Lightning Show toughness, Still Can't Beat the Rangers

By JC De La Torre

Before Wednesday night's game against the top team in the Eastern Conference, the New York Rangers, interim head coach Rick Tocchet made it clear that the effort against the New Jersey Devils was unacceptable and gave the edict of get tougher or get out. The Bolts were definitely tougher against the powerful Rangers, but the results were still the same - a 3-2 shootout loss.

"This is for everybody," Tocchet told the St. Petersburg Times before the game, "If the results aren't there, I don't care who it is, you're not going to play. I don't know if we're at that time yet, but it's getting close. We're going to have to get a little bit of urgency. We thought we had some baby steps, but then New Jersey happened. Was Jersey something that just happened or is it something that we have problems, we're going to start getting rid of people here?"

The message was sent and the Bolts responded in a scoreless first period where rookie Steven Stamkos got into his first NHL fight, while Evgeny Artyukhin and Colton Orr exchange pleasantries at the end of the first.

The second period opened with the teams trading goals, New York's Markus Naslund opened the scoring at 2:40 of the second and two minutes later Ryan Malone answered on the power play. Finally, with 7:23 left in the 2nd period and the game tied at one the heavyweight bought everyone was waiting for took place. Lightning toughman David Koci versus Rangers Enforcer Colton Orr.

Courtesy HockeyFights.com and youtube

Orr got loose on a few blasts early in the fight, but Koci connected with a right hand to the snoz of Orr and rocked him, dominating the rest of the battle until Orr turtled.

Late in the Period, with Ryan Malone off for hooking Scott Gomez, the Rangers took the lead on the power play with a Naslund blast from the point. New York took a 2-1 into the second intermission.

The lead would hold until late in the third period when with 0:50 left in the game, Mark Recchi redirected a Martin St. Louis shot past Henrik Lundqvist to tie it at 2.

After the scoreless overtime period, we went to the Lightning's dread - the shootout. Vrbata and Jussi Jokinen would miss their chances, Markus Naslund and Nikolai Zherdev wouldn't and there's your hockey game.

Tocchet seemed pleased with the Lightning's effort but graded their net presence a B-. "We're just having a tough time scoring goals. We've got to roll up our sleeves and keep going to work," the interim head coach told the Times, "It was an intense game, and that's going to happen. The intensity I'm talking about is coming up with loose pucks, going to the net. It's still a work in progress. Overall, the guys worked hard."

Lawton Tells Bolts to Grow a Pair...They Still Get Punked by NY

By JC De La Torre

Tampa Bay Lightning GM Brian Lawton dressed down his hockey team before Thursday night's game against the New York Rangers, telling the team they have been trying to live on skill alone and not enough "want-to". Tampa Bay returned with its fiestiest game of the season, racking up a ridiculous 38 penalty minutes that included two fights, one involving goaltender Mike Smith. While the message was sent and the Bolts put together a performance with a little more testicular fortitude, the team still got whipped by the Rangers 5-2, the Bolts first regulation loss in five games.

Lawton told the St. Pete Times, "At that stage, the process is really simple for me, you ask people if they want to be here, if they want to be a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning."

Ryan Malone showed his desire to be with the Bolts, dropping the gloves with Rangers agitator Aaron Voros midway through the first period. The game was scoreless until Evgeny Artyukhin went off on a 2 minute minor for hooking at the 14:47 mark of the 1st, with 0:38 left on the power play, Ryan Callahan scored on a beautiful feed from Nikolai Zherdev. The score would hold up until 14:23 of the 2nd period, when shorthanded New York's Chris Drury intercepted a Paul Ranger pass and deposited it behind Tampa Bay goalie Mike Smith to give New York a 2-0 lead. Martin St. Louis, who appears to finally be heating up for the Bolts, scored his 2nd goal in as many nights to cut the Rangers advange to 2-1 before 2nd intermission.

0:35 into the third, Chris Drury would get number two on the night on the power play, getting a nice feed from Scott Gomez, staking New York to a 3-1 edge. Ryan Malone's power play laser shot at 7:58 of the third sliced the advantage back to 1, but thirty seconds later, Marc Staal would get his first goal of the season (and only his 3rd in 96 games at the NHL level), on a slapper while the Bolts goalie Mike Smith was screened, returning the two goal lead and a 4-2 advantage.

