Bolts Blow Two Goal Lead to Panthers, Fall 4-3

By JC De La Torre

The Tampa Bay Lightning dominated the first period of their cross-state rivals, the Florida Panthers, outshooting Florida 11-4 and outscoring them 3-1 going into the first intermission. Unfortunately for Tampa Bay, twenty minutes isn't an entire game and the Panthers came roaring back with three unanswered goals in the second period to pull off a 4-3 victory.

Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos was a healthy scratch for the second time in five games as the Lightning continue on their strength and conditioning program for the 2008 #1 overall pick.

Vincent Lecavalier opened up the scoring at the 4:37 mark of the 1st and Vaclav Prospal added a power play goal at 13:36 to give the Lightning a 2-0 advantage. Florida got on the board late in the first with Greg Campbell's 9th of the season. A minute later, the Lightning answered with Ryan Malone's 13th goal of the season. That would be the extent of the Tampa Bay scoring.

The second period was all Panthers, as they received goals from Cory Stillman and Richard Zednik, outshooting Tampa Bay 13-9. With only one second left in the period and the game tied at 3, Jay Bouwmeester fired the puck toward the net on the power play and it got across the goal line before time expired, giving the Panthers a 4-3 lead they wouldn't relenquish.

In the third, the Lightning peppered Florida goalie Tomas Vokoun, who relieved Craig Anderson after Tampa Bay's third goal, outshooting the Panthers 13-4 but Vokoun make all thirteen saves and Florida held on for the victory.

"We had started the game great," Prospal told the St. Pete Times, "We didn't give them anything in the first period. In the second period, we gave them all the momentum."

Bolts Get Butts Handed To Them in San Jose

By JC De La Torre

As bad games go, this one was hell...I don't think the diehards stayed up to watch the debacle that the Lightning displayed on the ice last night. The San Jose Sharks emphatically showed why they are among the league's elite and the Lightning are with the dregs. 7-1 was the final, but it felt so much worse. With rumors swirling regarding the Bolts only true Superstar Vincent Lecavalier being on the trading block and playing backup goalie Kari Ramo against best team in hockey, it was a recipe for disaster.

The Sharks jumped on Tampa Bay quickly, scoring just 2:17 into the game. Joe Thorton made it 2-0 in the closing minutes of the first. Tampa Bay tried to rally, young Steven Stamkos scored for the first time since Phil Esposito was playing for the B's to cut the Sharks advantage to 2-1. That would be as close as Tampa Bay would get as Thorton would light the lamp again to make it 3-1, followed by Milan Michalek and Ryane Clowe to build a 5-1 lead going into second intermission.

San Jose added to the embarrasment of the Bolts with two more goals in the first two minutes of the third period, giving them the 7-1 margin. Tampa Bay is dealing with several injuries on the blue line and it showed with the likes of Kevin Quick playing for the Lightning. Ramo was blistered for 42 shots, saving 35.

"The guys tried back there, but it's tough," Tocchet told the Associated Press, "It's asking a lot of these guys to come up and play against Thornton and those guys. That's a tall order. When you give this team any momentum with their power play, you're done. We got it to 2-1, and for a five-minute stretch there I thought we could squeak something out there, but then we took a rash of penalties."

Bolts Win For Third Time on Road Trip

By JC De La Torre

The Tampa Bay Lightning won for the third time in four tries, clinching a winning record for the current five game road trip, by defeating the Los Angeles Kings 3-1. Tampa Bay took control of the game late in the first period, getting goals within forty-one seconds of each other by Evgeny Artyukhin at 18:16 and Mark Recchi at 18:57 to give them a 2-0 lead going into the first intermission.

Vincent Lecavalier added a goal 5:48 into the second to give the Lightning a 3-0 cushion. Late in the second period, Peter Harrold got the Kings on the board. They would get no closer, as goalie Mike Smith made 29 saves to shut down the Kings attack.

Tampa Bay is now 3-1 on their road trip and 6-3-1 in their last 10 games. The Lightning should get a great measuring stick tonight as they face one of the league's best, the San Jose Sharks.

Bolts Win the Battle of the Worst in SE Division

By JC De La Torre

It's been two years since the Tampa Bay Lightning won a game in Atlanta. That changed Sunday when the Lightning got two goals from Martin St. Louis and Goalie Mike Smith came within 21 seconds of a shutout in route to a 4-1 thrashing of Atlanta. The victory allowed Tampa Bay to hop the Thrashers and get out of the cellar in the Southeast division.

