Esposito pulling for Lightning against Bruins in second round

From 1967-68 into the early days of 1975-76, Phil Esposito enjoyed his greatest NHL seasons with the Boston Bruins in a city he loved with every fiber of his being.

In 1990, Esposito headed an energetic bid that resulted in the Tampa Bay Lightning becoming an NHL expansion team.
So now, with the Bruins and Lightning locking up in the compelling Eastern Conference Second Round, tied 1-1 heading into Game 3 in Boston on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, TVAS), surely Esposito must be a bit torn, his loyalties divided at least a little.
RELATED: [Complete Lightning vs. Bruins series coverage]
"My loyalties? Are you kidding?" he said on the eve of Game 3, having just touched down in Boston. "I gave birth to the Lightning. Are you loyal to your kids? You bet your [life] you are. I had the greatest success I ever had, as a player, in Boston. There's no doubt about it. I never wanted to leave Boston. But, the powers that were in Boston wanted me out. So … "
With his thoughts trailing off, it was clear Esposito, in his 16th season as a Lightning radio analyst, has much more blue-and-white Tampa blood in his veins than Boston black and gold.
Esposito, 76, said he has enjoyed the effort shown by each team with the series set to resume at TD Garden.
"Both are really good, there's not much separating them," he said. "In my estimation, the winner is going to be whoever gets lucky. There's no predicting this series, in my mind. What Montreal Canadiens coach Toe Blake said in the 1960s about predictions being a mug's game? He would have been right in today's game. Back then, of course, you could predict that the Canadiens were going to win. They were unbelievable. But with the parity of the League today, forget about it."
Wearing the Bruins jersey, Esposito won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's points leader five times -- four times consecutively -- between 1968-69 and 1973-74. In that span, the center twice won the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player and twice won the Lester B. Pearson Award (today the Ted Lindsay Award) as the League's MVP as voted by the players, including the inaugural prize in 1971.

Esposito quarterbacked the Bruins' Stanley Cup championship teams in 1970 and 1972, scored 30 of his 36 NHL hat tricks with Boston (playoffs included) and played in seven of his 10 NHL All-Star Games as a member of the Bruins.
But then the 1984 Hall of Fame inductee was shockingly traded to the New York Rangers on Nov. 7, 1975, with defenseman Carol Vadnais for center Jean Ratelle and defensemen Brad Park and Joe Zanussi.
The trade was a crowbar in Esposito's chest. He left a city he adored for one that he said he loathed. In his 2003 autobiography, "Thunder and Lightning," Esposito said of the trade, "It's 28 years later, and I'm still not over it."
Now, approaching 43 years, nothing has changed.
"I really haven't made peace with it, and that's too bad," he said. "I loved it in Boston. I just didn't want to be traded."

Esposito played six seasons for the Rangers, retiring in 1981 with 1,590 points (717 goals and 873 assists) in his NHL career. He trailed only Gordie Howe (801) on the goals list and ranked third behind Howe (1,049) and Stan Mikita (926) in assists. Today, Esposito is sixth in goals, 23rd in assists and 10th in points.
Tuesday marked 28 years to the day that Esposito announced his intention to head a bid for an NHL team for Tampa. Seven months later, his dream became reality with the awarding of the team Dec. 6, 1990.
"I gave birth, man," he said Tuesday of the Lightning, who began play in 1992-93. "It's my baby. It's simple."
Esposito instantly gave Tampa Bay a famous face and plenty of swagger. And he wore virtually every hat in the organization until he was fired as general manager Oct. 13, 1998, by then-owner Art Williams.
Listen to Esposito today in the Lightning broadcast booth and you'll hear a voice that often doesn't let the action of the game get in its way. He freely dispenses sharp opinion and edgy stories with his analysis.

Esposito laughed when it was suggested to him that he'll come across nothing but his fans in Boston when the Bruins and Lightning play Games 3 and 4, which is Friday.
"Well, most of them have a warm spot for me, that's all I can say," he said. "I've gotten nailed and yelled at about different things over the years."
One such occasion was for his remarks following Game 7 of the 2011 Eastern Conference Final, a 1-0 Tampa Bay loss that sent Boston to the Stanley Cup Final against the Vancouver Canucks, with the Bruins winning their most recent championship.
"The Bruins didn't get a penalty that whole [darn] game," he said, sliding past the fact that the Lightning didn't either. "I said, 'I guess they don't want Tampa against the Canucks in the Final,' and a few Bruins fans weren't very happy I said that."
Esposito will settle behind a microphone Wednesday and call another game as he uniquely sees it. And even with a lightning bolt having replaced a spoked B on his heart, he'll grudgingly admire the play of at least one Bruins player.
"Patrice Bergeron," he said of the Boston center. "He's one of the most complete, all-around players I've ever seen. He can do it all, and he's been doing it for a long time."