Things deteriorated from there, as the Lightning had a parade of players to the sin bin, with 4:25 left in the game, Marek Malik was called for tripping Nigel Dawes and Mark Recchi earned two more for unsportsmanlike conduct, giving the Rangers a full 2 minute 5-on-3 advantage. As the Lightning killed the first 5-3, the Bolts were nailed again, as Goalie Mike Smith slashed Aaron Voros, then dropped his goalie gloves and went after Voros, the two exchanged a few blows before being separated by linesmen. Gary Roberts joined the penalty parade with 2 minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct and a 10 minute misconduct penalty. Voros got 2 for unsportsmanlike and 5 for fighting. Smith got 2 for slashing, 2 for unsportsmanlike conduct, and 5 for fighting. Basically, it all spelled out to yet another 5-on-3 advantage for the Rangers. So the Rangers basically spent the last 4:25 of the game with a two man advantage. Eventually, they would cash in as Drury completed his hat trick with an open net rebound off of a Dmitri Kalinin shot.

So the Lighting answered the call for more grit by GM Brian Lawton, but it contributed to an ugly finish against the superior New York Rangers club. While Tampa Bay showed more passion, the Bolts still seemed to lack that extra something when battling for loose pucks in the corners. You have to wonder if the grit that Lawton was speaking of was on display against the Rangers, who seemed to just muscle Tampa Bay defensemen off the puck for scoring chances.

"It wasn't a downer," Lawton told the St. Pete Times after the game, "I feel better about the game than I did Wednesday (the shootout loss to New Jersey)."

Tampa Bay fell to 4-4-4 12 points on the season, they remain in 3rd place in the Southeast Division, 4 points behind division leader Carolina.

Bolts drop two in the Czech Republic

By JC De La Torre

The Tampa Bay Lightning's 08-09 season got off to a rough start by gettings swept in a back-to-back by the New York Rangers. Both games ended 2-1 but the scores were hardly indicative of how lopside the games were. The Lightning were outshot today 39-19, a day after getting outshot 41-21, it was obvious the ice was tilted in the Lightning's zone.

It appears the Lightning have not figured out the new system under head coach Barry Melrose. The Bolts forecheck was non-existent. On the bright side, the Lightning's goaltending was solid, if not spectacular.

The Lightning will get about a week off as they recover from the long trip overseas....hopefully they'll be able to focus on the forecheck or it may be a long year for Bolt goaltenders.

Amidst the other Madness - the New Tampa Bay Lightning debut Today

By JC De La Torre

With the Rays in the playoffs, the Bucs moving into the second quarter of the season, the USF Bulls competing in the Big East, its easy to forget the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Oren Koules/Len Barrie era begins in earnest in Tampa Bay, as the re-made hockey club faces off against the New York Rangers today at Noon in the Czech Republic. New Coach Barry Melrose tries to put together a hockey club that looks dramatically different than the one that left the ice last April. Gary Roberts, Ryan Malone, Vaclav Prospal (for his third stint), Andrej Meszaros, Radim Vrbata, Matt Carle, Mark Recchi, Olaf Kolzig and others join the Bolts. Gone are familiar faces like Dan Boyle.

And we haven't gotten to the rookie phenom, Steven Stamkos.

The good thing for the Bolts is they began in Europe, meaning the team has travelled together, eaten together, toured together. Whether or not this translate to chemistry on the ice remains to be seen.

The Bolts look primed to return to contention in the Southeast division if the Goaltending in Mike Smith and Ollie the Goalie can hold up.

Vinny, Bolts, Complete Final Test

By JC De La Torre

The Lightning defeated a very inspired HC Slovan club in BRATISLAVA, Slovakia 3-2 in a shoot out to wrap up the pre-season at 5-1. Vinny Lecavalier scored a regulation goal and a shoot out goal to help the Bolts avoid the upset.

Tampa Bay continued to pair down their roster, trading Nick Tarnasky to Nashville for a conditional pick and waiving Michel Ouellet.

The Bolts open the season with back-to-back games against the New York Rangers Saturday and Sunday in Slovakia.

The great thing about this trip is I think it will give a team that has had a lot of transition in the off-season a chance to get to know each other and start to develop that team bond that every hockey club needs to be successful.