The Lightning jumped on Atlanta quickly, getting a power play goal from Steve Eminger at the 2:41 mark of the first period to open the scoring. Tampa Bay dominated play in the 1st, out shooting the Thrashers 13-7 during the opening stanza. St. Louis made it 2-0 midway through the second when Vincent Lecavalier fooled Atlanta goalie Kari Lehtonen with a fake shot, passed to St. Louis who deposited it in the opening net. St. Louis made it 3-0 on the power play a minute into the 3rd period and Ryan Malone would add another goal late in the game to make it 4-0. Atlanta's Erik Christensen spoiled Mike Smith's bid for a shutout with 21 seconds left, scoring on a rebound during a scrum in front of the net.

The Lightning notch their 11th victory of the season and will enjoy a four day rest before heading out to the west coast for a four game swing.

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."

New Year, Same Results for Tampa Bay, Caps Win 7-4

By JC De La Torre

It wasn't exactly how the Tampa Bay Lightning wanted to ring in 2009. Washington Capitals Superstar Alex Ovechkin scored a goal and assisted on two others to lead the Caps past the Tampa Bay Lightning 7-4 in a night that Bolts goalie Mike Smith would soon like to forget.

Smith was shelled for all seven goals, the most given up by a Lightning goalie this season. Tampa Bay perhaps partied a little too much in the Nation's capital, as Washington jumped on the Bolts 3-0 in the first with goals from Sean Collins, Dave Steckel, and Mike Green and were outshot 15-8.

As typical for the Lightning, they rallied in the second, getting two goals in the 1st 2:37 of the period from Vincent Lecavalier and Ryan Malone to pull within 3-2. Eleven seconds after Malone pulled Tampa Bay within one, Matt Bradley reestablished the two goal cushion on a poor clearing attempt by Mike Smith. Vincent Lecavalier would again show some late period heroics, as he scored with 0:16 second left in the 2nd period to make it 4-3 going into intermission.

At the 8:07 mark of the third, Boyd Gordon would victimize a lazy clearing attempt by Smith again, putting the Caps back up by 2 goals. Mark Recchi pulled the Lightning close at the 12:22 mark of the third with his ninth of the season, but twenty-five seconds later, Chris Clark would get his first goal of the season, giving the Caps a 6-4 advantage. Ovechkin would score late to give Washington their final margin of victory and Tampa Bay their second straight defeat.

There was a very scary moment in the hockey game in the third period, when Lightning defenseman Jamie Heward was checked hard into the board by Ovechkin. Heward's head appeared to hit the class and he crumpled to the ice, lying still for several minutes. A stretcher was brought on to the ice and he was rushed to Sibley Memorial Hospital. Heward had a concussion but movement in all of his extremities and is being held at the hospital for evaluation.

"It was an accident and I'm very sorry," Ovechkin said to the AP following the game, "I never want to hurt somebody, especially my old teammate. It's hard and I'm very sorry, but it's a game and it's a moment. He turns and I have speed. ... I hope he is OK."

The hit by Ovechkin was a clean one and Heward's injury was just a tragic reminder of the physicality of NHL Hockey.

We at the TBSB wish Jamie a speedy recovery.

Bolts Win Streak Ends at 3 - Offense/Shootout Woes Continue

By JC De La Torre

Well, it was nice while it lasted. The Tampa Bay Lightning's modest three game win streak was snapped when the offense failed to produce and the bugaboo of the shootout reared its ugly head in a 2-1 shoot out loss to the Montreal Canadiens.

It was a tough, competitive hockey game for the Lightning against a playoff caliber opponent, a good measuring stick to see how far away they are from being a contender. The answer? Not too far if the last four games are to be believed. Tampa Bay has scoring power with superstars like Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and young players like Ryan Malone and Steven Stamkos. They just haven't been converting on their opportunities. Tampa Bay has scored three or less goals in thirty-four of their thirty-six games this season and in the new NHL, where scoring is a premium - that's just not going to get the job done.

Tampa Bay took the lead midway through the first on a power play goal by Vaclav Prospal. The 1-0 lead would hold until early in the third period, where 46 seconds into the period, Guillaume Latendresse tied the game on the rebound that hit Mike Smith and went into the net. Each team had chances to win in winding minutes of regulation, Tampa Bay's 6'5" behemoth Evgeny Artyukhin showed his strength and speed, bulling past the Montreal defense with 1:48 left in the period and slipped the puck through the five hole of Montreal goalie Carey Price but the odd angle saw the puck skid through the crease and safely wide of the net. Montreal's Andrei Kostitsyn's blast went off the goal post with six seconds left in regulation, sending the game to overtime.

In the extra session, Artyukhin again showed his skill, bulling past a defender, exuding patience as Price flopped to the ice, but he couldn't get the shot high enough to finish the play, a minute later, Montreal's Maxim Lapierre had Mike Smith down and dead to rights but Smith robbed him with an unbelievable glove save that had Lapierre looking up to the hockey gods.

