena? Wow. Lou Lamoriello has just termed it a circuit breaker. And PSE & G is there and won't get it fixed tonight. Haha. Maybe they should find a new sponsor.

Light Gate is what we're calling it because I'm too dumbfounded by the lack of communication, screwing over so many fans. It's not all the Devils' fault here as it was the genius at work with his little minions that couldn't decide at an appropriate time that it wasn't going to be resumed. What about the fans? Oh wait. They don't count. If you didn't figure that out by now following the lockout, then you've been living in a cave probably with Batman.

It's just a very bad situation where nobody wins. The teams both wanted to continue playing and Andy Greene via WFAN Devils postgame was quoted as saying, they figured 10-15 minutes at the most. Lou indicates that the plan was to get the players back out for a 10-minute warm up before starting up again. Sensible. We agree that you always side cautiously with safety coming first. Something a smart man like Lamoriello knows. It's a shame that it incovenienced so many with the fans not knowing until essentially two hours later.

Concluding on what is a very difficult press conference for Lou, he doesn't have the slightest idea if they'll resume with Tampa in front with 9:12 remaining in the second. What exactly does this say about the NHL? How clueless can they be? Is it fair for the Lightning to get screwed out of three goals and play it totally over? Who knows anymore. This is yet another example of poor leadership and it starts at the top. When will it finally change?