Hey, we’re not art critics. We say, yes! The Lightning -Hockey players often hide their other talents. Have Anthony Cirelli and Mathieu Joseph been hiding their artist talents under all that hockey mastery? Let’s find out! #IIHFWorlds and @TBLightning forwards @acirelli22 and @MathJoseph7 put their art skills to the test as they take on the challenge to draw the @HC_Men logo! Who's piece of art should hang in the locker room? pic.twitter.com/Lmhz7osMlb— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 22, 2019 -Nikita Kucherov had a season to remember in 2018-19, something reflected in his grades. His 128-point campaign achieved the following distinctions: highest of the salary cap era passing Joe Thornton’s 125 points in 2005-2006, the first 120+ point campaign since Sidney Crosby’s 120-point year in 2007, the highest single season point total in Tampa Bay Lightning history, the first Lightning player in franchise history with back-to-back 100-point seasons, and the Lightning single season record for assists (87). What we witnessed was an offensive explosion that no player has achieved in the salary cap era. -Here’s another reminder that Louis Domingue and Andrei Vasilevskiy are up for NHL Fan Choice Awards! Save of the Year? Well, we certainly think so. #NHLFanChoice Vote at https://t.co/9lrfgHndbW! pic.twitter.com/bZiuhqAK4D— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) May 22, 2019 -Domingue continues to make himself known around the Tampa area, this time by working with the children’s cancer center. The other night we were able with the help of the @TBLightning , children cancer center and many others to give my friends and artists a little souvenir of their work. An amazing framed replica of the mask. On top of that we stuffed ourself with pizza and pasta ! pic.twitter.com/cnWIgoaLzi— Louis Domingue (@domingue35) May 22, 2019 -Yesterday was a pretty memorable anniversary in Lightning history: On this date in 2004, #TBLightning advanced to their first-ever Stanley Cup Final with a 2-1 win over the #Flyers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final— Jen (@NHLhistorygirl) May 22, 2019 -The 16-29th pick order for the 2019 NHL Draft has been finalized. The Lightning pick at 27. With the #StanleyCup Final set, we now know which clubs will be selecting from No.16 all the way to No.29 in the NHL Entry Draft next month.16. COL17. VGK18. DAL19. OTT (CBJ)20. NYR (WPG)21. PIT22. LAK (TOR)23. NYI24. NAS25. WAS26. CGY27. TBL28. CAR29. ANA (SJS) pic.twitter.com/eC6QGMfTsl— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) May 22, 2019 -Prior to his trade, Nikita Gusev apparently came away from meetings with the Lightning disappointed in where they saw him in terms of organizational depth. S-E: Many people were saying that it would be better if you join Nikita Kucherov in the NHL Gusev: We’re talking very often with Nikita. I’m not sure how to explain it to you. They have a good team in Tampa. At some point they traded me away, because I was only an AHL player according to them and they didn’t want to see me there. And that I only deserve an AHL contract. Probably there was a reason. So it’s not like I’m trying to get back (to Tampa). The Others -The New York Rangers officially introduced new team president John Davidson to the media yesterday. Here’s a bit from the recap of his introduction from Blue Shirt Banter: The most important takeaway from Davidson’s remarks is that they remained in tune with the current rebuild. He mentioned building on the current foundation, being patient, and sticking to the plan that was laid out. But at the same time, he also noted that the current foundation gives them a chance to be aggressive. This summer is going to be a crucial point in the rebuild, and the Rangers certainly have enough money to make things interesting on July 1. -Shannon Doyle has re-signed with the Connecticut Whale of the NWHL. Doyle is the first player to sign with an NWHL club this offseason who has chosen not to disclose her salary. She’s also the first player to sign with the Whale and the fourth player to sign a contract since free agency began on May 15.

Florida recorded 628 boating accidents in 2018, down 18 percent from a year earlier, according to a new report released by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Also, the state had 59 boating-related deaths, down from 67 in 2017. People falling overboard continued to be the leading type of fatal accident, contributing to 18 deaths last year, according to the annual report. Drowning was the leading cause of death, accounting for 29 of the 59 deaths. Bekah Nelson of the Fish and…

