Power Outage - Bolts Blanked By Sens 2-0

By JC De La Torre

The two worst scoring teams in the NHL got together tonight and the outcome could have easily been predicted as the Ottawa Senators edged the Lightning 2-0. Ottawa didn't get their second goal of the hockey game until Daniel Alfredsson fired into an empty net with 0:45 left in the game, despite having 8 power play chances (they were 1-for-8).

Penalty was the word of the night for Tampa Bay as one after another, members of the Lightning paraded to the sin bin, eventually totaling in 29 total penalty minutes and 8 short handed situations. While on the penalty kill, the Lightning offensive attack was downright offensive, generating very little pressure on Ottawa Goalie Martin Gerber, who at times looked like he was fighting the puck a bit. Ottawa would finally break a scoreless deadlock when a former Bolt (albeit was a brief tenure) Alexandre Picard fired the puck past Mike Smith on the Power play for a 1-0 lead. Smith was sensational again on the night, stopping 31 of 32 shots against, while Gerber stopped all 24 shots he faced.

While some of the calls seemed borderline at best and the Lightning had grievances the way the linesman was dropping the puck on faceoffs (appearing to give Ottawa center men clear advantage), the coup de grâce came in the final moments of the game. With Mike Smith pulled for the extra attacker, the linesman dropped the puck on a face off in the Ottawa zone. Inexplicably, as the lineman Derek Amell tried to get out of the way of Mike Fisher and Jussi Jokinen battling for control, he flailed his legs and at one point lifted his skate arching upward behind his body, the skate would catch Martin St. Louis in the face as he reached down to try to gain control of the puck. St. Louis went immediately down, but play continued as Ottawa got control. As St. Louis struggled to the Lightning bench, Alfredsson put the puck in the empty net, clinching the game.

The Lightning were furious and Paul Ranger earned a 10 minute misconduct penalty. St. Louis suffered a nasty gash and needed eight stitches to close up two separate cuts on his forehead. It didn't matter as the final seconds ticked off, the Lightning were shut out for the fourth time this season and have scored three or fewer goals in twenty-eight of their thirty games this season.

Tampa Bay falls to 7-15-8 on the year and are 2-8-4 since Rick Tocchet replaced Barry Melrose as head coach.

After a tumultuous month with little to show for their troubles, the Lightning will get four days off, not playing again until Thursday.

"There will be a lot of practice time in the next four days," Tocchet told the Associated Press.

We can only hope that some of the time is spent re-teaching the scorers how to put the biscuit in the basket.

Bolts, Smith Steal 2 Points From Ottawa

By JC De La Torre

The Tampa Bay Lightning earned their third straight victory thanks to the phenomenal goaltending by Mike Smith, who made 29 saves on 31 shots and saved 6 of 8 shootout shots, including the deciding save on Dean McAmmond.

The ferocious forecheck of the Ottawa Senators got themselves several opportunities to take the lead, finally making good on one with a power play goal in the 2nd period by Antoine Vermette. Midway threw the 2nd, the Bolts tied the game at 1 on Vincent Lecavalier's 6th goal of the season. Seconds later, Dany Heatley got his 7th, to stake Ottawa back to a 2-1 lead going into the second intermission.

At the 13:48 mark of the third period, defenseman Matt Carle got his first goal as member of the Lightning with a gorgeous feed from Prospal, tying the score at 2. After an overtime period where both teams had shots to win (including a 2 on 1 that Smith made a spectacular save on), we go to the shootout, where the Bolts were 0-2 this season.

During the shootout, Lecavalier and Vermette failed to score, Jussi Jokinen did, and Daniel Alfredsson missed, setting up the final stanza where Prospal had the chance to clinch it, but unfortunately blasted it into the post. Spezza would extend the shootout with a goal. Steven Stamkos was denied, as was Ottawa's Heatley, Martin St. Louis scored on a nice deke, but Smith was also fooled and Jarrko Ruutu kept Ottawa alive with a goal. Recchi and Malone failed for the Bolts, while Fisher and Foglino failed for the Sens. Finally, Evgeny Artyukin found the back of the net on his shoot out attempt and Mike Smith watched as Dean McAmmond missed wide of the net to give the Bolts during the victory.

Don't look now folks, but your Tampa Bay Lightning are now only 1 point out of 1st place in the Southeast division.