In the shootout, Smith wasn't very good, allowing Montreal's Alexei Kovalev and Maxim Lapierre to score pretty easily. The Lightning got a nifty goal from Jussi Jokinen, but Vaclav Prospal and Vincent Lecavalier failed in their opportunities to give Montreal the victory.

Tampa Bay earned points for the fourth straight game, while Montreal improved to 5-0-1 in their last six. Montreal did lose Alex Tanguay in the first period after being checked hard into the boards by Artyukhin. He reportedly has an upper body injury and is expected to undergo an MRI exam on today.

Three of a Kind - Tampa Bay wins their 3rd straight

By JC De La Torre

The Tampa Bay Lightning's stars aligned for a 6-4 smashing of cross state rivals, the Florida Panthers in a game that was not as close as the score indicated. The Lightning's Vincent Lecavalier nabbed two goals and an assist while Martin St. Louis and Ryan Malone scored four points each as Tampa Bay won their third straight game for the first time in the Rick Tocchet era.

Steven Stamkos opened up the scoring at the 7:06 mark of the first, then, midway through the period, Evgeny Artyukhin on a rare power play chance powered home a goal on a 5-on-3 opportunity to give the Lightning a 2-0 going into first intermission. Tampa Bay outshot the Panthers a remarkable 21-3 in the first and it was the play of Panther goalie Tomas Vokoun that kept this one from being ugly early.

The second period got a little dicey for Tampa Bay. Usually their strongest period, it was the Panthers who showed some fire coming out of the dressing room as David Booth sliced the Bolts lead to 2-1 at the 3:09 mark of the 2nd. A little over a minute later, Vincent Lecavalier would net his first of the night to restore the Lightning's two goal cushion. They say the two goal lead is the most uncomfortable in hockey and Tampa Bay found out why. With Tampa Bay defensemen Matt Smaby and Paul Ranger off for interference and tripping respectively, the Panthers took advantage of their 5-on-3 advantage, getting a goal Nathan Horton at the 16:27 mark of the second period. Seconds later, the Panthers would strike again on the second half of the two man advantage, this time it was David Booth getting his second of the period and Tampa Bay's commanding lead suddenly evaporated. Vincent Lecavalier found a gift in the closing seconds of the period as he gloved a flying puck, dropped it quickly to the ice and blasted it past Vokoun with only five second left in the period to give Tampa Bay the lead going into intermission.

The Bolts reestablished their dominance (boy, its been a long time since I typed that) in the third getting a beautiful spin-a-rama goal from Malone to make it 5-3 and then a crazy goal by Marty St. Louis. St. Louis missed badly but stayed in front of the net, the puck ricocheted off the boards, right back to his stick and St. Louis dropped it past a thoroughly confused Vokoun to give the Lightning a 6-3 advantage at the 7:46 mark of the third. Six goals was a season high for Tampa Bay. Stephen Weiss' seeing-eye goal at the 13:57 mark sliced the lead to 6-4 but that would be as close as the Panthers would get. Tampa Bay killed off a questionable holding call on Ryan Malone and missed a couple chances at an empty netter for Lecavalier to get his first hat trick of the season.

"The last three games, I really feel guys are on the same page - the most we've been on the same page all year," right wing Marty St. Louis told the Tampa Tribune, "We're seeing it in the results."

Tampa Bay's third straight victory gets the Lightning to the 10 win plateau (finally) and shockingly gets the Bolts out of the cellar in the Southeast division with a 10-16-9 record that's good for 29 points. Despite their little surge, the Bolts remain 10 points out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Lightning go for their season high fourth straight victory Tuesday night against the Montreal Canadiens.

Break Up the Bolts - Lightning win 2nd Straight

By JC De La Torre

The Tampa Bay Lightning won their 2nd straight game - Lightning fans, that's called a winning streak - for the first time since October and did it in shocking fashion - a shoot out victory over the Florida Panthers 4-3. Its only the second victory for the Lighting in a shoot out this season (Tampa Bay is now 2-6 in shoot outs, snapping a 5 game losing streak in games decided by shootout) and the Lightning will go for their first 3 game win streak of the season tonight at the St. Pete Times Forum on the second half of the home-and-home with the Panthers.

The teams exchanged goals in the first period with Tampa Bay's Steve Eminger opening the scoring at 11:24 mark, then Florida's Keith Ballard tied it with only 1:32 left in the period. Tampa Bay took control of the game late in the second, getting goals from Mark Recchi and Evgeny Artyukhin with two minutes of each other, the last coming with only 1:23 left in the period to make it 3-1 after two.

