Eastern Conference

(8) Ottawa Senators vs. (1) New York Rangers

Cohen– Rangers win in 7 . X-Factor –> Brandon Dubinsky

Muscat– Rangers win in 6. X-Factor –> Ryan Callahan

Philp– Rangers win in 5 . X-Factor –> Henrik Lundqvist/Rangers’ Physicality

Woodward– Rangers win in 7. X-Factor –> Chris Phillips/Filip Kuba

(7) Washington Capitals vs. (2) Boston Bruins

Cohen– Bruins win in 6. X-Factor –> Nicklas Backstrom

Muscat– Bruins win in 4. X-Factor –> Brad Marchand

Philp– Capitals win in 7. X-Factor –> Alexander Ovechkin

Woodward– Bruins win in 6. X-Factor –> Boston’s Power-Play

(6) New Jersey Devils vs. (3) Florida Panthers

Cohen– Devils win in 6. X-Factor –> David Clarkson

Muscat– Devils win in 5. X-Factor –> David Clarkson

Philp– Devils win in 6. X-Factor –> A Healthy Martin Brodeur

Woodward– Devils win in 6. X-Factor –> Florida’s Secondary Scoring

(5) Philadelphia Flyers vs. (4) Pittsburgh Penguins

Cohen–  Penguins win in 7. X-Factor –> Ilya Bryzgalov

Muscat– Penguins win in 6. X-Factor –> Marc-Andre Fleury

Philp– Penguins win in 5. X-Factor –> Pittsburgh’s Depth/Matt Cooke

Woodward– Flyers win in 7. X-Factor –> Ilya Bryzgalov

Western Conference

(8) Los Angeles Kings vs. (1) Vancouver Canucks

Cohen–  Canucks win in 6. X-Factor –> Jonathan Quick

Muscat– Kings win in 7. X-Factor –> Jonathan Quick

Philp– Kings win in 7. X-Factor –> Jonathan Quick

Woodward– Kings win in 7. X-Factor –> Jonathan Quick

(7) San Jose Sharks vs. (2) St. Louis Blues

Cohen– Blues win in 6. X-Factor –> Andy McDonald

Muscat– Blues win in 5. X-Factor –> Alex Pietrangelo

Philp– Sharks win in 6. X-Factor –> Joe Thornton Exorcising Playoff Demons

Woodward– Blues win in 5. X-Factor –> Antti Niemi

(6) Chicago Blackhawks vs. (3) Phoenix Coyotes

Cohen– Blackhawks win in 6. X-Factor –> Keith Yandle

Muscat– Coyotes win in 6. X-Factor –> Mike Smith

Philp– Coyotes win in 6. X-Factor –> Mike Smith/Phoenix Defense

Woodward– Coyotes win in 7. X-Factor –> Corey Crawford

(5) Detroit Red Wings vs. (4) Nashville Predators

Cohen– Predators win in 6. X-Factor –> Alexander Radulov

Muscat– Red Wings win in 7. X-Factor –> Pavel Datsyuk

Philp– Red Wings win in 6. X-Factor –> Detroit’s Special Teams

Woodward– Predators win in 7. X-Factor –> Detroit’s Second Line

Stanley Cup Finals

Cohen– Penguins Over Predators

Muscat– Red Wings Over Penguins

Philp– Red Wings Over Penguins

Woodward– Rangers Over Predators

Things didn’t begin well for the Black and Gold as Crosby fired one over the glove of Marty Turco after finding himself all alone in front of the Boston net during a 4-on-4 situation. On the play, Pens’ forward Pascal Dupuis picked up an assist to extend his current 15-game point streak, the longest in the NHL for any player this season. Only seven minutes later, Pittsburgh would extend their lead when a fluky bounce would wind up with the puck in the Boston goal, and Pens’ defenseman Paul Martin being credited with his second tally of the season. The B’s would get one back late in the opening frame when Benoit Pouliot made a brilliant deke through the Pittsburgh defense and beat goaltender Brent Johnson upstairs with a backhander.

A mere eighteen seconds into the middle period, David Krejci would set up Milan Lucic for his 25^th goal of the year off a beautiful no-look drop pass in the slot. “He’s definitely got that in his bag of passes. It’s great that he was able to find me” said Lucic during his post-game media scrum.

However, it would be with just under three minutes to go in the frame that things would begin to go awry for the Black and Gold. Assigned two minor penalties in a brief nine second span – both of the highly questionable variety – the B’s suddenly found themselves in a 3-on-5 situation against one of the league’s most deadly power-play units. The Penguins wouldn’t waste any time, quickly pushing two power-play tallies past Turco in a 48-second span. The first came from the stick of James Neal, his team-leading 40^th of the season, and the other came as Sidney Crosby’s second of the night and the seventh of his injury-shortened campaign.

“It’s just unfortunate that we get two men down and they are able to capitalize. It’s just one of those games where we weren’t getting many calls. We’ve just got to…you know, we’re not a bunch of complainers; we’re just going to play through it.” – Milan Lucic

“They got a dangerous power play you got to keep them off it.  Their stars took advantage and at the same time we got to kill those off, but you can’t do anything about it now – they buried their chances.” – Rich Peverley

Pittsburgh would all but end it in the early parts of the final frame after gritty forward Aaron Asham deflected a Craig Adams wrist shot into the Boston net. The B’s would make it close again after Milan Lucic connected with Rich Peverley on a 2-on-1 break to set up number 49’s eleventh tally of the season. However, it would simply be too little, too late as Boston fell 5-3 on home ice to the Penguins.

My Thoughts

– After reliable blueliner Johnny Boychuk went down with an apparent left leg/ankle injury midway through the third period of an essentially meaningless game, I’d expect that the Bruins will proceed with extreme caution in their final two regular season contests, as to avoid any further ailments to key players.

“Those kind of injuries, you’ve got to kind of let the night go by and the next day you get a better idea. We’re keeping our fingers crossed right now that it’s not bad news.” — Claude Julien

If I were to pose a guess, I’d hedge my bets on the B’s calling up a couple of “Black Aces” from Providence a little bit early, in order to give a few veterans some valuable rest. I would not be surprised if a few players — Chara, Seidenberg, Thomas, Bergeron, Krejci to name some candidates — did not even make the trip to Ottawa with the team for Thursday’s tilt with the Senators.

– I had the luxury of speaking with new Bruins’ defenseman and former Michigan State standout Torey Krug following the B’s 5-3 loss. The 5’9″ Livonia, Michigan native logged 18:18 minutes of ice time during his NHL debut, whilst being on the ice for two goals against, and two goals for. On a personal note, the former MSU Spartan certainly seemed like a stand up guy, who was truly relishing the opportunity he’s been given to perform at the NHL level.

“The biggest advice I was given was have fun and be myself. You know, when it comes down to it, it’s just another hockey game and it’s just a level higher. All the guys said, ‘Have fun, you’re going to remember this for the rest of your life,’ and I think I did that.” – Torey Krug

Ben’s Three Stars:

1) Sidney Crosby (2 Goals/1 Assist)

2) Kris Letang (3 Assists)

3) David Krejci (2 Assists)

What’s Next?

– Up next for the Black and Gold is what looks to be a first round playoff preview, when they travel to ScotiaBank Place for a Thursday evening showdown with the Ottawa Senators. The Pens will return home to the friendly confines of the CONSOL Energy Center for a contest with the New York Rangers on Thursday.

