The Tampa Bay Lighting Meet Their End
HOCKEY COMICS!
So if you aren’t paying attention to hockey 1- Pay attention to hockey and 2- you may have missed out on one of the biggest upsets in sports history. Seriously. Hockey playoffs are the best (really, they might be legit the best playoffs of any major sport) and this year we’ve gotten some crazy shit that even hockey hasn’t featured before. Arguably one of the greatest teams ever went into the first round…and got fucked.
The Tampa Bay Lightning won 62 games. For reference, they play 82 games. They lost just 20 games. That is literally tied for the best regular season in NHL history, with the 95-96 red wings. They won a lot of their games by multiple scores. Their lead star, Nikita Kucherov, scored a whopping 128 points. They won the president’s trophy (basically the award for best regular season team) and waltzed into the playoffs against the 8th seeded Columbus Blue Jackets. A team that at this point in their (short, since 2000) history, hadn’t even won a playoff series yet. They didn’t even win a playoff game till 2014. This woeful 8th seed went against the titan of the 2019 season and stomped their asses like a cockroach under a boot. It wasn’t even a close series. The Blue Jackets swept them.
This officially makes the Lightning of 2018-19 the newest member of the BUST club, and quite possibly kicks out the Red Wings. At least the Red Wings made it to the conference finals.
I’m not sure if there is a bigger disappointment than this in team sports. The Warriors at least made the NBA finals and lost to the best player in the game in a stunningly close matchup. The 2007 Pats barely lost the Super Bowl thanks to perfect defensive play and a miracle catch. The 2001 Mariners at least made it to the ALCS and lost to the powerhouse that was the late 90’s early aughts Yankees (who barely lost a thrilling world series at the end of game 7). As stated before, the Red Wings also made it close to the finals, losing the conference championship series in 6 games to the Avalanche, who eventually won the cup. The Lightning didn’t win a single playoff game and got swept by the lowest seeded team, which had yet to even win a playoff series, ever. All I can say is…yikes.
I hope the following twitter post goes down in sports meme legend.
We don’t have any words and we know you don’t want to hear them.
We understand your anger, your frustration, your sadness. Everything you’re feeling – we get it.
This isn’t the ending we imagined, and certainly not the one we wanted. Thank you for being there the entire way.
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) April 17, 2019
Congrats to the Blue Jackets on a phenomenal upset, and I hope you get used to the fact that very few people will ever give you the credit you deserve and only talk about the other team’s failures. As a fan of one of the mighty upset teams myself, I know how it is. It’s irritating, but that’s how it goes. Best you can do is hope the team keeps it up and proves to everyone they belonged at the top anyway.
Also the Penguins got knocked out and any playoff in any sport with no Pittsburgh is good. The Avalanche are also close to knocking off another #1 seed in the Flames as of this writing.
Watch hockey.
I wasn’t expecting that honestly, the comic I mean, lol. It also sums up the time when Elway’s Broncos got knocked off by Coughlin’s Jagasses.
Also I remember when people laughed at how Dirk and Cuban’s Mavs lost to the lowly Warriors, at least they didn’t get swept even if one of the Ls even happened at Dirk’s MVP ceremony.
Greatest comic. Ever.
I’m primarily a hockey fan, and a football fan second. And this just made my day. The NHL playoffs are the best in sports, and the NBA playoffs are becoming the most boring slog of nothingness and it makes me mad that people don’t watch more hockey. Watch more of it. All of y’all’s.
Fuck the penguins. Their the NHL equivalent of the cowboys. I’m a flyers fan, but Sidney Crosby can go jump into a volcano.
As bad as Tampa played, I do think people are overlooking how good of a team Columbus is. They were a borderline playoff team that traded for some big pieces at the deadline. They were only the 8th seed because they needed time to mesh and hit a pretty big cold streak initially after the trades. They ended up were hot heading into the playoffs when they needed every win they got, and Tortorella deserves credit for coaching and excellent series as well.
You were expecting a normal football comic but it was me HOCKEY the whole time
A Dragon Ball Z reference? You’re my hero lmao
‘you may have missed out on one of the biggest upsets in sports history”
I feel like NHL playoffs are immediately DQ’d from this simply because upsets are so common compared to other sports
lol excellent reference
Ah, DBZ power up scenes. Sweet, sweet filler. Even better than their slack-jawed staring filler.
Vegeta: “That’s right, Freeza. I’ve risen beyond the limits of a normal saiyan into the realm of legend. The legend that you fear. The legend, known throughout the entire universe as the most powerful warrior to ever exist! I Prince”
Freeza and Vegeta together: “Vegeta have become a super Saiyan!”
Freeza: “Blah blah blah blah. I get it! Then you slayed the Jabberwocky and went on to save Narnia.”
TFS for the win! AWESOME!
I’d like to point out that teams holding their leagues’ respective win records are now 1-2 against Ohio teams in the playoffs.
1) I’m from Minnesota, so I’m bitter about all the talent (such as it was) getting traded from the Wild and 2) It seems like hockey playoff last as long as the regular season so it’s hard to sustain interest if you don’t have a horse in the race.
Leafs/Bruins is living up to expectations. Great hockey. Should go seven.