The Lightning held that advantage until the 13:37 mark of the third, when former Bolt Corey Stillman converted on the power play to shave the Tampa Bay lead to one. It would hold up until the final minute of the game, when the Panthers pulled their goalie for the extra attacker and it paid off with 0:14 seconds left when Bryan McCabe tied it at 3, a devastating blow to a Tampa Bay hockey team struggling for victories.

Still, the Lightning proved some resiliency, fighting through the overtime and getting it to the shoot out, where Ryan Malone won it with a wrister past goaltender Craig Anderson and sent the Bolts into celebration.

"We talk about building on things," Steve Eminger told the St. Pete Times, "We played a pretty good game, and we ran into some trouble in the end, had some penalty trouble, and that will happen. To build on it, you have to find some way to win, and if it's a shootout, then it's a shootout. We just have to keep on."

Tampa Bay goes for double digit victories tonight as they remain the only team in the NHL not to reach 10 victories on the season. Goalie Mike Smith was solid again, making 25 saves on 28 shots.

A Merry Christmas for Bolts, Blank Pittsburgh 2-0

By JC De La Torre

The Tampa Bay Lightning have given what is tantamount to a lump of coal in Lightning fans stockings all season, but on Christmas Eve, Tampa Bay's coal broke into a gem of a game against one of the NHL's best offensive powers, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Tampa Bay limited the Penguins to just 15 shots and no goals while getting some unexpected offensive production from one of their role players to defeat Pittsburgh 2-0.

It was the first victory for Mike Smith since November 21st. "It's like a sigh of relief," Smith told the Associated Press, "You almost forget how to win."

After a scoreless first, Tampa Bay's Matt Pettinger lit the lamp at the 5:15 mark of the 2nd period on a great feed from behind the net by Paul Szczechura to give Tampa Bay a 1-0 advantage. Tampa Bay's defense limited the opportunities of the Penguins, especially superstars Malkin and Crosby, holding the Penguins to only 4 shots in the second period.

At the 11:14 mark of the third period, Szczechura would put the Lightning up 2-0 with a redirect of Jussi Jokinen shot toward the goal. Tampa Bay's much maligned defense would once again play strong, limiting the powerful Penguins to only 3 shots in the third and held on for a surprisingly easy 2-0 victory.

While definitely not playing their best hockey, the Penguins described the loss as embarrassing and coach Michel Therrien blamed the schedule but also his team's effort.

"The schedule is pretty tough. We just played four games in six days. Those are excuses," he told the AP, "We don't have the right attitude. We like to complain about each other on the bench and on the ice. They better wake up pretty quick. ... I'm really disappointed with their work ethic and the concentration. Until they change their attitude, we are going to have the same results."

Tampa Bay on the other hand was happy to give this Christmas gift to their fans, "You can't say enough about the way the guys played," Goalie Mike Smith said, "The defense was great. As a core, they played outstanding. The forwards were coming back and helping the defense out. In order for us to win, we have to have that full commitment from everybody."

Bolts Lose Another 1 Goal Game

By JC De La Torre

The Tampa Bay Lightning's inability to win close games reared its ugly head once again as they fell 4-3 to South East division rivals, the Atlanta Thrashers 4-3 in a wild contest at Phillips Arena. Kari Lehtonen was making his first start in a couple weeks for the Thrashers and gave up goals on the first two shots he faced but saw his team rally in the first period to give him a lead going into the 1st intermission.

Just 0:18 into the hockey game, Slava Kozlov found a lose puck, skated in and put it past Tampa Bay goalie Mike Smith to give the Thrashers a quick 1-0 lead. Tampa Bay would tie it at the 3:54 mark of the first period when Martin St. Louis ended an 0-for-26 power play streak for the Lightning with his eleventh goal of the season. At the 8:15 mark of the first, Adam Hall would get a rare goal to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead. Atlanta exploded back late in the 1st period, getting goals from Eric Perrin and Todd White to jump back ahead 3-2.

After a scoreless 2nd period, Atlanta increased their advantage at the 4:06 mark of the third period to make it 4-2. Tampa Bay would make one last rally, as St. Louis got his second of the night on the man advantage to pull the Lightning within 1. Tampa Bay dominated the third period, outshooting the Thrashers 24-6, benefiting from three straight penalties called on Atlanta. The Lightning could only cash in on one of their opportunities and that would be the difference in the game. Lehtonen was sensational in the third, making 23 saves to preserve the Thrasher lead.

Frustration has set in for the Tampa Bay Lightning, who now have lost 17 of their last 19 games.

"It's frustrating," St. Louis told the Associated Press, "I don't think there are enough guys that really want to win."

