The grass lots outside Tampa International Jet Center were packed with cars sporting blue-and-white stickers, license plates and flags Sunday afternoon as hopeful Tampa Bay Lightning fans came to cheer on the team to victory.
Crowd members waved "Go Bolts" signs and took photos of the players as they arrived for a 2 p.m. flight to Chicago, where they play the Blackhawks in Game 6 today. Tampa Bay has to win the game to force a seventh game and a chance at the Stanley Cup, following a 2-1 loss Saturday night.
Though fans were still smarting from Saturday's game, they remained optimistic about the team's prospects. Gregory Gentry, 25, of Clearwater said he could remember the Lightning's 2004 season, where they had to win after a Game 5 loss — and did, ultimately bringing home the Cup.
"Last night was not a very good game, but I feel like they're going to pull it out," he said.
Beth Hunt, 72, of Tampa was among fans who remembered when the Lightning won the Stanley Cup. She watched the game outside the stadium with two curtain liners — one to sit on and one to hold over her in the rain. She sat next to two newspaper reporters, she said.
"The two guys pulled out cigars and the three of us had cigars," she said.
Hunt said she's since then become an owner of "nosebleed" season tickets and has come out to cheer on the Lightning before.
"I've been here when I'm the only person," she said.
Several dozen Lightning fans were there Sunday, however. They clapped for Lightning team members as they drove to their gate and called out cheers of "Let's go, Bolts" and "Glory, glory Captain Stamkos" to team captain Steven Stamkos as he boarded the plane.
Bob George, 58, of Seminole said he had come out because he figured it was a good idea to send the team off with support.
George was at Saturday's game, after giving his ticket to the previous home finals game to a nurse at All Children's Hospital. Despite the defeat, he said he thinks the Lightning can still come back.
"We're such a resilient team, they have such a good attitude," he said. "I'm thinking positive."
Yet if the Lightning makes it to the final round, George may not be there. He said he also offered the nurse his ticket if they make it to Game 7.
Contact Jimmy Geurts at jgeurts@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3402. Follow @JimmyGeurts.