We love a seven run inning but think of poor Ozzie Timmons After several tough losses (and even a tough win), no doubt a few Rays fans were considering tonight’s game against the National League’s best team with a little trepidation. Even the unflappable Dewayne Staats seemed to share a sense of foreboding. Discussing the Rays difficult upcoming schedule, he said that Kevin Cash’s goal would be to “remain relevant” over the coming weeks. Remain relevant? A team that was in first place until three days ago and still has a pretty good record is merely trying to “remain relevant?” Talk about a low bar! Fortunately the Rays were very relevant tonight. This was one of those games that seemed to switch personality midway. What started as a tense and efficient pitchers duel where a runner thrown out at the plate to maintain a 1-1 tie seemed like it would be the play of the game turned into a comfortable blow out after the Rays batted around in the bottom of the seventh. It was another opener-bulk-bullpen night for our guys. Stanek seemed shaky at first — he walked the lead off hitter on a full count and gave up a hard ground ball single to Max Muncy to put two men on. But he recovered very nicely getting five straight outs to take the Rays into the second inning, at which point bulk guy Yonny Chirinos took over. Rich Hill was the Dodgers starter. It’s hard to root against Hill. He’s one of these guys who bounced around forever until establishing himself in his thirties. He does a Rafa Nadal style grunt with each pitch and sometimes lets lose with a clearly audible f-bomb when he misses his spot. He also penned this very moving account of his experience losing an infant son; you will cry reading it so don’t click on the link unless you’ve got a box of tissues handy. Hill looked very impressive in the first few innings; he’s in the “crafty lefty” mold, with several curve/slider varietals that seemed to be keeping Rays hitters off balance. I was relieved when Ji-Man Choi bunted for a single in the first inning (getting that no hitter watch out of the way) and even more relieved in the bottom of the fourth inning when Tommy Pham put the Rays up with this home run: We strike first.#RaysUp pic.twitter.com/nDAdQPhQu3— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 23, 2019 Chirinos was very effective into the sixth inning, and just as Cash had started Adam Kolarek up in the bullpen he began to falter. He went 3-1 on Max Muncy; the next pitch was very hittable and Muncy drove it over the center field wall. Justin Turner followed with a single, and with Bellinger coming up Chirinos’ night was over. So our bulk guy wasn’t very bulkish, but give him credit for a strong three plus innings against a very good line up. Kolarek got the second out when Bellinger’s ground out forced out Turner at second; off the bat it had looked like a good double play ball, but the Rays were a tad slow and Bellinger was very fast so they could only get the one out. Kolarek then hit Corey Seager with a poorly executed sinker, and Cash went back to the bullpen to bring in right handed Emilio Pagan. Pagan got ahead of Russell Martin, but Martin was nonetheless able to flare a single that bounced just short of Kiermaier in center. Oh no, I thought, that will give the Dodgers bases loaded which, even with two outs, can be dangerous. But wait, what was that? Cody Bellinger motoring around third base heading home? Had no one told him, or his third base coach, that our center fielder has an arm? Kiermaier threw a strike to catcher Travis d’Arnaud that reached him as Bellinger was still several strides from the plate, d’Arnaud received it perfectly, and Bellinger was the third out. Kiermaier’s throw apparently came in at 100.6 mph. Phew. Got 'em!#RaysUp pic.twitter.com/ggeyhqU7xr— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 23, 2019 What a throw from #Rays Kevin Kiermaier to get #Dodgers Cody Bellinger at the plate pic.twitter.com/ImdVcqgKTh— Josh Tolentino (@JCTSports) May 23, 2019 The Dodgers brought in former Rays RHP Dylan Floro to preserve the tie in the bottom of the seventh inning, so Rays sent up Austin Meadows to pinch hit for d’Arnaud. Meadows was hit by a pitch so the lead off man was on. Heredia then singled into right center field; Meadows hung around second base to see if it would be caught, but had it been caught he probably couldn’t get back to first anyway so perhaps it would have been better to just sell out and get to third. But it didn’t matter, because Lowe’s grounder got through the infield; third base coach Linares did not hesitate to send Meadows home. Perhaps a perfect throw would have gotten him out but the throw was very high and Meadows scored easily. Rays up 2-1. And what came next was one of my favorite baseball things: the three run bomb. This one was courtesy of Avisail Garcia and there was no doubt (406 fit and hit at 106.8 mph). That cleared the bases and gave the Rays a 5-1 lead. After a pitching change, Tommy Pham walked on a 10 pitch at bat and a few outs later Robertson was hit by a pitch (it was a curve ball that bounced several feet in front of the plate, but did hit him on a bounce so he went to first.) just missed the plate pic.twitter.com/lVj8H2pWjJ— Josh Tolentino (@JCTSports) May 23, 2019 But why settle for one three-run bomb when you can have two three run bombs? Kevin Kiermaier did not leave any chicken on the bone; his home run made the score 8-1, which would be the final tally. Like we said crushed... x2!#RaysUp pic.twitter.com/tZP33ulx76— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 23, 2019 Emilio Pagan and and Casey Sadler kept the Dodgers off the board through the seventh, eighth and ninth, and the Rays had earned a series split with the kind of easy-ish win that hasn’t been in the team’s repertoire in recent weeks. The team hits the airport tonight and flies to Cleveland for four games; get ready for a lot of baseball in the coming weeks!

Second year player starting to hit his stride with the new coaching staff The second week of OTA’s have begun for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the last 24 hours have been incredibly busy for the franchise. The team released Gerald McCoy, who was the franchise’s longest tenured player of nine years. A short twelve hours later, they signed Ndamukong Suh as his replacement. While many were talking about the Suh signing today, Bruce Arians made a promising comment surrounding second year player Ronald Jones III. It’s not secret that RoJo had a forgettable rookie season in 2018 and his confidence was clearly shaken heading into the off-season. With that being said, since the day Arians has taken over, he has had nothing but positive things to say about Jones and that continued on Tuesday. Arians has unsolicited praise for RB Ronald Jones: "Some really young players really stepped up, especially Ronald Jones. He had a really good (day) today. I really enjoy watching where he's at right now."— Greg Auman (@gregauman) May 21, 2019 This recent news should be music to Buccaneer fans ears, because if Jones can be that pass-catching back that the Buccaneers desperately need, it can take the offense to another level. Of course, results need to be seen on the field, but to get praise from a coach who has no problem criticizing his own players, should be a big confidence booster to the former Trojan.