Refs Rob Lightning in Shootout

By JC De La Torre

The Tampa Bay Lightning have found a myriad of ways to lose this season but in this game, the Bolts deserved a better fate. A terrible call by referee Tim Peel cost Tampa Bay in the shootout as the Bolts fell 2-1 to the Colorado Avalanche. Peele ruled that Lightning goalie Mike Smith threw his stick at Milan Hejduk during his shootout attempt and awarded a goal. Video replays showed that there was no throwing motion, Smith went for the poke check, missed then spun around to try and get his blocker on the shot, as Smith lifted up his blocker, he dropped his stick to the ice and made the save.

The call ruined a terrific performance by Smith, who made 34 saves, some in spectacular fashion to get the Lightning to the shootout. Paul Stastny scored at the 3:46 mark of the 1st period to give Colorado an early 1-0 advantage, the lead would hold until the midway through the second, when Jeff Halpern made his triumphant return to the Lightning line up with a goal. Halpern's offense was sorely missed and as he works himself back into the flow of the game, he'll make a big impact on the Lightning.


Tampa Bay outshot the Avalanche 38-35 and dominated the overtime, with Vinny Lecavalier, Vaclav Prospal, and Martin St. Louis each just missing opportunities to end it. Then came the controversial shoot out where Jussi Jokinen, Wojtek Wolski, and Vincent Lecavalier were stopped on their chances setting up Milan Hejduk's opportunity. Hejduk skated in, deked and fired a shot toward the Lightning goal that Tampa Bay goalie Mike Smith saved with his blocker. Hejduk then yelled at the referees that Smith threw his stick, the officials huddled for several minutes, then referee Peel made the call. Mike Smith darted from his goal line screaming at the officials, the Lightning bench exploded in protest. Head coach Rick Tocchet demanded from the officials "Who made the call, who made the call?" and was told by Peel, "Its a consensus of all of us." Tocchet said he asked again, "Who saw him throw the stick at Hejduk?" but no one would take responsibility. Martin St. Louis pointed to the video replay on the jumbotron and shook his head in disgust when told by the referees that it wasn't a reviewable play. With the call made, St. Louis tried his penalty shot, but fired into the pads of Andrew Raycroft and the giddy Avalanche erupted in celebration, causing the frustrated Lightning fans to shower the ice in debris. Definitely not the proudest moment for Lightning fans but their dismay is definitely understandable.

This hockey team needs every victory they can get to have a victory robbed from them is just a travesty of justice. The NHL instituted the shootout as something exciting for the fans, something that would eliminate sister-kissing ties but the fact they don't have the foresight to make something like this reviewable is just ridiculous.

"I guess if you're winning, if you're up in the standings, those calls seem to go your way," Mike Smith lamented to the Sun Sports Network after the game.

If, by some miracle, the Lightning rally but miss the playoffs by one point - this will be a game that will be remembered. If Colorado wins a division or beats out another team for the final playoff spot by 1 point - it will be because of this farce. I don't believe the fix was in, I just believe in what I've always believed, the NHL referees' incompetence.

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 Find Victory! Atlantis Next?

By JC De La Torre

Like the lost continent of Atlantis or the Ark of the Covenant, its been a long arduous search for victory for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Nine straight games, the Bolts went without the second point, making the fans begin to believe that it was a myth. Its not, Lightning fans...your hockey team just got two points for their 3-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

Its almost poetic justice that the Lightning broke their skid in Montreal, where the two stars who combined for the Lightning goals hail from, Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier.

Monteal's Patrice Brisebois scored at the 5:34 mark of the first period and the Lightning appeared to be in for another long night. Tampa Bay controlled the play in the first period, outshooting the Canadiens 11-8 and were finally rewarded when Martin St. Louis lasered a shot past Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak at the 10:49 mark of the first to tie the game at 1. A couple minutes later, Vincent Lecavalier scored his 12th of the season to give the Bolts their first lead of the game.

From there, apparently the apalling idea that Tampa Bay could potentially win the game was too much for referrees Marc Joannette, Dean Morton to take as four straight penalties were called on Tampa Bay in the 2nd period. It wouldn't matter - as with Marek Malik off for interference, Martin St. Louis rekindled some of his old magic, stealing a puck at center ice and skating in all along on Halak, putting it past him to give the Bolts a 3-1 lead that would hold through the rest of the 2nd and most of the third.

The game wouldn't end without adventure though, as Vinny Lecavalier was called for hooking Alex Tanguay with 1:39 left in the game. Lecavalier gave a little noise on the way to the sin bin and was nailed will an unsportsmanlike as well. The Lightning managed to kill it off and taste victory for the first time since November 21st and erased the disappointment of previous night's 4-2 loss in Buffalo where Tampa Bay blew a two goal lead.

Tampa Bay finally gets their 7th win and improve to 7-14-8 on the year.

