Steven Stamkos Cost Me $1,500 and Was Thrilled About It
6.1 seconds. Six point one. That’s how close it was. But no, Steven Stamkos had to ruin everything.
The ads for the Hard Rock’s new sports betting have been on Q105 for the past couple weeks now. That offer of a “$100 no regret first bet” enticed me to give it a try. And my faith in the Tampa Bay Lightning almost paid off to the tune of $1,500.
Listen I love the Bolts. I love Stammer. I did NOT bet AGAINST the Tampa Bay Lightning. On Thursday night, they were up in Canada to take on the Edmonton Oilers. I downloaded the Hard Rock Bet app and loaded in all my bank info. I was ready to make my first bet. The Oilers were on an 8 GAME winning streak so the odds makers were definitely favoring Edmonton.
West coast games have that annoying late night start time so I thought the fun bet to make would be for which team scores the first goal. Of course, my wager was on the Bolts to put the puck in the net first. And since the “no regret bet” limit was $100, I went for it. I bet $100 for the Lightning to score first. And there were no regrets. My hero? Steven Stamkos! Stammer gave the Bolts a 1-0 lead with a power play goal just a little over a minute into the game! BOOM! I won $105!
After that, things didn’t go well for the Lightning. By the end of the 2nd period, Tampa Bay was down by 1. Since I had $105 in winnings, I started to look around the Hard Rock Bet app for different bets you can make. One caught my eye. The Lightning making a comeback to win by TWO goals would pay out BIG! How big… a $50 bet would pay out $1,500… IF the Lightning WIN by 2 goals. And at that point, they were DOWN by 1.
I had faith in our Bolts. Plus, I haven’t run the numbers, but more often than not, it seems like when a team wins, they usually win by 2 goals. They go up by 1 and then score an empty net goal if the team that’s down pulls their goaltender. I did it. I placed that $50 bet. After all, it was only half of what I had already won anyway thanks to Steven Stamkos. Maybe he’d work his magic for me again?
He did. In the 3rd period, Steven Stamkos scored the game tying goal. And then Nikita Kucherov made the next part of the comeback happen by scoring to put the Bolts up again by 1. $1500 was not seeming like a longshot anymore. It seemed like a given. Especially when Stammer scored another goal to put the Lightning up by 2 with 6 minutes to go! I was SIX MINUTES AWAY from $1500! These would be the longest 6 minutes of my life.
My heart then sank when the Oilers scored to make it 5-4. That’s ok I thought. If the Oilers pull their goaltender and the Lightning score an empty netter, I’m still in the money. Sure enough, the Oilers pulled their goaltender and IT HAPPENED! Anthony Cirelli got an empty netter and the Lightning were up by again by 2. Now I’m just 1 MINUTE AWAY from $1,500.
The clock ticked and ticked… 50 seconds away from $1500.
40 seconds away from $1500.
30 seconds away form $1500.
20 seconds away from $1500.
10 seconds away from $1500… but wait, what’s Stamkos doing? The Lightning looked like they were just going to run off the clock and keep the puck in their defensive end to finish the win.
No. Steven Stamkos got his 4th goal of the night with another empty netter with SIX POINT ONE seconds remaining. The goal put the Bolts up by THREE. Goodbye $1,500. I’ve never been so upset about winning $50 ever. If Stammer goes missing when the Tampa Bay Lightning return to Tampa tonight, you know nothing.
A Special Night for the Tampa Bay Lightning's Steven Stamkos
