Best of the Bolts: Round of 32 Voting – White Bracket

Voting for the fourth group of Best of the Bolts matchup starts at noon on August 8 and ends at noon on August 10. Each matchup is listed below and you can vote as many times as you’d like for your favorite play in each matchup.

Bish Please vs. Passing the Puck

MAY 8, 2016: BISH, PLEASE

Since coming to Tampa Bay via trade during the 2012-13 season, Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop has been at his best in playoff series clinching situations.

During the Bolts’ 2015 run to the Stanley Cup Final, Bishop blanked both the Detroit Red Wings in Game 7 of a first round series and the New York Rangers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final, the first time the Rangers had ever lost a Game 7 at Madison Square Garden.

Bishop’s playoff prowess continued in the 2016 postseason.

After recording a shutout in a clinching Game 5 against the Red Wings in the first round, Bishop repeated the feat against the Islanders in the second round, spearheading a 4-0 Game 5 victory at Amalie Arena that vaulted the Bolts into the Eastern Conference Final for a second-straight year.

Bishop made 28 saves in Game 5. His best came early in the final period with the Lightning holding a 3-0 lead. Cal Clutterbuck’s shot from the slot sailed over the net and caromed to Johnny Boychuk on the post.

Bishop had his head turned backward trying to locate Clutterbuck’s shot but kept his right leg extended at the post. By the time Boychuk tried to jam a shot home, Bishop was in a full split to keep his goal covered.

Bishop recorded his fifth career playoff shutout in Game 5 against the Islanders, tying him with Nikolai Khabibulin for most in Lightning franchise history.

JANUARY 12, 2016: PASSING THE PUCK

By the time the Tampa Bay Lightning visited Denver for a date with the Colorado Avalanche, the Bolts were starting to hit their stride.

Tampa Bay, beset by injuries, limped through the first half of the season, falling at one point to seventh place in the eight-team Atlantic Division.

The Lightning’s fortunes started to change, however, following a 3-2, come-from-behind victory in Edmonton in which the Bolts scored three third-period goals to salvage a win.

Tampa Bay would go on to win its next seven games.

Against Colorado, the third game in that seven-game win streak, the Lightning played perhaps their most complete game of the season.

The Bolts’ second goal in a 4-0 win encapsulated how well the team was clicking in the Mile High City.

In a series of diagonal, cross-ice passes, Ondrej Palat hit Vladislav Namestnikov and Namestnikov hit Steven Stamkos at the post for a Stamkos one-timer into the net.

The crisp passing sequence was one of the prettier goals the Lightning would score all season.

Round of 32 Bish, Please Passing the Puck Survey Maker

Putting up Palat of Points vs. Scoop Save and a Beaut

MARCH 5, 2016: PUTTING UP PALAT OF POINTS

Ondrej Palat scored his 50th career goal in a 4-3 overtime victory over the Carolina Hurricanes in early March, and No. 50 might have been the prettiest of …

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