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

The game against Pittsburgh included terrible passing by both teams – the bounces and breaks all seemed to go the Penguin’s way. Fleury had 33-shots fired at him and he made some very good saves giving up only 1-goal. Ramo also had 33-shots fired at him but there was no defense to help him defend the rebounds. The coaches can only tell players how to play; the players have to stick to the game plan. So many times, there were cross-ice passes with the opposition in between causing many lost possessions and scoring chances. Although in the 3^rd period, the Lightning finally got their act together and passed to the weak side and the cross-ice passes were successful because there were no Penguins in the area. Even though we out-shot the Penguins, it was too little to late.

Not that it changed the game but it appeared Dan O’Rourke had a hair you-know-where when Prospal complained about being dumped (it should have been a penalty – it was quite a mess). After the next play, Prospal continued to complain and O’Rourke slapped him with and unsportsmanlike penalty allowing the Penguins to score on the power play.

Recchi’s absence was felt (the team scratched him and Roberts so they wouldn’t get hurt before the trade deadline – Malik has been hurt all year). It’s a downer to know we finally got two scoring lines (Lecavalier, Prospal, and Malone) and (Recchi, St Louis, and Stamkos) and now they are going to trade him. He may be 41, but he is out playing the younger lads! Seeing Recchi and St Louis playing point to the improving Stamkos is exciting!

A side note: Arty is such a good skater but he skates so fast he goes faster than the puck and cannot control it. We lost a lot of scoring opportunities because Arty ended up behind the net with the puck. He did have a few good hits (maybe he is getting over being gun-shy from his suspension). He needs to go for it.

We only have 7-players (9 if you count Prospal who went to Philly, and Smaby who came up from the minors several times last year) who played on the 2007-2008 team. So out of a roster of 29 people that doesn’t allow for much ‘communication’ on the ice, especially with a revolving door bringing 45-different players on the team this year (including a wannabe coach and interim coach who I feel deserves the full title). I do have to say the AHL guys who called up during the year have shown a lot of grit, desire, and potential. Szczechura was especially fast and very good with the puck. Smaby has been a great addition to the defense so there is hope for next year as long as we don’t trade the whole team away again.

It’ll be interesting to see whom we end up with after 3 pm today (could we possibly break the 50-player mark for this year’s roster?). I try to make myself feel better by thinking perhaps the Lightning will resign Recchi to a 1-year contract during the summer since he will be a free agent and the tutelage of Stamkos can continue.

Patti

Technorati Tags: AHL, Barry Melrose, Dan O'Rourke, Evgeny Artyukhin, Karri Ramo, Marc-Andre Fleury, Marek Malik, Mark Recchi, Martin St. Louis, Paul Szczechura, Pittsburg Penguins, Rick Tocchet, Ryan Malone, Steve Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vinny Lecavalier

It’s time for the Bolts to admit that this is a rebuilding year and just start heaving the young players into the lineup to take their lumps. It’s time for the youngsters to show and prove. I have seen enough from this team this year to know that they are not going to improve behind the constant shifting of players in and out or behind some of the veterans that were supposed to fill team needs. Mike McKenna is exactly what this team needed right now. A young guy with some fire in his belly who can give this team a youthful shot of exuberance and excitement. It’s now known that Mike Smith is suffering from post concussion syndrome and I don’t see any need to rush this guy back. They need to let the young guys take over between the pipes and see who can hold their own in this league. We all know that Mike Smith is the guy and he will be until someone dethrones him, which is highly unlikely, so there should be no worries about that.

Follow the Rays my children. Get young, fiery and put some guys out there who will learn and develop. Find the guys who want to earn a job on this team and give them all they can handle. I have to think at this point that a someone like St. Louis would rather be on the ice with some young inexperienced guys who want to be there than some experienced players who are going through the motions.

It’s time for reality to set in on everyone. This team is not making the playoffs and need to start building toward the future. More playing time is needed for the youngsters and less for the so called veterans. Everyone loves the Mike McKenna story and the Lightning need to start chasing more of those types of stories than whatever they’ve been chasing so far. We need the youth movement to happen and we need it now.

Technorati Tags: Martin St. Louis, Mike McKenna, Mike Smith, Tampa Bay Lightning, Tampa Bay Rays