points behind them. Calgary would be stunned in six games by the Kings, who split the first two games in Calgary before winning the next two (with a 12-4 loss being one of them). Only a Game 5 win delayed their demise in a Game 6 that saw them lose in double overtime. On May 7, 1990, three weeks after the defeat, Crisp was fired. He had received attention in the city due to criticizing his players in public, and he was told to tone down his fiery temper behind the bench due to the complaints from fans of his foul language. He went 144-63-33 in three seasons. The Flames did not have an immediate successor for Crisp until they hired Doug Risebrough. The Flames would not win a postseason series until 2004. Crisp was hired as the inaugural coach of the expansion team Tampa Bay Lightning on April 23, 1992. He was hired due to his "pizzazz, some jump, some color" by general manager Phil Esposito in order to help sell tickets along with coach. They lost plenty of games in the first few years (125 in the first three seasons) before the 1995–96 Tampa Bay Lightning season saw them make the postseason on the final day of the season. They had a record of 38–32–12 and made it as the 8th seed by two points. In the playoffs, they faced the Philadelphia Flyers. The Lightning won Game 2 in overtime before returning to Tampa to host their first ever playoff games. They won Game 3 in overtime, but the Flyers won the next three games to win the series. They finished 32-40-10 the following year, finishing three points out of a playoff spot. The bottom fell out the next year. They were 2-6-2 going into a matchup against the New York Rangers. They led 3-1 in the third period before the Rangers scored three straight goals to win 4-3. He was fired two days after the game on October 26. He was replaced by Rick Paterson on an interim basis for six games before Jacques Demers was brought in to coach the rest of the season, which saw them win 17 games for the second time in four seasons. He went 142–204–45 with Tampa. Broadcasting career For a time, Crisp served as a reporter for NHL on Fox. In 1997, Crisp was hired to serve as the color