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

The Bolts have been a bad team for a couple seasons now and they have become a laughing stock inside the NHL with the circus that they created since acquired by Oren Koules. They are playing better lately but still aren’t anywhere close to the realm of contention and yet I still believe they will be soon. Why? I have come up with some reasons, though they may be lame, and I’ll lay them out for you.

• I like Rick Tocchet. He has the kind of personality that makes you believe he’s got things going in the right direction. He’s a disciplinarian but he seems to have a good relationship with his players and that shows the type of people skills you want in a coach and the team plays hard for him. We’ll see if his plan works, but I like him up top for now.
• We still have Marty and Vinny. Anytime a team has two scoring machines like these guys, they could get hot and jump into contention any minute. Vinny has been hampered with a bad shoulder and looks to have lost something, but he’s not old and I think we all believe he’ll take off at some point. The problem with that statement by itself is that we all have been sort of waiting for the huge season since his arrival. Vinny works hard and has a good attitude but it seems like he’s content with being a star and not a superstar. Vinny has never put together one of those seasons where he just completely distances himself from the rest of the pack and yet for some reason we still believe he will. Puzzler. Marty is Marty and there’s no denying what he is, the ultimate hockey player in someone else’s body. Hope carries us here.
• The defense and goaltenders have showed improvement. There have been a couple solid performances but it hasn’t been consistent enough yet to say they get it, but they look to be on their way. We’re all waiting for them to show more than flashes of it, but the spurts give us hope.

All in all, we may have just overrated this team the last couple years and that’s why we’ve been disappointed and they just are what they are, but I still take the road of optimism here. Even in laying these points out I’m not convinced myself, but every time I watch this team I think it’s coming. They head to Phoenix for a tough one tomorrow so maybe the good team will show and give us more hope. If not, maybe I just need to drink more when watching this club.

Technorati Tags: Martin St. Louis, Oren Koules, Phoenix Coyotes, Rick Tocchet, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vinny Lecavalier

Martin St. Louis might well be the smallest player in the NHL, but he’s got more heart than anyone playing today. The Bolts have stepped up their game and have wiggled their way out of the bottom of the Southeastern Division of the Eastern Conference. This is no coincidence to me either that the Lightning have gone 4-2-1 since December 21 st.

That date is significant to Bolts fans because that was the day that Marty finally came out and said what we all have been thinking. St. Louis came out after a 4-3 to Atlanta and gave reporters the profanity laced tirade that they dream of getting when entering the locker room of a bad team. Marty questioned the heart of his teammates and called some “clock killers” as his frustration boiled over for the first time this season.

The great part of this was that it was little Martin St. Louis, the guy who outplays most everyone on the ice every time he suits up, with eight stitches in his face. It was spontaneous and necessary. The team seems to have responded and has played well since. Marty is not the Captain here but, in my opinion, he should be. No disrespect to Vinny here, but Lecavalier’s nonchalant attitude and playing style doesn’t translate well when you talk about being a team leader.

Vinny showed some fire when he went after Matt Cooke (who bitched out), the guy who hurt Vinny while with the Capitals last year. That was a great thing for Vinny to do, but Marty shows that kind of tenacity on a nightly basis and Vinny can’t say that. Now I’m not trying to dog out Vinny, I’m just saying that he should at least be sharing the Captain role with the guy who shows and proves every day.

Technorati Tags: Atlanta Thrashers, Martin St. Louis, Matt Cooke, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vinny Lecavalier, Washington Capitals

The Bolts have been the cellar dwellers of Tampa Bay for over a year now and things weren’t looking too good going forward. Starting the month of December the Lightning were 4-10-7 and things were looking as ugly as ever throughout the organization. The USF Bulls were 7-5 and were possibly the most disappointing team in Tampa as much bigger things were expected for them. The Bucs were 9-3 and seemingly on their way to a division title, much less a playoff birth. Fast forward to today and the Bulls capped off the month with a 41-14 win over Memphis in the St. Pete Bowl to help take the sting out of a hugely disappointing season. The Bucs pulled the ultimate choke job by going 0-4 and missing the playoffs after losing to a dismal Oakland Raider team.

The Bolts have gone 4-6-2 to this point, not great I know, but after stringing off three straight wins, look much better than they did a month ago. Now don’t get me wrong, the Lightning still are holding the crown of worst in Tampa, but after a home and away sweep of Florida and a 2-0 shutout win on the road against a very good Pittsburg Penguin team, there is a glimmer of hope for the first time in a long time for this team. The defense is still allowing too many shots on goal, but is getting better. The offense has come alive as Vinny and Marty have begun to light up the nets a little and  look much more fluid on the ice than they have all season.

