When Teuvo Teravainen scored an empty net goal on Jan. 28 to seal the Chicago Blackhawks’ 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning, my daughter turned to me and said, “You need to stop coming to Lightning games.”
After I asked her why, she emphatically stated, “They never win when you come to the game.”
I laughed it off and even joked about my bad luck in attending Lightning games with my fellow THW writers, but I didn’t think much about it until last week.
That is when I received a text from one of my buddies asking me to go with him and some other people to the Feb. 27 game when the Lightning host the Calgary Flames.
After accepting the invitation, I really started thinking about my daughter’s proclamation and wondered just how accurate her statement was.
I looked at the games I attended, and the results proved very interesting.
Here is a game-by-game look at the results for the Lightning games I attended post-COVID.
The Lightning are 1-6-3 in games that I attended in the last three years. The loss to the Predators is a bit of an outlier in that it was a preseason game that was shifted to Nashville as the Tampa area was recovering from Hurricane Ian. In that game, the Lightning dressed their bottom-six forward group and a handful of players who eventually played in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Lightning’s affiliate in Syracuse.
The other games and losses are a bit interesting, as many of them came against the Sabres and Senators, two teams who have not qualified for the playoffs in quite a while. Granted, some of these games were on the road, as living most of the year in Upstate New York makes the trips to Buffalo and Ottawa very convenient. Even then, a talented team like the Lightning should have won at least a couple of those games.
Taking my 1-6-3 attendance record into the Lightning’s Thursday night matchup against Jonathan Huberdeau and the Calgary Flames carries some extra pressure. Not only are the Lightning fighting for a playoff spot, they will be carrying a six-game winning streak into the contest after defeating the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 on Tuesday night (Feb. 25).
In an effort to reverse this trend, I asked friends and family members for ideas on how to bring some “good luck” into the Calgary game.
One of the first questions from a friend who shall be unnamed was, “Did your wife go to all of the games?”
The answer is yes, so leaving her home is not an option here.
My son pointed out that, even if it is a smaller sample size, the Blackhawks have not lost a game I have taken him to, and after the game in January, I have not seen them lose since the late 1980s when they lost to the then-Minnesota North Stars.
Since my son did not attend the last Blackhawks victory, combined with the fact that my daughter-in-law would be more blessed than thrilled to have him fly down from Syracuse without her and their three young children, that option is out.
By nature, I have embraced superstitions throughout my sports playing and team-following activities. Some things that I have done would be considered superstitious. That may be the answer, as I have not developed any superstition or ritual in attending Lightning games.
My current superstition for the only sport I actively play is to wear one of my “lucky hats” when I want to have a good round in my travel golf league. That hat did make the trip down to Florida, so that is one option.
Related: The Strangest Superstitions in NHL History
The most intriguing possibility came when I was asked if there was anything different about the game they won in Buffalo compared to the others.
The answer to that was yes. We were late to the game.
A few days before this game, the Buffalo area was hit with a major snowstorm. As is usually the case, the fine people of Buffalo and Western New York did a great job of removing snow. However, with the amount of snow that fell in this storm, a few issues were getting to the arena. We were a quarter of a mile from the arena one hour before puck drop, but because of these issues, we did not get to our seats until the game had already started.
That will become the new superstition. When the Lightning take the ice against the Flames, we will not occupy our seats until after the puck drops.
I hope that works. The alternative is that I may be asked to avoid all Lightning games in the future.
Do you have any rituals or superstitions involving your teams? If so, leave a comment below.
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