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Records: Pittsburgh 48-25-6 (102 Points) , Boston 47-28-4 (98 Points)

Location: TD Garden , Boston, Massachusetts

Time: 7:30 P.M. (EST)

TV/Radio Info: NBC Sports Network (Emrick, Olczyk, McGuire) – 98.5 The Sports Hub (Goucher, Beers)

Last Game: Philadelphia Flyers 6 , Penguins 4  ……. Bruins 2 , New York Rangers 1

Tonight’s Lineup (Subject To Change):

FORWARDS:

Lucic–Krejci–Seguin

Marchand–Bergeron–Peverley

Pouliot–Kelly–Rolston

Paille–Campbell–Thornton

DEFENSE:

Chara–Seidenberg

Ference–Boychuk

Zanon–Krug

GOALTENDER:

Turco

Khudobin

Scratches– ….. Mike Mottau, Joe Corvo, Tim Thomas, Adam McQuaid

Injuries:

Nathan Horton (Concussion) – Boston’s top right winger remains sidelined with a concussion he suffered back on January 21. Number eighteen has made regular appearances at TD Garden during home games and reports have indicated that he has begun to ride the stationary bicycle.

Tuukka Rask (Groin) — The B’s back up goaltender will remain absent from the lineup until Mid-April with a lower abdomen/groin injury.

Jordan Caron (Flu) — Caron is expected back on Thursday, in Ottawa.

Last Time We Met: Bruins 2 , Penguins 5

– The last time the B’s and Pens made acquaintiainces was back on March 11 at the CONSOL Energy Center where three point efforts from both James Neal and Evgeni Malkin powered Pittsburgh to a 5-2 home-ice victory over the Black and Gold.

Prediction: After clinching the number two seed in the Eastern Conference on Sunday, the B’s may opt to rest a healthy portion of their regulars over the course of these final three games. One would expect that Marty Turco will be given the nod in at least two of them. The Pens — still fighting for the Atlantic division crown — are the more desperate team in this situation and I’d expect them to pull out the win this evening.

Penguins  4 , Bruins 2

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The Bolts are in fourth place in the Southeast Division and trail the division leading Florida Panthers by eight points. Tampa Bay is in 11th place in the 15 team Eastern Conference, six points out of a playoff spot.

After 62 games, forward Steven Stamkos leads the team and the NHL in goals with 43. He leads the Bolts and is second in the NHL in points with 75. Martin St. Louis is tops in assists with 36. Forward Teddy Purcell leads the team in rating with a +9.

Defenseman Brett Clark is last in rating with a -24. Goalie Mathieu Garon has 20 wins, a 2.90 goals against average and a .901 save percentage.

Defenseman Eric Brewer leads Tampa Bay in ice time, averaging 23:24 per game. Steven Stamkos leads in shots on goal with 219.

The Lightning have scored 172 goals (10th in the NHL) and allowed 209 goals (30th (last) in the 30 team NHL). The Bolts power play improved this week, while the penalty kill suffered. The power play success rate is 14.8% (25th in the 30 team NHL) and the penalty kill is at 79.0% (25th in the NHL). The league average power play percentage is 17.60% and the average NHL team kills off 82.40% of their penalties successfully.

Tampa Bay is 20th in the league in faceoff percentage, winning 49.2% of their draws.

Box Scores

Game 59 – Tampa Bay Lightning 3 – Anaheim Ducks 2

Game 60 – Tampa Bay Lightning 3 – Winnipeg Jets 4

Game 61 – Tampa Bay Lightning 1 – Pittsburgh Penguins 8

Game 62 – Tampa Bay Lightning 4 – New Jersey Devils 3

Three Stars of the Week

Purcell posts a ten point week

Teddy Purcell – Three goals and seven assists.

Steven Stamkos - Three goals and five assists.

Martin St. Louis – Four goals and two assists.

Transactions

The Lightning traded center Dominic Moore and a seventh round pick in 2012 to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a second round pick in 2012 (acquired by the Sharks from the Minnesota Wild).

The Lightning traded defenseman Pavel Kubina to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for a second round pick in 2012 or 2013 (The Panthers hold the option on whether the second round pick can be used this year or in 2013), a fourth round pick in 2012 and minor league winger Jon Kalinski.

The Lightning recalled forward Trevor Smith from Norfolk (AHL).

The Lightning acquired a first-round pick in the 2012 draft and minor-league defenceman Sebastien Piche after exchanging forward Steve Downie for defenseman Kyle Quincey with the Colorado Avalanche. The Lightning then dealt Quincey to the Detroit Red Wings for a first-round pick and Piche.

The Lightning acquired forward Brandon Segal from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for future considerations.

The Lightning claimed forward Tim Wallace off waivers from the New York Islanders.

The Lightning recalled forward Mike Angelidis from Norfolk (AHL).

The Lightning recalled defenseman Evan Oberg from Norfolk (AHL) for the ninth time this season. He appeared in just his second game with Tampa Bay and finished with 11:25 of ice time and was a +2.

The Lightning acquired  defenseman Mike Commodore from Detroit for a conditional seventh round pick

Injuries

Defenseman Mattias Ohlund remains on IR after having major knee surgery.

Forward Dana Tyrell is out for the year after having successful knee surgery.

Defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron is day-to-day with an upper body injury.

Forward Vincent Lecavalier is out indefinitely with a broken hand.

Defenseman Victor Hedman is day-to-day with an upper body injury, possibly a concussion.

Bolt Notes

Despite being depleted by injuries and trades, the Bolts have gone 11-5-2 in their last 18 games. In the past two weeks, Tampa Bay has traded three regular skaters for draft picks and prospects and lost forward Vincent Lecavalier and defenseman Victor Hedman to serious injuries.  Martin St. Louis has scored 20 or more goals in nine straight seasons. Teddy Purcell has points in six straight games and Steven Stamkos remains hot. The Bolts have scored five power play goals in the last four games.

GM Steve Yzerman’s to do list must start with getting a number one goalie. With Ottawa acquiring minor league backstop Ben Bishop from the Blues, the list of potentials grew shorter. Bishop was traded to the Senators for a 2013 second-round pick, a price the Lightning weren’t willing to pay according to Yzerman.  The Bolts GM said he spoke to the Blues about Bishop but was not willing to give up a second-round draft pick for him.

It is thought that Tampa Bay is interested in the Kings Jonathan Bernier and the Canucks Cory Schneider. A deal for these highly rated netminders won’t happen until the summer.

Yzerman said there has been some interest in potential unrestricted free agents, including defensemen Bruno Gervais, Brett Clark and Matt Gilroy, goaltender Dwayne Roloson, and forwards Adam Hall and Ryan Shannon. There has been no mention of Ryan Malone being dangled. Yzerman finds him an attractive keeper as his salary drops from $5.5 million to $3 million next season.

What to do with rookie forward Brett Connolly? The Lightning has until the end of Monday to send Connolly to Tri-City of the junior Western League making him eligible for their playoffs. ”There’s an argument for both sides,” Yzerman stated. “He plays the final games and gets a lot of ice time, obviously, the NHL is a better league than junior hockey. The tempo is higher, the players are stronger. He’s going to benefit on that if he plays.” The Bolts GM added, ”I don’t know that he really struggled. He hasn’t played a whole lot. The coaches were going with veteran guys, trying to win. It’s hard to have an impact when you play five minutes.”

