Tampa Bay Lightning
TAMPA — Backyard rinks. Neighborhood ponds frozen over. Community lakes set up with nets.
Winter traditions unfold each year on makeshift hockey surfaces as sticks get tossed on the ice, then sorted out to set up the teams for a pickup game. Those hours playing hockey on a weekend afternoon always played out the same — even if it took place on asphalt.
“When you’re playing street hockey, it’s always scoring in Game 7, not Game 4, not Game 5,” Lightning right wing Ryan Callahan said.
That topic was addressed in a team meeting Tuesday afternoon as the Lightning prepared to play Detroit on Wednesday at Amalie Arena in a deciding Game 7 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.