from John Romano of the Tampa Tribune,

In the end, they had nothing left to give and nowhere left to go. After nine months of relentless pursuit, the reason for their devotion had just been taken away from them.

So they lowered their heads, they leaned on their sticks and they stole the occasional glance down the ice at another team happily celebrating their sudden demise.

And that’s when the damnedest thing happened. In the relative silence of a still-crowded arena, a chant began to arise from the bleachers.

Let’s go Light-ning!

Remorse, I suppose, is for those destined to live with regret. And the Lightning, nor their fans, will have none of that.

When you have played as long, as hard, as valiantly and as gloriously as this group has over the past three seasons, there is no shame in finally falling short.

Even with the Stanley Cup back in the house. Even with history on the line.

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