The Bolts are on the lookout for a top four defenseman also. Preferably a right handed puck mover…the Holy Grail of NHL GM’s everywhere.

Steve Yzerman said yesterday, ”We’ve made our major moves here and we’ll see what is up over the next 27 hours or so. We’ll obviously work the phone and see what’s out there. As far as acquiring players, real impact players, that’s more likely to be done at the draft.”

Sports Club Stats has the Lightning’s playoffs chances at 5.4%.

The Week Ahead

Tampa Bay hosts Montreal on Tuesday and the New York Rangers on Friday.They travel to Carolina on Saturday.

*Teddy Purcell photograph courtesy of Linda Hamilton.

The Quarterdeck Log – Norfolk Admirals Week In Review

By Ken Peacock

About The Author

A man with an identity crisis. A full time fan of all things hockey and supporter of the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Washington Capitals. A fan of two NHL teams in the same division? Really? Yes, it can be done. It’s tough, but it can be done. I am also a full time husband, IT Professional, and a Norfolk Admirals Hockey Blogger at Vultures Row.

Weekly Log

The Admirals week started this past Friday for the first of three games in three nights on the road. Binghamton provided the opposition for game one. The Admirals were riding a six game winning streak and looking to add another win. The Senators struck at 1:34 of the first period and again five minutes later with a goal from former Admiral, Rob Klinkhammer. The potent Norfolk offense was absent for the first period. Brandon Segal who was recently acquired from the Rockford Ice Hogs opened the scoring for Norfolk, fifteen seconds into the second period. Both teams then shut each other down and the Senators went into the locker room holding a 2-1 lead. Evan Oberg would score on the power play to even the score at two apiece at the 6:27 mark of the third. With both teams going back and forth it looked like this game would go to overtime. Tyler Johnson took the puck into the offensive zone with less than a minute remaining. Johnson fired a shot in on Senators goalie Mike McKenna. McKenna knocked the puck aside, but Pierre-Cedric Labrie picked up the rebound and knocked it in for the Admirals third goal and sealed Norfolk’s seventh win in a row.

Saturday night the Admirals found themselves in the hometown of Hershey Chocolate and the Bears. Hershey is currently in third place behind the Admirals and was looking to pick up a key two points in the division race. All-Star defenseman Mark Barberio, got the ball rolling just two minutes and twenty-one seconds into the game. Barberio skated in on Braden Holtby and let a wrist shot go that trickled past two Bears and over the glove of Holtby for an Admiral goal. Michel Ouellet added another goal at 15:58. Hershey answered back a minute later to end the period at 2-1. Hershey evened the score sixteen seconds into the second period. Chris Bourque fired a shot thru the screen and beat Admirals net minder, Jaroslav Janus. Brandon Segal scored just over a minute later to put the Admirals ahead. Kyle Greentree of the Bears scored on the power play at 13:19 to even the score once more. Brandon Segal would get his second of the night in the final five minutes of the second period. The Admirals skated into the offensive zone on their third power play of the night; Segal deflected a shot by Barberio, through the legs of Holtby and into the net to give Norfolk the 4-3 lead at 16:35 of the second period. Neither team was able to score in the third.Norfolk got on the bus with their eighth win in a row.

Sunday the Admirals were in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for their third game in as many nights against their division rival Penguins. Ben Street opened the scoring midway through the second period, but Mark Barberio evened things up at the 17:02 mark of the second. Former Penguin J.P. Cote would put the Admirals ahead at 4:44 of the third. Alex Picard of the Penguins scored at 9:50, but it was Carter Ashton who put the Admirals ahead for good at 17:56. Ashton’s goal sealed the 3-2 victory and the Admirals record setting ninth win in a row.

Cory Conacher (29G 34A 63Pts +7), and Mark Barberio (9G 36A 48Pts +20) find themselves at the top of the Ad’s scoring list. Tyler Johnson (18G 21A 39Pts -2) has moved ahead of Carter Ashton (19G 16A 35Pts +8). Dustin Tokarski (25-11-0 2.39GAA) went 2-0 this week. Jaroslav Janus (11-8-2 2.98GAA) went 1-0.

For the Season the Admirals are 36-18-1-2 with 75 points. They are currently holding the top position in the East Division, and the Eastern Conference. The Admirals are also tied in points with the Oklahoma City Barons for the top position in the AHL. Norfolk is currently on a 9-0-0-0 streak and is 9-1-0-0 in their last ten games.

Three Stars of the Week

Brandon Segal – Three goals and an assist.

Mark Barberio – Two goals and an assist.

Alexandre Picard –Three assists.

Transactions

Brandon Segal – Assigned by the Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL).

Matt Fornataro – Traded to the Rockford Ice Hogs (AHL).

Mike Angelidis – Recalled by the Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL).

Evan Oberg – Recalled by the Tampa BayLightning (NHL).

Trevor Smith – Recalled by the Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL).

Injuries

Richard Petiot – Undisclosed – Day-to-day

An Observation from the Stands

With the trade deadline looming I was a bit worried that the Admirals might lose key players. The first trade that occurred was Matt Fornataro being traded to the Rockford Ice Hogs in exchange for Rockford’s captain, Brandon Segal. Segal is not an unfamiliar face to Norfolk. He was an Admiral from 2007 to 2009. I believe Norfolk got the better part of the deal as Segal has scored three goals in his first two games back with Norfolk. The Admirals look to be in playoff form and they keep moving forward. The last few weeks are going to be very important. Every point is important and the conference title is not out of the question. Hold on folks, we are in for a great ride.

The Week Ahead

The Hershey Bears return to Norfolk this Wednesday for their final appearance of the regular season.  The Springfield Falcons will be the opposition for Norfolk at Scope on Friday and Saturday.

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When things are going your way, everything seems to be clicking, you play with confidence, you tend to get the breaks here and there. You feel as if nothing is ever going to go wrong.

However, when you’re struggling it’s a completely different ball game. All of a sudden you’re not catching the breaks, nothing is going your way. It seems like you’ll never get things back on track.

Unfortunately for Boston, after a two month stretch of dominating the competition, the Black and Gold just can’t seem to get much going as of late. That trend would continue on Saturday afternoon when they hosted Evgeni Malkin and the red-hot Pittsburgh Penguins.

After what most would consider a rather lifeless first frame from both sides, the Pens would take advantage of a late-period power-play opportunity as Malkin would knock a rebound past Tim Thomas to put Pittsburgh ahead with only 0:09 seconds remaining on the clock. The 6’3” Russian forward once again re-asserted himself as the best player in the game today, picking up his 28^th goal and league-leading 60^th point of the season as he continues to run roughshod on the rest of the NHL .

“He’s been the catalyst for our group all year. It’s amazing sometimes. When you don’t think he can do it anymore, he goes out there and scores another goal. He’s been great for us and hopefully we’ll keep him going.” – Joe Vitale

The B’s where not able to muster up many real offensive chances throughout the entire second frame despite being given a four-minute power-play chance courtesy of a Pascal Dupuis double minor for high sticking.

