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Penguins, Lightning give fans what they want to see — and what they don't

PITTSBURGH — It’s a good rule of thumb for the Stanley Cup playoffs: Each round has one particular series that crosses the line from “fun” into “dumb.”

And hoo, baby, we might have a dumb one on our hands here. On Friday, the Penguins and Lightning needed about three minutes in Game 1 to stake their claim as the third in this year’s lineage, following Capitals-Flyers and Capitals-Penguins.

MORE: Longest OT games in history

(Tampa Bay won, by the way, 3-1.)

When Ryan Callahan smashed Kris Letang’s face off the glass, the pump seemed primed.