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.
Olaf Kolzig spent over 18 years in the Washington Capitals system and played for the Caps during 16 of those years. I’m sure the nerves were shaky and his heart was pounding and it really showed in the first period of last nights game. Kolzig gave up three first period goals and that was all the Caps needed. I’m sure the Bolts expected one of those “I’m coming back to show you something” type moments from Olaf, but that’s not what they got. It’s a tough loss for all, none more so than Kolzig. We all know that he wanted nothing more than to come back and stick it to the Caps but it seems we’re all forgetting the other guy involved in this, Brent Johnson. Johnson has spent the last four seasons playing second fiddle to Kolzig and now Jose Theodore and got his shot to show everyone what he could do. Johnson stopped 34 of 36 shots and helped Washington shut down the Lightning’s still stagnant offense, who lost Ryan Malone in the first period to an injury. There’s no word on the injury yet so hopefully it’s not serious. Hard to get on anyone too much in this loss as the whole team is playing either inconsistent or poorly.
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).
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?