Early in the third Pittsburgh would tack on an insurance tally when the villainous Matt Cooke out-worked two Bruin defenders in front of Thomas and knocked in his 9^th  goal of the season. The man Bruins’ fans love to hate has now scored two goals in as many games against Boston this year and has put up sixteen points in twenty-five career games against the Black and Gold.

Atoning for his earlier mistake, defenseman Joe Corvo would find the back of the Penguins’ net as his wrist shot made it through a Marchand screen and past Marc-Andre Fleury to cut the deficit to one.

“Marchand did a great job of standing in front of him until the last minute until it kind of got to the net. It was the right height to where the goalie was kind of staying low and trying to see it and it just went in.” – Joe Corvo

Unfortunately for Boston, the rest of the third period would simply be more of the same for a Bruins  squad that simply cannot find it’s groove right now. They unloaded nine more third period shots against Fleury but were still unable to tickle the twine and tie the score.

“You’ve got to give credit to the last two goalies we’ve played. They played really good games I think, and the last two teams we’ve played have played a pretty solid 60 minutes of defense.” – Tim Thomas

Boston has now only managed one goal on their last 81 shots through their last 132:51 minutes of play.

“The last two games, we’ve had almost 80 shots and only one goal showing for it. It’s frustrating right now, but thankfully we got a game tomorrow to focus on.” – Daniel Paille

Boston hasn’t managed to beat the Penguins at TD Garden since November 10….. of the year 2009. Today’s loss marks the B’s fourth defeat in their past six games and their record has dropped to 4-5-1 over their last ten games.

KEY STATS

Goals–                PIT (2)   BOS (1)

Shots–                PIT (28)   BOS (29)

Power-Play–    PIT (1-3)   BOS (0-2)

Penalty-Kill–   PIT  (2-2)   BOS (2-3)

Ben’s Three Stars….. 3.) Matt Cooke  …..2.) Evgeni Malkin …..1.) James Neal

What’s Next?

It’ll be a quick turnaround for the Black and Gold as they depart from Boston this afternoon for a 12:30 PM Super Bowl Sunday matinee contest with the Caps at the Verizon Center in Washington tomorrow. The Pens will also be on the move fairly quickly as they are scheduled for a 1 PM contest in New Jersey tomorrow afternoon.

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The Bolts are in fifth (last) place in the Southeast Division and trail the division leading Washington Capitals by twelve points. Tampa Bay is in 15th place in the 15 team Eastern Conference, twelve points out of a playoff spot.

After 44 games, forward Steven Stamkos leads the team and the NHL in goals with 30. He leads the Bolts in points with 50 (third in the NHL). Martin St. Louis is tops in assists with 25. Marc-Andre Bergeron leads the team in rating with a +8.

Forward Steve Downie is last in rating with an alarming -19 and has accumulated 107 penalty minutes. Goalie Mathieu Garon has 11 wins, a 2.94 goals against average and a .900 save percentage.

Defenseman Eric Brewer leads Tampa Bay in ice time, averaging 23:18 per game. Steven Stamkos leads in shots on goal with 152.

The Lightning have scored 119 goals (12th in the NHL) and allowed 153 goals (30th (last) in the 30 team NHL). The Bolts special teams remain bad. The power play success rate is 14.1% (26th in the NHL) and the penalty kill is at 78.9% (26th in the NHL). The league average power play percentage is 17.3% and the average NHL team kills off 82.7% of their penalties successfully. Currently, the Lightning is mired in a 4-41 power play drought, including a 1-34 road power play skid.

Tampa Bay is 23rd in the league in faceoff percentage, winning just 49% of their draws.

Box Scores

Game 41 – Tampa Bay Lightning 4 – Vancouver Canucks 5 SO

Game 42 – Tampa Bay Lightning 2 – Carolina Hurricanes 5

Game 43 – Tampa Bay Lightning 3 – Washington Capitals 4

Game 44 – Tampa Bay Lightning 3 – Pittsburgh Penguins 6

Three Stars of the Week

Vincent Lecavalier – One goal and four assists.

Martin St. Louis – Five assists.

Steven Stamkos – One goal and three assists.

Transactions

The Lightning announced a two year-one way contract extension for $600,000 per year for forward Tom Pyatt.

The Lightning called up forward Trevor Smith from Norfolk (AHL).

Injuries

Forward Ryan Shannon is out 2-4 weeks with a lower body injury.

Defenseman Mattias Ohlund remains on IR after undergoing surgery on both knees. Ohlund has had a major setback and his return this year is questionable.

Defenseman Victor Hedman is out indefinitely with a concussion.

Forwards JT Wyman is day-to-day with an upper body injury.

Forward Adam Hall is out 6-8 weeks with an upper body injury.

Defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron is day-to-day with an upper body injury.

Forward Dana Tyrell is day-to-day with a lower body injury.

Bolt Notes

The Bolts went 0-4 this past week. Tampa Bay has dropped their last seven games and nine of their last twelve. They are at the bottom of the Southeast Division and the Eastern Conference. They are 27th of the 30 NHL teams. Tampa Bay is an awful road team going 6-16-3 so far in 2012.

The numbers don’t lie. The Lightning are a last place team with a brutally bad defense and ineffective goaltending. Of the 77 NHL goalies that have suited up this season, Mathieu Garon and Dwayne Roloson rank 58th and 72nd in goals against average respectively. The duo is 58th and 71st in save percentage.

While many believe this is a team that has the ability to come back after trailing…don’t believe it! The Bolts have won only 26% of the games when they have trailed in the first period.

The Lightning is giving up 31 shots per game on average, while getting 28 shots on goal.

At this point, Tampa Bay looks like a seller, but one without much to offer. GM Steve Yzerman will not trade a prospect, as one player, not even a goalie can save the season.

The Week Ahead

Tampa Bay hosts Boston on Tuesday, travels to Dallas on Friday and Phoenix on Saturday.

The Quarterdeck Log – Norfolk Admirals Week In Review

By Ken Peacock

About The Author

A man with an identity crisis. A full time fan of all things hockey and supporter of the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Washington Capitals. A fan of two NHL teams in the same division? Really? Yes, it can be done. It’s tough, but it can be done. I am also a full time husband, IT Professional, and a Norfolk Admirals Hockey Blogger at Vultures Row.

Weekly Log

The Norfolk Admirals faced off for a rare Tuesday night meeting with the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins at home in the “friendly” confines of the Norfolk Scope. The previous meeting, a week ago, resulted in a win for the Admirals. This meeting would not be as nice as the Penguins had revenge on their minds.  Paul Thompson and Ben Street of the Penguins would give the Baby Pens an early 3-0 lead in the first period. Michel Ouellett and Radko Gudas would get the Admirals on the board in the second. Unfortunately for the Admirals these would their only goals of the night. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton held Norfolk scoreless the rest of the way and went home with the 3-2 win.

Next, the Connecticut Whale and Sean Avery arrived in town for a weekend series with the Admirals. The Fans were disappointed when Avery was scratched for disciplinary reasons. The Admirals were not focused on the former NHL bad-boy, but instead, focused on the game and getting two points. Mike Kostka opened up the scoring midway into the first period. Cory Conacher added another goal early in the second period. Matt Fornataro score five minutes later to put the Ad’s up 3-0. The Admirals shut-out was ruined as Aaron Voros put the puck past Admirals netminder, Dustin Tokarski. The Voros goal would be the Whales’s only score as the Admirals shut down the Whale for the 3-1 win.