As stated already, they are still the worst in Tampa, but they may not hold that title for too much longer if they keep up with these strange winning ways. They finish off the month of December at home against the Montreal Canadiens and could be starting the new year off on the right foot as the season rolls on. If the Lightning can pull themselves out of the bottom of the heap and even raise themselves into playoff contention, the argument could leave the Bulls and Bucs battling it out for worst in show here. It would be nice to see that happen.

Technorati Tags: Florida Panthers, Martin St. Louis, Memphis Tigers, Montreal Canadiens, Oakland Raiders, Pittsburg Penguins, St. Petersburg Bowl, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tampa Bay Lightning, USF Bulls, Vinny Lecavalier

I’m glad the Bolts didn’t tease us too much by winning again. I was wondering how they would follow up that win in Montreal and they took all the drama out of it real quick. They came out flat and never got anything going in their 2-0 shutout loss in Ottawa. I guess Vinny and Marty needed a break after scoring and the rest of the team must have stayed in Montreal celebrating their last win. Mike Smith played very well, stopping 31 of 32 shots on goal, but didn’t got nooffensive help throughout the game. He can’t do it alone and that’s the position got put into on Saturday night. The next game is Thursday night at home against Colorado. What’s the deal with the weirdo schedule in the NHL by the way. Five days off between games? The NHL is running itself into the ground with all this strange crap that they do and it’s sad to see such a great sport being mismanaged in this way. I’m going to try to make it to the game Thursday and get a feel from some of the fans to see how they view this franchise right now. I know I don’t have much confidence in this group right now and I’m not seeing any end to this crap in the near future either.

Technorati Tags: Colorado Avalanche, Martin St. Louis, Mike Smith, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vinny Lecavalier

The Bolts must have taken all the Barry Melrose crap to heart as they finally decided to play some Hockey tonight. They came out fired up on the road and scored twice in the first period behind goals from Marty and Vinny to take a 2-1 lead. That’s all Olaf Kolzig needed tonight as he looked very good stopping 31 of 32 shots against a good Canadiens team. These are the types of performances we hoped to get from the veteran goalie when he signed and he delivered tonight. Marty added a second goal in the second period to put the Bolts up 3-1 and that’s how it would end. At this point we’re all just looking for anything positive from this team and they gave us something to grab onto, even if it’s just for a minute. I would still like to see the defense give up less shots and the offense shoot more, I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll take any win we can get right now. Winning 3-1 while getting outshot 32 to 22 is good enough, but it’s not gonna get you very far. Maybe Marty and Vinny can start putting the offense together now that we know they’re capable of and that would bleed out to the rest of the team in every aspect. It would be a lot easier to play defense with the offense being more aggressive and the goaltending would then become better also. Ok, I’ll stop with the negativity and take the win.

Technorati Tags: Barry Melrose, Martin St. Louis, Montreal Canadiens, Olaf Kolzig, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vinny Lecavalier

   Well, how do I sum up the games the Bolts have played since I last discussed them? Oh yeah, they still suck! In the last post we had the Lightning had just got beat up by the Devils. Since then they have lost four straight to the Rangers, Wild, Avalanche and Flyers. This streak includes two OT losses which, as we all know by now, just makes me laugh. We get more points for taking longer to lose, yay! Stupid. I had thought that this team was too talented to be this bad, but I’m starting to believe that this team just isn’t that talented. St. Louis hasn’t contributed the way he can and the Bolts only have seven guys with double digit points. Now I’m not singling out Marty, he’s not the problem, I’m saying that the whole team is flat terrible right now. They look lost all over the ice and it doesn’t help that the front office looks just as confused about what they’re doing also. We seem to make a trade once a week, all the while the team just keeps going through the motions a looking like they just don’t care. The funny part now is that we see that Melrose was just the face of the circus, not the ring leader. I’ll keep my fingers crossed but it looks like it’s going to be a long, bad year for all of us involved with this team. Keep the liquor cabinet full if you plan to watch this team.

Technorati Tags: Barry Melrose, Colorado Avalanche, Martin St. Louis, Minnesota Wild, New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning

   Man that was brutal. Olaf Kolzig got beat down quickly and the Bolts didn’t stand a chance from there. The Lightning looked bad in every way giving up 5 goals before answering with 3 quick scores in the second. Vrbata, St. Louis and Malone did what they could to get the Bolts back in the game, but it was too little too late. They were outshot again 45-29 and the Devils eased up on them late. There is no breaking this down, the Lightning absolutely sucked last night! The offense can’t hang on to the puck, they flail shots with no direction and mishandle the puck way too much. The defense is atrocious, leaving holes all over, not pressuring the puck handler and let Kolzig get beat up on. Kolzig looked slow and out of it and did nothing to secure his position as temp starter while Mike Smith is out. Kari Ramo came in and did an adequate job in mopping up this mess, but the rest of the team needs to fix itself before any goalie will be able to succeed here. Smith has been coming on and Kolzig knows what he’s doing back there, but if the rest of the team skates around like they’re in the Ice-Capades and not the NHL, we’ll all be praying for more OVERTIME LOSSES! It was an embarrassing showing at home and these guys should be ashamed to go out in public right now. Melrose and Torts are gone, can you play well for anyone!? Don’t get us excited with wins if you’re going to come out and get your ass whooped the next night out. This team has too much talent to get beat like this. Stop sucking and play some GD hockey!

