I'm not even going to write about the game tonight because I believe you're starting to see some good things happen for the Lightning, I really do. I know, they lost again, but, I don't know, just seemed like a little different team. Paul Ranger made a huge difference and the stars came through in the third period. Okay, so Olaf Kolzig made a bad play. Happens. Does a fighting spirit really mean anything? I'm willing to wait and see.

Plus after writing three straight days of very negative stories, I'm sick of being a downer.

So, let's get on the refs.

The NHL is cracking down on stick and obstruction fouls and the referees are calling anything, no matter how small. Seventeen minor penalties were called in Thursday night's game, 10 on the Lightning. Some were barely touch fouls. And can we please have some sense of game situations?

Tampa Bay already was killing off a second-period penalty when Ranger was called for holding. Even if that was a penalty under the strictest sense of the word, if a team is killing a penalty, you don't call another penalty, in my opinion, unless the play is affected. Not even close in this case.

This isn't a homer rant. It is a rant to let the essense of the game come through. Bogging the game down with so many penalties just kills the flow and momentum of the game. Look, I'm all for taking obstruction and stick fouls out of the game, but calling almost non-existant penalties is not the way to do it. There has to be some middle ground. I know I don't want to watch a special teams battle.

You think the refs don't know they are injecting themselves into the game? Listen to Lightning coach Barry Melrose after Thursday's game and read between the lines.

"If you look at the tape, they're penalties," he said. "They're ticky-tack or whatever you want. That's what the referee comes over and tells us when we ask him. He says it, 'The letter of the law is the letter of the law.' Obviously, our guys, you can't touch a guy in the pants. That's it. Some referees call it different. But that's the bottom line. If you touch a guy with your stick, hopefully, it will be called both ways. That's all we can ask for."

So, here is my plea: Call it close, call it tight. But, please, read the flow of the game, and let the guys play. Geez, sounds like I'm channeling John Tortorella, there.