The Whale and the Admirals were back at it on Saturday night for Norfolk’s annual “Pink in the Rink” night to benefit the Susan G. Komen Cure for Cancer and Breast Cancer Awareness. A season high crowd of 7,227 was on hand to see the game and the bonus was an appearance by Sean Avery. The night was Richard Panik’s night as he gave Whale goalie, Cameron Talbot, a “Panik Attack”. Panik opened up the scoring with a goal in the first and another midway thru the second period to give Norfolk a 2-0 lead. Kelsey Tessier and Aaron Voros would score later in the second to tie the game at two each. Mike Kostka and Matt Fornataro would combine to put Norfolk ahead early in the third period. Fornataro deflected Kostka’s pass past Talbot for his second goal in two nights. Mike Angelidis added the insurance goal late in the third.Norfolk won the game 4-2 and swept the Whale.

Trevor Smith (16G 28A 44Pts +17) and Cory Conacher (22G 21A 43Pts +7) find themselves at the top of Norfolk’s scoring list. Smith and Conacher continue to keep moving forward. Mark Barberio (4G 31A 35Pts +20) leads all Norfolk defensemen and is in third place amongst all Admirals in scoring. Carter Ashton (15G 13A 28Pts +9) is seriously falling behind the leaders, but maintains a hold on fourth place in scoring. Dustin Tokarski (16-9-0 2.9GAA) went 2-1 this week. Jaroslav Janus (7-5-2 3.04GAA) did not play this week.

For the Season the Admirals are 23-13-1-2 with 49 points. They are currently 6 points behind the East Division leading Hershey Bears. Norfolkis currently on a 2-0-0-0 streak and is 6-2-1-1 in their last ten games.

Three Stars of the Week

Richard Panik – Two goals.

Mike Kostka  – One goal and two assists.

Mark Barberio – Three assists.

Transactions

Kevin Quick – Assigned to the Florida Everblades (ECHL).

Charles Landry – Assigned to the Florida Everblades (ECHL).

Injuries

Richard Petiot – Undisclosed – Day-to-day

An Observation from the Stands

Tuesday night was not pretty. The Penguins totally outplayed Norfolk. While the score on paper looked close, it was nowhere near that. Friday and Saturday the Admirals played like they played at the beginning of the season. I don’t know what went on in practice, but whatever they discussed they were on point this weekend. Mark Barberio is having a great season. He is all over the place on the ice and holds the defense together. Richard Panik has shown what he is capable of doing, but needs to keep doing it on a regular basis.

Sean Avery lived up to his reputation. He was scratched from the first game for disciplinary reasons. He was spotted out on the town sitting at a bar being ignored by fellow members of the Whale. During warm-ups on Saturday night he was heckled and challenged a few of the hecklers to come on the ice. During the game he would argue with the referees, slashed an Admirals player, and got tossed for abusing the officials. Yes, he definitely lived up to his reputation. Even though he was very entertaining, I wouldn’t want him on my team.

The Week Ahead

Next up for the Admirals is a three-game road trip starting Wednesday night in Albany, N.Y.against the Devils, Friday night against the Syracuse Crunch, and a rematch with the Whale on Saturday night in Connecticut.

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Not only do I enjoy watching the NHL, I’m a fan of international hockey and I love seeing the best taking on the best.  As a puckhead, I’ve gone to see the games in the Canada Cup and the World Cup of Hockey. Not only do you get to see the best players represent their country, but watching the fans soak it all in is just as special.

Over the next few days, the city of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, along with neighboring cities Lasalle and Tecumseh, are hosts to the World U-17 Hockey Challenge.  For those who are not familiar with this event, it is a 10-team round-robin tournament that features the best hockey players under the age of 17 displaying their talents on an international stage. Next to the World Junior Championships, this is second biggest international tournament. These kids are two to three years from being drafted by NHL clubs.

Players from the United States, Russia, Czech Republic, Sweden, and Germany take part, along with five regional Canadian teams, which are Ontario, Quebec, Atlantic (the provinces east of Quebec), West (New Brunswick and Manitoba) and Pacific (Alberta and British Columbia).

The game that I went to today was between Team Germany and Team Ontario and the Canadian colors of red and white were well represented.   Here’s how I can tell: A few rows in front of me, there was a family of seven wearing Team Canada #87 Sidney Crosby jerseys. How’s that for commitment?

Team Ontario has won three of the last four gold medals and they pretty much have the home-ice advantage. I wanted to see Team Ontario play just because of the fact that I’m an OHL fan and I wanted to see these future OHL stars. They are to the U-17 Tournament what Team Canada is to the World Junior Championships. They are a well-oiled machine and they are an example of why the OHL are the best at producing young talent.

Here’s a small sample size of the future Hall-of-Famers who have taken part in this tournament: Joe Sakic (Pacific) and Brendan Shanahan (Ontario) took the first step to Canada’s Program of Excellence by playing in what was formally known as the Quebec Esso Cup.

The NHL stars of today who have participated in the World U-17 include Alex Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Henrik and Daniel Sedin, Marc-Andre Fleury and Vincent Lecavalier.

The stars of tomorrow took part in this tournament not too long ago.  The “Young Guns” such as Taylor Hall, Tyler Seguin, Ryan Strome, John Tavares (all have represented Ontario) and Jonathan Heberdeau (Quebec) got their feet wet before representing Canada in the World Junior Championship.  Being among the best players in this tournament doesn’t mean that they can cut it in the next level of international play—Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (Pacific) excelled in the U-17, but didn’t make the cut for Team Canada in the 2011 WJC.

There some NHL bloodlines involved in the tournament, especially coming from the Canadian teams. Max Domi, who is currently on loan from the London Knights (OHL), is the son of former NHLer Tie, but they are complete opposites.  While Tie was known for being an agitator and for his fights with Bob Probert, Max is a player that’s gifted offensively and has a burst of speed that reminds me of Pavel Bure.  While PK Subban currently stars for the Montreal Canadiens, his younger brother, Jordan is on leave from the Belleville Bulls to help shore up the defense for Ontario.  Cole Cassels was taken in the first round of the OHL draft by the Oshawa Generals and is the son of former NHLer, Andrew.

Bo Horvat and Aaron Ekblad are two that you’ve probably never heard of before, but you probably will very soon.  Ekblad was the first overall pick of the Barrie Colts this summer.  The kid is a 6 foot 3 inch defenseman and, just like any teenager, is still growing. He reminds me a lot of a young Chris Pronger.  Horvat, who is property of the Knights, scored one of the goals in Ontario’s 5-0 shutout of Germany. He, like his teammate Max Domi, is another offensively-gifted player, but he looks like the type of player who will do whatever it takes to win.  Maybe he can bring back the phrase “Bo Knows Hockey,” but time will tell.

Going to an event like this was neat.  I was surrounded by mostly Canadian fans and they were really into it. Being at an international sporting event doesn’t happen that often and I wanted to take advantage of it. I’ll be going to another U-17 game tomorrow as Russia will take on USA in another matinee affair.  Who knows if I’ll see the next Alex Ovechkin or the next Phil Kessel, but it will be exciting to watch.