Technorati Tags: Barry Melrose, John Tortorella, Karri Ramo, Martin St. Louis, Mike Smith, New Jersey Devils, Olaf Kolzig, Radim Vrbata, Ryan Malone, Tampa Bay Lightning

   The Lightning finally got Rick Tocchet his first victory on Friday, yay! It was amazing, they won by more than one goal and they even stayed out of overtime and shootouts. Mike Smith stopped 34 of 35 and the Vinny’s chipped in 3 goals. Lecavalier had two goals and Prospal had one in their home win against a decent Predator team from Nashville. They came out strong going up 3-1 in the first period and Smith shut the Predators down from there. It’s what we all know this team can do and have been waiting for them to show more often. They need to put a few more game like this together and then we can all start letting go of the drama they created. St. Louis needs to get his groove back and, if Stamkos can start showing some of the ability he has, it will bleed out to the rest of the team. The best part of the crazy season the Bolts have had so far is the retarded scoring system the NHL has. The Lightning lead the league in overtime losses with 6 and that’s what’s keeping them in third place in the Southeast. They have a 6-7-6 record which is worth 18 points and keeps them from being in the basement. I will never understand the point system the NHL has in place. Take a look at the standings and see how stupid it looks when you see the Lightning ahead of two teams with more wins in the same amount of games played. Anyway, it’s good for us so I’ll go with it.

Technorati Tags: Martin St. Louis, Mike Smith, Nashville Predators, Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vaclav Prospal, Vinny Lecavalier

   The Bolts lost again tonight to the Panthers 4-3. If we can take anything out of this loss tonight, at home by the way, it’s the fact that the Bolts got 52 shots on goal tonight. I’m not going to make too much of it but they were way more aggressive tonight than in any other game this year. The Lecavavlier, St. Louis and Stamkos line got off 20 shots on goal and looked pretty good together. The defense is still awful and Mike Smith isn’t going to hold up too well all year being beaten up every night. I guess the only other good thing is the fact that they lost in a shootout, again. At least it’s taking them a while to lose instead of losing within the first three periods like most other teams do. They got the great overtime loss point also and that’s why I’m such a big fan of the NHL scoring system. Does anyone else relate this to ALL kids getting trophy’s for participation now? It seems so stupid to me. Next up is Nashville on Friday at home. Let’s do more than just participate there, huh fellas?

Technorati Tags: Florida Panthers, Martin St. Louis, Nashville Predators, Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vinny Lecavalier

   Barry Melrose appeared on Ron MacLean’s Hockey Night in Canada and tried to explain his dismissal from the Lightning. I’ve posted to video below and I encourage you to watch it and see if you find it as entertaining as I do. Thanks to Puck Daddy by the way for the heads up on this. Melrose sounds very bitter, as he should be, and blames the players by insinuating that they had to have gone to ownership and complain about him and that’s why he was “dismissed”. No shit, huh Barry? It seems that Mr. Melrose still doesn’t understand that you have to build relationships with players in order to succeed. Now let’s think about this, if things were so bad that the players had to seek out ownership to voice their displeasure with you after 16 games, you were not only NOT building relationships, you were alienating these guys. You did things so poorly that you had a revolt before you finished unpacking. There’s a lot to be said about that. This also screams poor management from the top as Oren Koules and company have created a circus in the Forum that may or may not continue. The first obvious mistake was bringing in Melrose without speaking to the players about it. Now I’m not saying every owner needs to consult with all their players regarding coaching decisions, but it’s wise to at least get a thumbs up from your stars like Vinny and Marty before forcing someone like Melrose, who hadn’t coached in 13 plus years, down their throats. It was ignorant on so many levels that it’s just funny. Let’s see, you remove a Stanley Cup winning coach who carried respect in the locker room in favor of a Hockey Analyst turned coach, nice. In doing this they traded away Dan Boyle, who also carried respect in the locker room, for a guy who you turn around and trade 12 games into his Lightning career. Ownership also GM Jay Feaster in favor of Brian Lawton and that looks to be a mistake as well. Things may not be done getting ugly, but at least the delusional Melrose is finally off the bench and can’t continue his nonsense. So long Mullet, maybe the four letter network will have you back.