Bolts Beaten In Boston

By JC De La Torre

The Tampa Bay Lightning fell behind 3-0 and their rally fell short as they dropped their 8th straight game, this time to the Boston Bruins, 5-3.

Milan Lucic, Phil Kessel, Michael Ryder scored first period goals for Boston. Tampa Bay got within 3-1 on a goal from Adam Hall, but Zdeno Chara's goal at the 18:43 mark of the second period to re-establish the Bruins three goal advantage.

The Lightning did make one last comeback bid in the third period, with Vincent Lecavalier scoring at the 9:27 mark of the third period to cut it to 4-2, it would stay that way until there were 0:28 left in the game, when rookie Paul Szczechura got his first career NHL goal to pull the Lightning within 1 but P.J. Axelsson would finish this one off with an empty net goal.

"I don't know if we're a dumb team or we just don't get it, or we don't deserve to be in this league," Lightning goalie Mike Smith told the Associated Press, "I mean, we're making the same mistakes we talk about, game in and game out."

"To me it's an embarrassment when you have more than three or four individuals not ready to play," Lightning coach Rick Tocchet said to the AP.

Tampa Bay falls to 6-13-8 on the year.

Same Old Story - Bolts Close But Not Close Enough...

By JC De La Torre

The Tampa Bay Lightning have been involved in a league high 20 1-goal games. Guess how many of those they have won? That number would be four. Tampa Bay is 4-16 in one goal games (including OT and shootout losses) and that folks is why they've lost seven straight and only have six wins total on the season. It continued again at home against the Buffalo Sabres in a 4-3 loss. During their skid, four of the losses have been by one goal, two others were by two goals, with the final goal coming on an empty netter. Basically folks, this hockey team does not know how to win close games.

Drew Stafford and Martin St. Louis exchanged goals in a surprisingly chippy first period. Twice the gloves were dropped in the first with Tampa Bay's Radek Smolenak battling Buffalo's Paul Gaustad and was followed by the fiery one, Steve Downie, taking on Buffalo's Adam Mair (Mair dominated that one).

Downie vs. Mair Video Courtesy of HockeyFights.com

The 2nd Period was a wild one with pucks bouncing in from all different directions. Buffalo's Thomas Vanek broke the tie at the 9:46 mark of the second period with a goal that went off a Lightning defenseman and into the net. Second later, Lightning Defenseman Paul Ranger answered on a nice feed from Vincent Lecavalier to make it 2 all. At the 14:41 mark of the second, Jochen Hecht deflected in his third goal of the season to give Buffalo a 3-2 advantage. Again, the resilient Lightning responded when Buffalo goalier Ryan Miller lost track of the puck during a scrum in front of the net, the Bolts Vaclav Prospal found it and had the shot riccohet off the staff of a Buffalo defender, then the back of Miller and into the net. As the period closed, Lightning captain and Superstar Vincent Lecavalier showed his grit, taking on Jochen Hecht for the third fight of the night. Hecht would connect on a nasty shot to the knows that momentarily hurt Lecavalier, he would return.

Lecavalier vs. Hecht Video Courtesy of HockeyFights.com

Midway through the third period, Derek Roy slipped a shot past a screened Mike Smith to give the Sabres back the lead for good. The Lightning had a few chances to tie in the final minutes, including six shots on their final power play, but they couldn't get the equalizer past Smith and Buffalo held on for the win.

The skid continues for the Bolts as they fall to 6-12-8 on the season, last in the SE Division. While at this point even uttering the word playoffs brings to mind the image of Jim Mora's famous rant, amazingly, Tampa Bay is only 7 points out of a playoff spot. If the Lightning could just learn how to win close games, they could quickly go on a run and get right back in this thing. First things first, they gotta get win number one and now they'll have to do it on the road as they head out for a five game tour of the northeast division.

Power Outage Continues for Bolts

By JC De La Torre

Despite a stellar goaltending performance by Mike Smith and solid performances from superstars Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis, the Tampa Bay Lightning's inability to put the biscuit in the basket saw them fall to one of the hottest teams in hockey, the Boston Bruins, 3-1.

For Lightning fans, its maddening to see spectacular saves from Smith, world class moves from Lecavalier and laser shooting from St. Louis go to waste. Tim Thomas had a superb performance in net for Boston as well, stopping multiple chances by Lecavalier and St. Louis, as well as point blank chances from Steve Downie and Vaclav Prospal to give Boston another victory. The Lightning are so close to being a good hockey club but one lapse in concentration here, one bonehead play there seem to be the difference between winning and losing for Tampa Bay.