Pavel Datsyuk scored the game-tying goal midway through the third period and 56 seconds later, Niklas Kronwall scored the game-winner to send the Red Wings (23-12-1) to their second straight win and their 11th straight on home ice.  Jimmy Howard was once again sensational in net by making 29 saves for his league-leading 22nd win.

The Blues started the scoring at 6:51 of the first period as Kevin Shattenkirk rifled a shot from the point, which was deflected in front of the net by Matt D’Agostini for the 1-0 lead.  The Red Wings had their opportunities to tie the game up in the first period, but couldn’t capitalize on their chances.

The Blues extended the lead to 2-0 at 13:08 of the second period thanks to an alert Alex Steen; Howard came out of the crease to stop a shot by Jason Arnott—but the refs didn’t blow the as the puck was still in play. The puck creeped by Howard, and Steen took advantage of the play and tapped the puck in the net to extend the Blues’ lead.

Steen’s goal seemed to be the smelling salts for the Red Wings prompting them to press even harder to get on the scoreboard. The Red Wings cut the deficit to 2-1 with 63 seconds left in the second period when Nicklas Lidstrom shot a laser from the left point and the goal pumped up the crowd at the JLA.

The home team threw everything at the Blues, including the kitchen sink, and it paid off with Datsyuk’s goal that tied the game at 2-2. Datsyuk tipped-in an Ian White shot and it was redirected past Blues’ goalie Brian Elliott to tie the game.  Less than a minute later, Kronwall scored the game-clincher with a wrist shot from the left point, helping the Red Wings to their first win against the Blues this season.

This was a classic battle reminiscent of an old-school Norris Division battle. This game brought out the best in both teams and was perfect for a national audience. The Red Wings and Blues will face each other once again this Saturday at the JLA so expect the same effort from both teams.

Tomas Holmstrom will be out of the lineup for up to two weeks with a groin injury. In his place, Joakim Andersson was called up this morning from Grand Rapids and made his NHL debut against the Blues and played 5:10 of total ice time.  Defenseman Mike Commodore was once again in the lineup in place of Jakub Kindl.

Jimmy Howard was sensational once again for the Red Wings.  It should be time to talk about Howard’s status among the top goalies in the NHL.  Despite the Red Wings being knocked out by the San Jose Sharks in the playoffs last spring, Howard stood out as he kept the Red Wings in the series.

This season he has taken the next step so is he a top-tier NHL goalie, just yet? Not yet, because that’s a designation reserved for Tim Thomas, Henrik Lundqvist, Roberto Luongo (who found his groove over the last few weeks) and Marc-Andre Fleury.  I would put Howard in fifth right now ahead of guys like Jonathan Quick, Carey Price, and Pekka Rinne. Where would you rank Howard among the NHL netminders?

Howard has been the difference maker in some of his team’s wins this season and is getting better each season.  Once again, fans here in Detroit determine a goalie’s fate in the playoffs, but Howard has the mental toughness to make it.  The only concern for him right now is workload so hopefully he doesn’t burn out in the spring.

The Red Wings have another old-school Norris Division game this Friday as they head to Chicago for a date with the Blackhawks at the United Center.

Pavel Datsyuk currently leads the team in scoring with 10 goals and 23 assists, while Johan Franzen is now in second with 14 goals and 16 assists.   Valtteri Filppula is third (10 g, 25 a) and Henrik Zetterberg is climbing the ladder as he is now in fourth(8 g, 14 a).

Nicklas Lidstrom leads the team’s defense corp in team scoring with seven goals and 14 assists, while Ian White (4 g, 11 a) leads the team with a plus/minus rating of +21.

Jimmy Howard’s play in goal has slipped “just a little bit,” to quote Robert DeNiro, with a 1.91 goals against average and a .929 saver percentage, but he still leads the NHL with 19 wins.  All kidding aside, this is his breakout year, folks, and don’t be surprised if he’s nomintated for the Vezina Trophy this season.

Game 29:  Detroit Red Wings 4  Pittsburgh Penguins 1

Pavel Datsyuk led the offensive charge with a goal and an assist, while Jimmy Howard stopped 25 shots as the Red Wings invaded the Consol Energy Center with a 4-1 win.  Danny Cleary scored twice in the third to help put the game away for the Red Wings.  Johan Franzen scored the game-winning goal as he shot a rocket from the left circle past Marc-Andre Fleury early in the third period.

Game 30:  Detroit Red Wings 3  Nashville Predators 4

The Red Wings let one slip away in the Music City as they took a two-goal lead in the third period, but Shea Weber scored the game-tying goal on the power-play and scored the winner late in the third period.  Pekka Rinne was brilliant in goal as he stopped 37 shots and outdueled his counterpart Jimmy Howard, but his hooking call in the third period led to Weber’s game-tying goal.  A couple of the bright spots for the Red Wings was that they went a perfect two-for-two on the power play.  One of them was scored by Tomas Holmstrom and he passed Sergei Fedorov for fourth in team history with 118 goals with the man-advantage.

Game 31:  Los Angeles Kings 2  Detroit Red Wings 8

Cory Emmerton and Drew Miller led the team with two tallies each leading the Red Wings to an 8-2 drubbing of the Los Angeles Kings  at the Joe Louis Arena.  Out of the 18 skaters that suited up, 14 of them got at least a point.  Jimmy Howard stopped 27 shots to stretch his NHL-leading wins total to 19.  It was their third straight home game that they chased a starting goalie out of the net in the opening period as starting goalie Jonathan Quick didn’t escape the first half of the opening period.

Red Wings Three Stars of the Week

Pavel Datsyuk-two goals, three assists, +4

Danny Cleary-two goals, three assists, +5

Cory Emmerton-two goals, one assist, +2

Team Transactions:

December 15: F Chris Conner placed on short-term injured reserve, F Tomas Tatar called up from Grand Rapids (AHL)

December 16: F Tomas Tatar reassigned to Grand Rapids

This week’s games:

The Red Wings go back on the road to start a four-game road trip and will kick it off with a stop at Rexall Place for a date with the Edmonton Oilers.  After that, they will have back-to-back games on Wednesday and Thursday with stops in Vancouver and Calgary respectively and will take a few days off for Christmas.  They go back on the road next Monday for a rematch with the Nashville Predators at the Bridgestone Arena.

Even though the Penguins were without their best player in Crosby, it was a hard-earned two points for the Red Wings,who have won their third game in a row.

Evgeni Malkin scored the lone goal for the Penguins with five seconds left in the first period by blistering a shot toward the far right side, which Howard didn’t have a chance to stop.

Despite the Penguins missing some key players, Malkin, who was questionable before the game, was the best player on his team.  His effortless skating and stickhandling abilities are world-class and he showed why he’s one of the best players in the NHL when he’s in the lineup.

Howard was terrific between the pipes; especially in the second period when he stopped all 12 shots on goal.  His biggest save in the second period was when he made a sprawling save on Malkin by using his stick to keep the puck from crossing the line.

The Red Wings got on the board toward the end of the second when Todd Bertuzzi moved the puck up the boards in the Penguins’ zone and made a perfect pass to Datsyuk, who used a vicious backhand and shot a screaming puck past Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury for the 1-1 tie.

The Red Wings went one-for-two on the power-play and that helped decide the outcome of the game as Franzen scored a howitzer of a shot from the left face-off circle past Fleury early in the third period.

