Stanley Cup Playoffs, Night 12

The 2004 Stanley Cup finalists were both eliminated from the playoffs today. The Tampa Bay Lightning and Calgary Flames each met their ends in Game 6, at the hands of the teams that won the Cup both years prior (New Jersey in 2003 and Detroit in 2002). I, however, am extremely depressed having gotten to watch my team play on national TV, only to have them not only lose the game, but the series as well. Elimination is a bitch this time of year. Get the sad details below.

Devils 3, Lightning 2
Devils win series 4-2
And the Lightning are out. That sucks. Brian Gionta opened the scoring for New Jersey on the power play in the first period. Then again on the power play to open period two, Brian Rafalski makes it 2-0. Brad Richards would score a few minutes later, also with the man-advantage only to have the Devils go up by two again just 39 seconds later. Gionta was responsible for that one too. The power play was very good to both teams today as Richards got the Bolts within one again midway through the period. But that would be the final goal of the season for the Bolts. The third period was relatively quiet. Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk and Pierre McGuire called the game for NBC in beautiful HD. It was the first time I got to watch a full Lightning game since I moved to Fort Myers. And it was the last. (For this season.) It was a pretty good year, all in all.

Red Wings 2, Flames 1, 2OT
Red Wings win series 4-2
They were the final 84 minutes of the season for the Calgary Flames. Jamie McLennan got suspended five games for a slash to the gut of Johan Franzen yesterday. Tonight, he made them pay. Franzen tallied the series-clinching goal at 4:24 of the second overtime period. This, despite Jarome Iginla scoring the first goal of the game three minutes into the second period. The team that scored first won the first five games of the series. Regardless, the Flames are finished. Detroit moves ahead. Versus carried the CBC feed in standard def.

Photos: ESPN.com, CBS Sportsline.com