Just 1:21 into the game, Vincent Lecavalier deked a Bruin defenseman and then deposited a perfect pass on the stick of Martin St. Louis, who lasered it past a sprawling Thomas to make it 1-0. Unfortunately for the Bolts, that would be the extent of the scoring on the night. Oh, they would have other chances to score, but Thomas met every challenge. Boston tied it in the 2nd period, as Marc Savard found Phillip Kessel all alone in front of the Tampa Bay net and Kessel wasted no time in putting it behind Smith. It would remain tied until 8:17 in the 3rd period with Tampa Bay on the powerplay, young David Krejci extended his scoring streak to six games by picking up a Lightning turnover, making some sparkling moves, then faking out Mike Smith to put it in the net giving Boston a 2-1 lead. Kessel would add an empty-netter with 1 second left to give Boston their final margin.

It was a night and day performance for Tampa Bay Goalie Mike Smith, who struggled in his last outing, was sensational, outright robbing the Bruins on several chances while putting up a 92% save percentage. The Lightning outshot the Bruins 31-26, one of their better defensive performances of the season.

Tampa Bay has now lost six straight games and fall to 6-11-8. Tampa Bay remains in 4th in the Southeast division with 20 pts.

Lightning Again Fall Short

By JC De La Torre

For the Tampa Bay Lightning it equals baby steps back to respectability, for the rest of the NHL - it equals failure. Failure to earn a second point in a game they clearly had ample opportunity to win, failure to snap a long losing streak, and failure to erase the stigma of having the least victories of any team in the NHL. In the end, the Lightning gave a clinic on how to fail, falling in overtime to the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3.

Mike Smith did not play one of his better games last night, managing a very un-Smith-like .875 save percentage. Jeff Carter opened up the scoring for the Flyers on the power play early in the first as his seeing-eye blast some how found a hole and snuck past Smith to give the Flyers a 1-0 lead. The Lightning would answer back with former Flyer Mark Recchi putting in a rebound on the power play to tie it at 1 with 9:10 left in the 1st. With 2:33 left in the first, Scottie Upshall was given a 5 minute major and a game misconduct for viciously boarding Evgeny Artyukhin - giving Tampa Bay a full five minutes of power play time. They failed to take advantage during the final 2:33 of the 1st period and it carried over to the second.

Unfortunately, it would be a scoreless second where both teams failed on the man-advantage. During the period, Tampa Bay goalie Mike Smith violently collided with Vaclav Prospal's shinpad with 5:50 left in the period while making a save on Scott Harnell. Smith was down for a few minutes before continuing. Each teams had their opportunities but could not cash in, which would lead to a third period with Tampa Bay carrying over a power play thanks to a late penalty by Luca Sbisa for tripping Ryan Malone.

It wouldn't help Tampa Bay as a turnover led to Mike Richard's short handed goal, giving the Flyers a 2-1 lead. With the Flyers back on the power play, Jeff Carter would get his second of the game at the 4:36 mark of the 3rd period, another softie that got past Smith. On the ensuing face off, Ossi Vaananen was called for hooking the Lightning's Vaclav Prospal, setting up a power play chance for Tampa Bay. The Bolts would waste little time taking advantage, as at the 4:57, Prospal would pound in a power play goal to draw the Lightning within one at 3-2. It would stay that way until 4:35 left in regulation, when former Flyer Steve Downie deposited a rebound of a Radek Smolenak shot to tie the game at 3. It was the fiesty Downie's first goal as a member of the Lightning.

In the closing seconds of regulation, Ryan Malone broke loose on a breakaway but hit the post on his shot, during the chase, Philadelphia's Scott Hartnell inexplicably threw his glove at the puck. An automatic penalty shot for Malone. Malone skated in, but his attempt trickled wide to the left as Flyers goaltender Martin Biron appeared to get a glancing blow on it to change its trajectory.

Malone's failure would be compounded in overtime, when he was whistled for interefering with Biron while engaged in a scrum with a Flyers defenseman. It appeared the defenseman was pushing Malone into Biron, but he made no effort to avoid contact, thus a penalty. At 2:05 of overtime, Richards would fire a seeing eye blast past Smith, who was late reacting to the laser shot - game over - Lightning lose....again.

Tampa Bay, which hasn't had a victory since November 21st, has lost 5 straight and now is 1-3 in games decided in overtime and lead the NHL with 8 overtime losses (5 by shootout loss). The point in the standings did enable Tampa Bay to break a tie with the Atlanta Thrashers for least points in the league and moved them into 4th place in the Southeast division, 9 points behind division leader Washington.

Matinee No Better for Bolts

By JC De La Torre

The Tampa Bay Lightning had a rare midday matinee performance against the Minnesota Wild. Unfortunately for the Bolts, it ended pretty much the same way most of the games in November have, in a 4-2 defeat. Perhaps no team in the NHL will be more happy to see the month of November come to a close as the Lightning, who finish up the month at Colorado tomorrow night. Tampa Bay is now 3-6-4 in November.