Danny Cleary’s sixth and seventh goals of the season in the final period helped seal the Red Wings’ 19th win of the season.  Former Penguin Chris Connor started a three-on-two break for the Red Wings as he moved down the right wing and centered it to Cleary, who beat Fleury for the insurance goal.  Cleary scored the other goal on an empty net with six seconds left.

Even though Crosby wasn’t in the lineup tonight, it was a goaltending battle between two possible Vezina Trophy candidates in Fleury and Howard.  It was as good as advertised for the first 40 minutes of the game, but the Red Wings broke it wide open in the third, giving this round to Howard.

Not only did the Penguins miss Crosby, they also missed the quarterback of the power-play, Kris Letang, and it showed as the Penguins scored only once in their 36 chances with the man-advantage.

Regarding Sidney Crosby, his status is that he’s out indefinitely with concussion-like symptoms, but he should be listed as day-to-day for the rest of his career. It’s unfortunate, but true.  Instead of leading the league in scoring and helping the Penguins’ contend for the Stanley Cup, he’s in the same conversation as Eric Lindros and Pat LaFontaine for very talented players who had their careers derailed because of concussions.

When Crosby’s on the ice, he’s the best player in the NHL and in the world, hands down (and this is coming from a Red Wings’ fan).  He’s the face of the NHL and if he were to retire at an early age, it would be a huge blow to the league, just like Bobby Orr’s meteorite-like knees forced him to retirement in 1979 at the age of 31.

Crosby is still young.  He’s only 24 and has a lot of hockey to offer, but it should be on his terms as to when he’ll return to the ice.  Even if he decides to take the rest of the year off, it’s his call.  Not only the NHL, but the sport of hockey and sports in general is a better place with Sidney Crosby in it.

The Red Wings’ next game is on Thursday in the “Music City” as they face the Nashville Predators.  Their previous match-up was at the JLA on November 26 when the Red Wings prevailed 4-1.

Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, reigning Vezina trophy winner Tim Thomas proved to be  Crosby and Malkin’s kryptonite at CONSOL on Monday.   Stopping 45 of 46 shots faced, Boston’s franchise goaltender proved himself the most valuable player on the ice. Receiving three goals of support, courtesy of two second period tallies from Gregory Campbell and Benoit Pouliot, and a third period power-play goal from Tyler Seguin, the 37-year-old Thomas was able to best his counterpart Marc-Andre Fleury and win his 10th consecutive start. If not for the 6th tally of the season from everyone’s favorite Penguin Matt Cooke at the 10:54 mark of the final frame, Thomas would have recorded his 4th shutout of this young season.

Despite Thomas clearly outshining all those who took the ice on Monday in Pittsburgh, it wasn’t just no. 30 in Black and Gold who stepped up their game against the Pens. In what was undoubtedly what was  the marquee performance of the 2011-12 campaign for the Boston Bruins, an elite performance up and down the lineup was the most dazzling feat of all.

Killing all five Pittsburgh power-plays, including over three and a half minutes of 5-on-3 time, Boston’s commitment to team defense was indelible on Monday evening. Not only did Boston kill off every second of Penguin power-play time, they managed to stymie one of the league’s most high-powered offenses all night long. They won the key face-offs, they blocked shots, and most importantly they shut down the Penguins’ top-duo of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to no points and only 14 shots on goal in over 42 minutes of ice time.  Evidenced by Brad Marchand’s second fight of the season when he dropped ‘em with Penguin defenseman Matt Niskanen after no. 63′s “life on the edge” playing style lead him to a leg sweep of the Pens’ 2nd pairing blueliner, and even more so when Gregory Campbell threw down with Joey Vitale after the Pittsburgh centerman went crashing into Tim Thomas, it was also clear that Boston brought the physicality on Monday evening.

On the offensive side of the equation, the B’s “scoring-by-comittee” continued to shine on Monday, as Boston received a contribution from three of the team’s four lines. The Bruins’ much-criticized power-play unit also got involved, when Tyler Seguin notched his 13th of the season after a beautiful dangle and pass from Patrice Bergeron early in the third period.

The Bruins’ elite performance in all aspects of the game on Monday night proved to the world what people who watch this team on a daily basis already knew; this team is indeed the beasts of the east.

KEY STATS

Goals–                        BOS (3)            PIT (1)

Shots–                       BOS (27)           PIT (46)

Power-Play–           BOS (1-5)          PIT (0-5)

Penalty-Kill–           BOS (5-5)          PIT (4-5)

• Three Stars– ….. 3.) Joe Vitale  ….. 2.) Rich Peverley     ….. 1.) Tim Thomas

What’s Next?

Boston is back in action on Tuesday night as they make their first trip to Winnipeg since New Year’s eve of 1995. In the first meeting between these two squads, the B’s rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win a 4-2 game at the TD Garden.

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The Lightning are in third place in the Southeast Division three points behind the Florida Panthers and 12th in the Eastern Conference.

After 19 games, forward Steven Stamkos leads the team in goals with 11 and points with 19. Marc-Andre Bergeron is tops in assists with 14. Martin St. Louis, leads the team in rating with a +9.

Forward Steve Downie has accumulated 49 penalty minutes (4th in the NHL)  and goalie Mathieu Garon has three wins, a 2.80 goals against average and a .909 save percentage. Dwayne Roloson has six wins, a 3.16 goals against average and an .898 save percentage.

Defenseman Victor Hedman leads Tampa Bay in ice time, averaging 22:42 per game. Steven Stamkos leads in shots on goal with 71.

The Lightning have scored 53 goals and allowed 58 goals. The Bolts power play was awful this week and now is clicking only 15.28% (21st in the NHL) of the time, down from 19.05% just three games ago. The penalty kill is successful 82.50% (15th in the NHL) of the time, just below the league average of 82.53%.

Box Scores

Game 17 – Tampa Bay Lightning 2 – Winnipeg Jets 5

Game 18 – Tampa Bay Lightning 4 – Pittsburgh Penguins 1

Game 19 – Tampa Bay Lightning 2 – New Jersey Devils 4

Three Stars of the Week

Vincent Lecavalier – Two goals and an assist.

Steven Stamkos – One goal and two assists.

Martin St. Louis – Two goals.

Transactions

No team transactions this week.

Injuries

Defenseman Mattias Ohlund remains on IR after undergoing surgery on both knees. He is skating with the team while wearing the red “no contact” jersey. His return is still a couple of weeks away.

Defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron may miss Tuesday’s game with a lower body injury.

Bolt Notes

The Lightning earned two of a possible six points this week. Tampa Bay’s defense has been nothing short of horrible, especially five-on-five. In that situation they have given up 41 goals (26th in the NHL). The Bolts are 21st in the NHL in goals against (3.05)  and shots against (31.3) per game. Brett Clark is -6, Eric Brewer is -5, Bruno Gervais is -2, Victor Hedman and Pavel Kubina are -1. Marc-Andre Bergeron and Matt Gilroy are the only defensemen that have a positive +/-. If this keeps up, with no real help in Norfolk, look for Yzerman to make an Eric Breweresque type move, just as he did last season.

The Week Ahead

Tampa Bay is home vs. Toronto on Tuesday, at Florida on Friday and home vs. Florida on Saturday.

