Bolts Blow Yet Another Lead, Fall to Canes

By JC De La Torre

The Tampa Bay Lightning lost another game in which they had a two goal lead and returned to the cellar in the Southeast division. The Lightning jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first but didn't score again as Carolina mounted a come back and gave the Hurricanes a 3-2 victory.

Ryan Craig opened the scoring at the 5:05 mark of the first period, battling in front of the net, finding the loose puck, and tipping it past Carolina goalie Cam Ward for a 1-0 lead. A little over a minute later, the Lightning struck again as Vaclav Prospal put it past for a 2-0 lead. It would be an advantage that would last until the 15:57 mark of the first, when the Hurricanes scored twice in 1:11 on goals from Justin Williams on the power play and a seeing-eye shot that went off Chad LaRose's knee pad and into the net to tie it at 2.Carolina took the lead for good midway through the second period, on Joni Pitkanen's fourth goal of the season to give Carolina the 3-2 advantage that they would not relinquish.

Two franchises going in opposite directions. Carolina won their third straight game and seventh in their last ten. Tampa Bay lost their third straight and have lost seventeen of twenty-two one goal games. Since the firing of Barry Melrose, the Lightning have struggled with a 5-11-5 record.

Tampa Bay lost another defenseman during the game, as Andrej Meszaros was struck in the face by the puck midway through the second period. Meszaros didn't return and left the Lightning with a lack of experienced defensemen. Bolts defenseman Jamie Heward continues to recover from a concussion resulting from a hit by Washington's Alex Ovechkin. The news was good for Heward as he was released from the hospital on Friday but a return to the ice good be a little while off. With the call up of Ty Wishart and the injury to Meszaros, the Lightning defense included four players that were playing for the AHL just a week ago.

"It's tough, because defensemen are so important in this league," Lightning Interim Head Coach Rick Tocchet told the Tampa Tribue, "I thought the kids coming up for us did a great job. It's a tough situation for us. The third period was probably our best period. We just couldn't get the goal to get us back in it."

Signs of Life but still a Loss for Bolts, Melrose whines to HNIC

By JC De La Torre

While former head coach Barry Melrose whined to Hockey Night in Canada, the Tampa Bay Lightning definitely looked feisty and more passionate in the debut of new interim Head Coach Rick Tocchet, unfortunately, the results were the same as Tampa Bay fell to the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 in a shootout. Tocchet's shorter shifts and reuniting of the MVP (Marty, Vinny, Prospal) line allowed for more scoring chances and kept the Bolts fresh for the 3rd period where they outshot Carolina 8-1, a dramatic turnaround from previous third period performances.

Tampa Bay's scorers were frustrated with their inability to convert on their scoring chances. Three Lightning shots hit goalposts and they were 1-for-6 on the power play including a 4-on-3 power play in overtime in which they had a man advantage for nearly two minutes.

"You get a 4-on-3, you need to score a goal, because then it can to a shootout, and then who knows," Martin St. Louis told the Associated Press, "I take full responsibility. I'm the guy that's out there, and I've got to get the job done, and I didn't."

Tampa Bay jumped to a 2-0 with a goal in the 1st by St. Louis and a power play goal in the 2nd period by Vincent Lecavalier. Carolina came to life in the second half of the 2nd period, getting goals from Wade Brookbank and Rod Brind'Amour. After a scoreless third period and overtime - the game went to a shoot out where Carolina shooters Tuomo Ruutu and Rod Brind'Amour scored on their attempts but Vincent Lecavalier was stoned and Jussi Jokinen hit the post to end it in favor of the Hurricanes.

"It's a step in the right direction," Tocchet said, "I thought the guys played well, I think they're really starting to get what we're trying to do here."

Meanwhile, former Head Coach Barry Melrose did the whine and cheese circuit over the weekend, getting interviewed by Hockey Night in Canada where he complained about the Lightning players not wanting to play for him and controlling the power in the organization.


According to an article in the St. Petersburg Times, Melrose told HNIC, "I think the players didn't want to play for me. I'm not a guy who sings Kumbaya around the fire. I'll let you know if I'm not happy with you.

"And obviously, a lot of guys didn't like to be held accountable with this team, and obviously, they went to (owners) Oren (Koules) and Len (Barrie) and said they don't like this style of coaching and 'would you get rid of him.' I don't think there was any secret about that."

True enough, there are rumors to that effect, which we discussed last week when we covered the dismissal of Melrose. But Melrose took it to the extreme, stating "the players have the power in the organization" and that they "exercised that power" with his firing.

"Now they can play who they want and how much they want and when they want and (not) demand a lot of them," he said. "Everybody's happy in Tampa right now."

This has not been mentioned in the rumors behind the termination of Melrose. While the players, it appears, definitely went to management asking for Melrose's head - its ultimately the owners Koules and Barry as well as Brian Lawton who ultimately made that call. I don't think there's any doubt who's in charge of the hockey organization and its not the players - as evidenced by the revolving door at the St. Pete Times forum.

For the record, Koules texted the St. Pete Times stating that Melrose comments were "absolutely not true".

So while one overmatched coach whines on National Television, there were glimmers of hope that the Lightning in the Tocchet era could be much more passionate and competitive than they were under Melrose. Now if only they'd stop hitting goalposts...

Bolts blow three goal lead...fall in OT

By JC De La Torre

The Tampa Bay Lightning are still looking for their first win of 2008, as they blew a 3-0 lead and fell to the Carolina Hurricanes in overtime 4-3, spoiling the Lightning's home opener.

Mark Recchi opened up the scoring for the Bolts with tap in goal from a shot by Matt Carle at the 8:20 mark of the first. Tampa Bay would make it 2-0 on Janne Niskala's first career NHL goal (and the Lightning's first on the power play this season) and after one, the Bolts held the two goal advantage.

Vincent Lecavalier scored a power play goal midway through the 2nd to stake the Lightning to a seemingly insurmountable 3-0 advantage. That's when Eric Staal and the Hurricanes took over. Brind Amour would cut the Bolts advantage to 3-1 lead with only 9 seconds left in the 2nd period.

The third period was all Carolina, they outshot the Bolts 20-2 in the period. Early in the period they got a power play goal from Matt Cullen to cut the lead to 1, then at the 9:56 mark Eric Staal would tie it.

Into overtime the game went and both teams just missing on opportunities early in the OT. It would be Staal breaking the Lightning's hearts, scoring with just 0:24 left in the overtime, to beat Tampa Bay.

On the brightside, the Lightning definitely showed the forecheck that was missing the first two games of the season, and for at least two periods they had the puck possession where they wanted it. The Lightning are obviously a work in progress for Head Coach Barry Melrose, but there were definitely some encouraging signs tonight.

Lightning open North American schedule Tomorrow

By JC De La Torre

The Tampa Bay Lightning make their North American debut on Saturday night against the Carolina Hurricanes at the St. Pete Times Forum. The Lightning will look slightly different than the one that went to the Czech Republic.

Tampa Bay traded defenseman Shane O'Brien, one of the last of former GM Jay Feaster's horrible trades, and Forward Michel Ouellet to the Vancouver Canucks for defenseman Lukas Krajicek and a minor leaguer. O'Brien never fit in to the Lightning's system under John Tortorella and seemed to be in the same boat with new head coach Barry Melrose.

The Lightning will look to shake off the 0-2 start, as they've had several practices this week, working primarily on the forecheck and puck possession. The Lightning woefully lacked physicality against the Rangers in the first two games, losing many of the one-on-one battles, which contributed to an unbelievable amount of shots against the Lightning netminders.

This has got to change to allow the Bolts snipers Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, and Steven Stamkos to get going.