Technorati Tags: Barry Melrose, Brian Lawton, Dan Boyle, Jay Feaster, John Tortorella, Martin St. Louis, Matt Carle, Oren Koules, Ron MacLean's Hockey Night in Canada, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vinny Lecavalier

   The Lightning came out fired up and ready to prove something under new coach Rick Tocchet. They looked better but couldn’t pull out a win on the road, losing 3-2. It’s a tough go in Carolina as it is, and under a new coachthey did about as good as expected. The defense only allowed 30 shots on goal, of which Mike Smith stopped 28, in regulation and overtime. They dropped it in the shootout that Carolina took when Rod Brind’Amour slipped one past Smith and Jussi Jokinen couldn’t answer. I think Tocchet is the type of coach that can get the best out of this team and he should have the rest of this season to prove it. Vinny and Marty had a goal a piece which is a great sign, especially against a tough goalie like Cam Ward. There was also talk yesterday that Steven Stamkos could be moved to the front line along side Vinny and Marty which would move Vinny Prospal to the second line with Radim Vrbata. I would like that move a lot. Stamkos said the pressure would then be on him but I disagree. I think it would take pressure off of him and give Vrbata a more experienced player to help get his offense going. There only needs to be some minor tweaking offensively to get things going and I think this move would help dramatically. The Bolts play at home tonight against the Florida Panthers and we’ll see how they do in the Forum. I’ll get to the Barry Melrose situation later today.

Technorati Tags: Barry Melrose, Cam Ward, Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, Jussi Jokinen, Martin St. Louis, Mike Smith, Radim Vrbata, Rick Tocchet, Rod Brind'Amour, Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vaclav Prospal, Vinny Lecavalier

   The Bolts headed out on the road this week looking to improve on their problematic play away from the Forum. So far, not so good. They dropped the first game in New Jersey 3-2 in overtime. Thanks to the NHL’s idiotic system, the get a point for an overtime loss. Does anyone else think this is as retarded as I do? Why should a team get a point if they LOSE?! Anyway, that game wasn’t all bad. Road game in Jersey and they were in the game all night. Last night was ugly. After getting lit up by the Rangers, the game ended 5-2, goalie Mike Smith lost it on Aaron Voros. Voros is one of those guys that plays in the crease and isn’t afraid to mix it up inside, goalie or not. Now I’m not sure if he did something dirty to Smith that I didn’t see but Smith was pretty upset with him. I’ve put the video in below for you to see if you missed it. You’ll see that Voros is playing inside as normal and Smith hits him with his stick and, everytime he got a shot, pushed and punched Voros in the back. After the play died Smith goes after Voros, pretty weakly I must say, and the fight ensues. I’m all for Smith defending his zone if Voros was playing dirty inside, but I didn’t see anything to make me think that so it appears that Smith just let his poor performance frustrate him to the point of the incident. Someone correct me if I’m wrong but I would like to see more mental toughness from our top net keeper. The Bolts sit at 4-4-4 now and need to gather themselves quickly as they still have three more road games ahead of them (Philadelphia, Washington and Florida). I do think the defense has been better but the lack of offense is killing everyone. They need to control the puck longer and be more aggressive in the zone. With Vinny, Marty and company we shouldn’t be in these close games or getting blown out this often.      

Thanks to Puck Daddy for the heads up on the video (he rips the Rangers by the way).

Technorati Tags: Aaron Voros, Florida Panthers, Martin St. Louis, Mike Smith, New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vinny Lecavalier, Washington Capitals

   The Bolts pulled out a nail-biter last night at home against Ottawa 3-2. The shootout ended with the same score of 3-2 behind Evgeny Artyukhin’s goal. Isn’t it great to have Arty back? I got to watch some of this game and I’m still catching on some of the other but I must say, what I’ve seen so far, this team is improving and it looks like we might have a pretty good season coming. Mike Smith stopped 29 of 31 and the defense looks a little more together so far this season. If things continue to progress like this this season and if the offense starts to perform like we know they can with the Vinny’s, Marty and Stamkos we could be looking at a fun season. Mike Smith looks good so far and I think we can all breathe easier with the veteran Olaf Kolzig stepping in behind him. i wasn’t sure what to think of these guys a few days ago but I’ve gotten pretty excited about them after watching them this weekend. They now sit at 4-3-3 with 11 points which is good for third in the Southeast division behind Carolina and Washington. Are we looking at another playoff run for the Bolts?

Technorati Tags: Carolina Hurricanes, Evgeny Artyukhin, Martin St. Louis, Mike Smith, Olaf Kolzig, Steve Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vaclav Prospal, Vinny Lecavalier, Washington Capitals