The Lightning were competitive from the drop of the puck for a change. The first typically is the worst for Tampa Bay but in this one they were only outshot 11-8, controlling play most of the period. Tampa Bay killed off a 5-on-3 man advantage early in the first period after questionable call on Steven Stamkos for boarding. and an additional penalty to the Lightning bench for "Abuse of an Official". Tampa Bay went right on the power play with a call the Wild's Antti Miettinen for tripping. The Lightning got several chances but failed to cash in, the last as the power play expired, Vaclav Prospal clanked one off the goalposts. Minnesota would open up the scoring at the 12:07 mark of the first when a shot by Owen Nolan deflected of Lightning goalie Mike Smith and into the net. In the closing seconds of the period, the Lightning back on the power play, Radim Vrbata would redirect a Steven Stamkos slap shot into the net to tie the game with 0:40 left in the first.

The second period has been the Bolts strongest all season and today was no different, Tampa Bay controlled play in the second, outshooting the Wild 10-8 and cashing in on Ryan Malone's 3rd goal in as many games. his 6th of the season. After two, Tampa Bay led 2-1.

The Lightning played extremely well in the 3rd period, outshooting Minnesota 19-14, but the bounces just seemed to not go their way. Wild Center James Sheppard, who game into the game with 5 career goals in 98 NHL games tapped in a Marc-Andre Bergeron slapper to tie the game at 2. Then at the 6:10 mark of the Third, Bergeron would set up Mikko Koivu on the eventual game winner on his backhand, giving the Wild a 3-2 lead. Tampa Bay did get a golden opportunity to tie the game when Nick Schultz got called for highsticking with 3:55 left in the game. A frustrated Mikko Koivu got called for unsportsmanlike conduct and the Lightning had a full two man advantage. Tampa Bay peppered Wild Goaltender Niklas Backstrom with six shots, mostly from long range but could not find the back of the net. Eric Belanger would score the empty netter sealing the win for Minnesota.

Tampa Bay falls to 6-9-7 on the season and has lost eight of their last nine (including shoot out losses). The Lightning remain with 19pts, good for 3rd place in the Southeast division and 8 points behind the Washington Capitals.

New Threads, Same Old Garbage On the Ice for Bolts

By JC De La Torre

You can take the jersey off the team, but you can't take the team out of the jersey. With apologies to those god-awful NHL Network commercials, the Tampa Bay Lightning introduced their spiffy new alternate jersey Sunday evening but saw yet another lackluster effort in a 7-3 embarrassment against the New Jersey Devils. The Lightning were beaten in every phase of the game as New Jersey showed Tampa Bay the gulf between playoff contender and sub par team.

In the Bolts defense, they were a little shorthanded in this game. Stellar goalie Mike Smith was out of this one with a "nagging" lower body injury, defenseman Lukas Krajicek was out with a body injury and forwards Chris Gratton and Gary Roberts were placed on the 7 day injured reserve list, creating room for Goalie Karri Ramo and defenseman Jamie Heward to be called up from Norfolk.

Still, the Lightning maintained their m.o. of slow starts, getting outshot 15-6 while Mike Rupp and Zach Parise scored to make it 2-0 after one. As typical for the Bolts, Tampa Bay came out fighting in the second period, but goaltender Olaf Kolzig did not, as he gave up another three goals, two to Danais Zubrus, to begin the second period and allow the Devils to take an insurmountable 5-0 lead. Kolzig would be lifted for Karri Ramo after giving up 5 goals on 28 shots. To Tampa Bay's credit, they didn't quit. The Lightning scored three goals in less than three minutes in the final five minutes of the second period. Vrbata and St. Louis scored within less than a minute of each other, then Ryan Malone was taken down on a breakaway and scored on the ensuing penalty shot to close the gap to 5-3.

The Devils would reestablish their dominance in the third as at the 7:12 mark Danais Zubrus would put the game out of reach with a breakaway goal to complete a hat trick. Zubrus would add another midway through the third, giving him a team record tying four goals for the contest.

In the aftermath, the Lightning coaches and players admitted that this performance was a setback in the progression of the team.

"That's a couple of steps back," coach Rick Tocchet told the St. Petersburg Times, "(Due to the lack of hustle) The trainers won't be passing out ice bags to the players. It was a pretty bad effort."

Martin St. Louis was even more succinct, telling the Times, ""We took a huge step back. This is nowhere near the effort we need, the desperation. We were second on the puck all night long, weren't supporting each other. … It's just really disappointing when you take some great strides forward and then you take a dump like that."

The Lightning fall to 6-8-6 (18 pts) on the season, 3rd in the Southeast Division and remain 4 points out of a playoffs spot in the Eastern Conference.