Tampa Bay Sports Blog

Game 1 – St Louis:

Meeting Sully Friday before the game was interesting.  The team has had to go through several transitions this season:  Melrose – Tocchet – Shoulder Surgeries (defenseman revolving door) – Trade Deadline.  We heard the game plan, and then we heard about what to look for on the ice from both teams.  Past problems mentioned included the defense passing the puck too many times in the defensive zone, instead of one pass and get it the puck up the ice.  Also, the Lightning only has 9-players with NHL experience.  The rest have limited or no experience.  Ouch!

The coaches challenged the Lightning players with taking the diagonal passes away from the St Louis Blues and crowding their goalie from inside the dots so he couldn’t see.  The crowding wouldn’t stop the initial save, but more times than not it would allow a rebound shot to get by the opposing goalie.  Unfortunately, the best person at crowding the goalie, Bugsy (Ryan Malone), was out with the flu.  The Lightning also needed to improve on the power play.  They were ranked near the bottom, moved all the way up to 16^th in the league, and fell back down towards the bottom when Mesaros and Ranger left for shoulder surgeries.

The Lightning also had to deal with a goalie who was ranked 6^th and is now ranked 2^nd in the league in goals against average, a team that ranked 10^th in power play percentage, and 9^th in penalty kills.  Recchi is gone; Roberts sat out.  We may have seen him play his last game on March 1^st.  Is he contemplating retiring before the end of the season or do the Lightning not want to pay the $10,000 per game stipend he receives for each game he plays. 

The game begins.  The first two periods were lack luster – neither team seemed to want the puck giving it up in each defensive zone.  Players still passed the puck too many times in the defensive zone.  The Lightning never had any defensemen helping Ramo in front of the net.  The lucky bounces went the Blue’s way and they were ahead 2-0.  A totally different Lightning team showed up for the third period.  The Lightning didn’t play dead, they didn’t give up, and they kept trying to do what they needed to win the game.  St Louis and Pettinger each scored, and with less than a minute left in regulation, the improving rookie, Stamkos scored the tying goal.  Alas, Boyes from the Blues scored within 1-minute of overtime to win the game.

Game 2 – Carolina:

Not too much to say here!  Again, players still gave the puck away too many times in the defensive zone.  Carolina scored 3-times in the first and 6-times in the second period.  Not only did Staal have a hat trick, he scored 4-goals and had 6-points in the game.  Ruutu and Cole didn’t fair too badly either.  St Louis scored in the first, Lecavalier and Malone scored goals in the third, where it appeared the Hurricanes had let up a little.  The only Lightning player who looked like he was playing for his life was Arty (guess he read the St Pete Times with his coffee that morning).

Big question – who will be here next year?  They can’t trade 21-players . . . or can they?

Technorati Tags: Andrej Meszaros, Barry Melrose, Evgeny Artyukhin, Gary Roberts, Mark Recchi, Martin St. Louis, Mike Sullivan, Paul Ranger, Rick Tocchet, Ryan Malone, Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vinny Lecavalier

Brian Lawton said he was looking for draft choices – we got one. We did get some depth at defense. After sitting Recchi and Roberts Tuesday night so they wouldn’t be injured, Recchi was traded and Roberts cleared waivers. Looks like Stamkos’ tutelage will continue under the watchful eyes of Gary Roberts.

Boston picked up Mark Recchi and a 2^nd round draft pick in 2010 for 2-minor leaguers – Matt Lashoff, 22 (defenseman) and Martins Karsums, 23 (forward). The Bruins will benefit from having Recchi (I hate seeing him go – I read Boston is planning on signing him for the 2009-2010 season in the Boston Globe).

Recchi gives the Bruins playoff experience and a veteran presence. Recchi, at 41, with 535 career goals joins Phil Esposito (Lightning founder and 620 WDAE radio color commentator), Dave Andreychuk (Lightning 2004 Stanley Cup Captain and current Community Representative for the Lightning), John Bucyk, and Joe Mullen in the small group Bruins scoring more than 500-goals. He has 2-Stanley Cups, he is a 7-time All-Star, and he has accumulated 1426 points over his career.

Lashoff hasn’t played any NHL games, but he appears to be a good prospect for the Lightning on paper. Karsums played in 6-games for the Bruins this year and he has 17-goals, 24-assists, and 20-penalty minutes in 43-minor league games played.

The Panthers got Steve Emminger (the only healthy, experienced, defenseman we have left) Noah Welch (defenseman) and a 3^rd round draft pick in 2009. Welch was injured most of the last two seasons but has played 23-games in the minors this season. This was a salary dump to be sure – the Lightning wouldn’t be able to pay what he would get in arbitration!

The biggest deal has to be the way the Lightning unloaded 3-injured players to the Maple Leafs for Richard Petiot (defenseman). Toronto got Olaf Kolzig (goalie) who had surgery, Jamie Heward (defenseman) out with a concussion, Andy Rogers (minor-league defenseman) who has a back injury, and a 4^th round draft pick. Another salary dump???

The salary dumps should help us get some help over the summer – I just hope we don’t trade the whole team again! I will be at the coach’s chalk talk tomorrow before the game – I’m interested in hearing what there plans are for the rest of the season as far as the line formations go.

Technorati Tags: Andy Rogers, Boston Bruins, Brian Lawton, Carolina Hurricanes, Dave Andreychuk, Gary Roberts, Jamie Heward, Joe Mullen, John Bucyk, Mark Recchi, Martins Karsums, Matt Lashoff, Noah Welch, Olaf Kolzig, Phil Esposito, Richard Petiot, Stanley Cup, Steve Emminger, Steve Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs