Tempers are rising in Tampa Bay and no one appears to be more frustrated than Lightning forward Steven Stamkos.
The captain saw his team drop a third straight playoff contest to the Columbus Blue Jackets and just like that, is already facing elimination. Sunday night’s contest marked the first time all season that the Lightning dropped three straight games so logically, Stamkos was furious with the 3-1 outcome. The 29-year-old failed to keep his emotions in check and literally socked Jackets captain Nick Foligno square in the face during a scrum at the end of the game. While addressing the incident, Stamkos claimed he was simply protecting himself.
We’ll let you decide if that was in fact the case…
Not so sure about that.
Everything just keeps going from bad to worse for the Bolts. The league’s top offensive team has scored just five goals through three games and are at risk of becoming the first team in NHL history to get swept as a President’s Trophy winner.
Oh- and Norris Trophy candidate Victor Hedman is sidelined due to injury. Yikes.
Foligno was asked about the incident after the game and admitted he expected a little more respect out of his opponent. He also made it clear that he’ll be throwing the first punch next time around.
Game 4 is going to be a wild one on Tuesday night.
(H/T Tom Reed)