Gotta quibble that Vegeta beats Goku in the Saiyan Saga fight (the one depicted here). The timely interventions of Krilling, Gohan, and Yajirobe cause the overall battle to end in a draw, but, make no mistake, Vegeta had Goku at his mercy. Goku never actually defeats Vegeta, though at times he easily could have.
Honestly the Goku-Vegeta never gets going because of Toriyama’s shortcomings as a writer. Once Goku unintentionally humiliates Vegeta on Namek, the two are never on equal footing again.
Can’t even make a silly dragon ball z reference without an anime nerd coming in
neeeerd
If it makes you feel better, he got Krillin’s name wrong lol. And also, you apparently don’t watch the newer episodes in DBS as Vegeta has closed that gap quite a bit.
Hey man if somebody described a clash of the titans in another media as “When the undermanned Patriots upended the juggernaut New York Football Giants on February 3, 2008” you would correct them. A silly reference can still be more accurate than “when the monster Ned Stark maliciously crippled Joffrey Baratheon, true born heir to the throne.”
The comparison you are using is not apt because I wasn’t trying to depict that fight. The comic is a general parody/reference of the show (and characters) as a whole, not of that specific fight. I don’t care about the specifics, it’s not important to the gag.
I mean Goku doesn’t go Super Saiyan until Freiza either, why aren’t you annoyed about that? Why so pedantic about this other, much smaller thing?
Missing the forest for the trees is classic nerd culture.
there’s ten panels of yelling, what more do you want?!
I’ve gotta quibble that Vegeta beats Goku in the Saiyan Saga fight (the one depicted here). The timely interventions of Krillin, Gohan, and Yajirobe turn the overall battle into a draw, but, make no mistake, Vegeta had Goku at his mercy.
In fact Goku NEVER defeats Vegeta, though at times he easily could have.
Honestly the whole ‘Ku-‘Geets rivalry never gets going because of Toriyama’s shortcomings as a writer.
My team has limped into the playoffs, could get eliminated tomorrow, and were favourites to win it all. But no matter what happens, at least I’m not a Bolts fan. Thank you Tampa Bay.
Also, even Charles Barkley says that the Stanley Cup Playoffs are the best playoffs in sports. Watch hockey damn it!
You in Winnipeg? Winnipeg is just setting the Blues up, they got them right where they want them. At least that’s what I keep telling myself after that terrible choke job last night.
Hey, they played for 5 minutes and scored 2 goals!
*sobs*
An upset on par with this may be the Spirits of St. Louis winning 4 games to 1 over Julius Erving’s New York Nets in the first round of the 1975 ABA playoffs. The Spirits lost all 11 regular season games they played against the Nets by an average of 17 points and finished 26 games behind the Nets in the Eastern Conference standings.
holy shit, the Jackets WON?!? I don’t even follow hockey and I know they’re not good!
I’m not sure it’s that they’re not good. I live in CBus, and while I’m more of a Red Wings guy (grew up in Toledo), I follow the Jackets. They added several talented players at the deadline, and it took a while for that team to gel and squeak into the playoffs as a result. But they were playing playoff hockey for a month because of that, so they were definitely more primed to win every game as their last game. And, honestly, they had a game plan to beat the Lightning, and it worked, and the TBL made no adjustments, so they kept losing.
I think their current team has plenty of talent, one of the best goalies in the league, several talented scorers, and an OK defense. They’re not the Lightning but I think they are probably a playoff team at least.
I’m a Flames fan so at least they’ve won one playoff game. Tampa have saved us by being more embarrassing. Please have mercy on us if they go out Comic Lord Dave.
They left poor Smitty out to dry……
Thanks for the hockey comic Dave. It just doesn’t get enough attention outside of non-hockey markets. I live in the south where hockey is laughed at but playoff hockey is a wildly fun game to watch. NHL playoffs is the most entertaining form of postseason in sports to me. Upsets happen. BUT NOT LIKE THIS! Bolts blew it.
Shouldn’t this be filed under non-football work?
Flames lost, too. This is officially the first time in NHL playoff history that both 8th seeds beat both 1st seeds.
No you dunce all it means is we have to watch Boston win another title
UNLESS Toronto wins tomorrow. They’re at home, too.
Once the metropolitans return to Seattle, I’ll start seriously watching it. For now, I’m kinda rooting for the stars since I now live in Texas.
Hockey is boring and lame.
youre boring and lame
iceburn gg no re kthx bai
EVERY article about the series, at least on Deadspin, was about the choke. There wasn’t a single article, at least that I saw, that talked about the Blue Jackets, and who is on their team and how they played to beat the Lightning. Because the Lightning choked, but it wasn’t because they played terribly, so much as it was the Blue Jackets having a scheme to beat the TBL, and sticking to it, and beating TBL with it.
“EVERY article about the series, at least on Deadspin, was about the choke. There wasn’t a single article, at least that I saw, that talked about the Blue Jackets, and who is on their team and how they played to beat the Lightning.”
Wasn’t that how the media reacted to the Pistons beating the Lakers in 2004?
i dont get anime
anime doesn’t get you.
iceburn gg no re kthx bai
Didn’t Vegeta technically win that fight?
And look at them Now…. won the cup in 2020…. How’s this comic aging?
And the Cup in 2021 plus they are in the semifinals of the 2022 Cup!