No panic for struggling Lightning, but plenty of cliches
During times of crisis that are usually brought on by miserable downward spirals, teams have a tendency to turn to the good book of clichés.
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| Vaclav Prospal leads the Bolts with nine goals in 14 games. (Getty Images) |
In the aftermath of dropping a 4-3 decision Monday to the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay's seventh road loss in as many tries this season, the players who had anything to say in the subdued Lightning dressing room could offer nothing more insightful concerning their predicament than slogans about staying positive, battling harder, avoiding excessive penalties and simply working their way through it.
One veteran even tried to see a bright side.
"This is one of those tough tests you get in a season and for us it's happening now," said defenseman Brad Lukowich. "It's unfortunate, but I'd rather have this happen now than in April when it might carry through the playoffs. We know we'll get through it and when we do, we'll be a very good team."
That's debatable considering the current makeup of the Lightning roster and the team's circumstantial condition.
Three years after winning the NHL's ultimate prize, Tampa Bay still has its core offensive star players in forwards Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards, and defenseman Dan Boyle, who has spent much of the season on the sidelines because of a freak wrist injury and won't be back anytime soon. But the quartet takes up about half the team's payroll, and because of the salary cap, has required sacrifices in other areas. In Tampa Bay's case, that translates into having nowhere near the overall depth it once did and most important, some serious issues in goal.
The Lightning's biggest problem since the lockout has been its inability to find an adequate replacement between the pipes for Nikolai Khabibulin, who left as a free agent. Tampa Bay turned mainly to John Grahame and Sean Burke in the first season back and Johan Holmqvist and Marc Denis since then, but none of them has demonstrated the ability to be a true No. 1 netminder. It's been a difficult situation that has been exacerbated during Tampa Bay's recent free fall.
The Lightning, who rank 28th in the league with 3.57 goals against average and an .866 save percentage, generally played well at home earlier this season, going 5-0-1 in its first six games when they outscored opponents 28-12 and ranked first in power-play conversions. But the team has been a disaster on the road, holding leads for less than three minutes in total, and after being embarrassed in a three-game swing through the New York area last week, Tampa Bay came home and had a strong effort against Atlanta completely undermined by Holmqvist's weak outing.
Holmqvist, who has played the majority of games for Tampa Bay this season, faced only 21 shots against the Thrashers, but allowed five goals, including four in the third period when he blew a 4-1 lead. He didn't look much better at Florida on a couple of critical goals. The Lightning had an opportunity to win against the Panthers, but often, despite words to the contrary, seemed like a team fighting itself, a situation that isn't uncommon when there is a lack confidence in the goaltending.
"Not one guy is pointing the finger at anyone else," Lukowich said. "We're all looking in the mirror." That's a good thing because fixing the problem will have to come from within, for the time being anyway. Tampa Bay is already over the $44 million payroll limit GM Jay Feaster planned for prior to the season and with the franchise in the process of being sold, there is little chance of adding more salary. That might change when the deal closes, which if it does in fact happen, will probably take place around the end of the year.
Even if Feaster wanted to make a move, he has few options. Trading one of the big three forwards is a possibility, but that would be complicated because of the salaries involved and it would likely create as big a hole elsewhere in the lineup as it would fill. There has been some speculation as well that coach John Tortorella could take a fall, but Feaster, a longtime supporter, took pains over the weekend to reaffirm his belief that Tampa Bay's problems were not behind the bench.
Besides, the effort by the Lightning in the last two games suggests the team has not tuned out their coach. So really there is no quick-fix solution in sight for a situation that requires one.
"We've just got to keep on trying to plow through until we get some results," Tortorella said. "There's no sense whining about it or feeling sorry for ourselves, we've just got to try to get some bounces, just get one win and then we'll see what happens."
Sounds clichéd, but what else can he say?