The Quarterdeck Log – Norfolk Admirals Week In Review

By Ken Peacock

About the Author

A man with an identity crisis. A full time fan of all things hockey, fan of the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Washington Capitals. A fan of two NHL teams in the same division? Really? Yes, it can be done. It’s tough, but it can be done. Ken is also a full time husband, IT Professional, and a Norfolk Admirals Hockey Blogger at Vultures Row.

Weekly Log

The St. John’s IceCaps played host to the Admirals this weekend at the Mile One Centre. The Atlantic Division leading IceCaps last played host to Norfolk during training camp and the preseason. Friday night’s game was all Admirals as the offense came alive with a 6-2 victory.  Tyler Johnson and Trevor Smith led the Admirals in scoring with two goals each. Mike Angelidis and Carter Ashton contributed one each. Cory Conacher assisted on three of the goals and was a +2 for the night. Jaroslav Janus stopped 26 of 28 in the win. St. John’s turned the tables on the Admirals Saturday night. They jumped to an early two goal lead and shut Norfolk down. Cory Conacher was the only Admiral to add any points to his stats. Conacher’s goal in the second period was the only sign of life in the Admirals offense. Dustin Tokarski stopped 22 of 25 in the Admiral loss.

Cory Conacher (9G 13A 22Pts +1) and Trevor Smith (8G 12A 20Pts +12) lead the Admirals in scoring. Carter Ashton (12G 7A 19Pts +4) has been rather quiet, but rounds out the top three in scoring.   Mark Barberio (3G 13A 16Pts +11) leads the defense. Dustin Tokarski (5-5-0 2.70 GAA) and Jaroslav Janus (5-2-1 2.85 GAA) continue to rotate in goal.

For the season, the Admirals are 10-7-0-1 with 21 points. They are second in the East Division and trail the WB/S Penguins by 3 points. Cory Conacher and Carter Ashton have led the AHL in rookie scoring since the beginning of the season.Norfolk is currently on a 0-1-0-0 streak and is 5-5-0-0 in their last ten games.

Three Stars of the Week

Cory Conacher – One goal and three assists.

Tyler Johnson – Two goals and an assist.

Trevor Smith – Two goals.

Transactions

Jean-Philippe Cote – Signed to a Professional tryout contract.

Injuries

Richard Petiot – Undisclosed – Day to day

Michel Ouellet – Undisclosed –Day to day

Kevin Quick – Lower body injury – Day to day

An Observation from the Stands

Norfolk had great success in the preseason against St. John’s, but you can only take that success with a grain of salt. The IceCaps are the hottest team in the AHL right now. The Admirals were lucky to split the two games this weekend. The offense came alive on Friday, but looked like they took a late night trip to Tim Horton’s before the Saturday night match. If the Admirals seriously want to contend this year,  they will need to be consistent every night. Playing good one night and then mailing the game in the next is what they did last year. While they managed to make the playoffs, they were consistent in doing what they had done in previous seasons…….bowing out in the first round. The season is still early and there is no need to worry (yet), but sixty minutes every night is what we need from the offense and the defense.

The Week Ahead

Norfolk returns home for a six game homestand. The Charlotte Checkers come into town Wednesday for a Thanksgiving eve match up. Providence then comes to town for games on Friday and Saturday.

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Buffalo Sabres young goaltender Jhonas Enroth is no different. Enroth was drafted by the Sabres with the 46th overall selection (2nd Round) in the 2006 NHL Entry after posting a 2.17 GAA and a .922  save percentage for his Sodertalje SK “J-20″ league team in Sweden in the 2005-’06 season. The 5’11″ native of Stockholm, Sweden would then play three more seasons in his home country, working his way up to the top league in the nation, the Elitserien. In 2007-08 –his final season in Sweden– , after posting splits of 2.13 (GAA) and .932 (Save Percentage) Enroth was given the honor of being one of three candidates for the Elitserien league’s Rookie Of The Year award.

Leaving Sweden after the 2006-’07 season, Enroth would sign his entry level deal with the Sabres on May 31, 2008 and was assigned to Buffalo’s AHL affiliate, the Portland Pirates. Enroth would go on to play three seasons in the American Hockey League, posting a 2.63 GAA and a .915 save percentage in 147 games for the Pirates, Enroth would finally break through in February of 2011, when he became the full-time back-up to Ryan Miller, supplanting veteran netminder Patrick Lalime. Jhonas would go on to make 14 appearances in the 2010-’11 season, earning a 9-2-2 record with one shut-out while posting a 2.73 GAA and a .907 Save Percentage. Despite only seeing 14 games of action in 2010-’11, the opportunity to be around and learn from a proven NHL all-star like Ryan Miller is something that can be a great benefit to any young player.

Following Saturday’s 6-2 loss at the hands of the Boston Bruins, a game in which Enroth came in to relieve Miller after the second period — “I knew pretty much right after the 2nd period. Ryan didn’t feel very well there so they told me pretty much right after the second period.” said Enroth — I had the  chance to speak with the Sabres’ 23-year old Swedish netminder about  how he has benefited from the guidance of Ryan Miller, over the course of the past two seasons:

“It’s a great opportunity for me to see him practice and prepare for games and play games everyday. It’s been great to learn from him.” – Jhonas Enroth

Entering the 2011 season, as Lalime was no longer a part of the organization, it was clear that Enroth had earned the right to the no. 2 job in Buffalo. As the season began, expectations of a championship ran rampant through the streets of Buffalo after the off-season acquisitions of high-profile d-men Robyn Regehr and Chritian Ehrhoff and former Flyer forward Ville Leino. It was also expected that former Olympic Silver medalist Ryan Miller would return to his 2009-’10 form after a relatively down season (by his standards) in 2010-’11. Unfortunately for the 31-year-old Miller, that has simply not been the case. Despite his 2.86 GAA and .909 save percentage, his team just has not performed for him this season, posting a below average 5-6-0 record in the 11 starts made by the East Lansing, Michigan native. On the other end of the spectrum is Jhonas Enroth, who has posted a 1.75 GAA and a .944 save percentage this season, while sporting an undefeated 5-0-0 record.Prior to the season, Enroth was not expected to see much playing time, and was only slated to spell Miller once in a great while. However, it is only logical to play the hot-hand and right now, the hot goalie is Jhonas Enroth.

“I didn’t think I’d be playing as much. That wasn’t the plan I think but obviously, but I’ve been winning a couple of games. It’s been fun playing a couple games in a row there.” – Jhonas Enroth

The play of Jhonas Enroth, who currently holds a 14-3-2 career record in 22 NHL appearances, seems to have caused quite the stir in Buffalo. Now with Miller shelved due to a concussion suffered on Saturday against Boston, now is the time Jhonas Enroth to step-up and take the reigns as starting goaltender of the Buffalo Sabres. If Enroth can take advantage of the increased playing time and keep up the stellar play that he has enjoyed thus far in his brief NHL career, there could be a once unthinkable goaltending controversy brewing in Buffalo.

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The Red Wings scored first at 4:23 in the first period as Fabian Brunnstrom got a pass from Patrick Eaves and the puck past Flyers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky for a 1-0 lead.  That was the only time the home team found the net for the rest of the game.

The Flyers tied as James Van Riemskyk got the puck and put a wrist shot in for a 1-1 tie.  The visitors went ahead 52 seconds later as Jagr scored for a 2-1 lead.  Matt Read closed the scoring for the night at 10:41 of the second period.

Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard made 19 saves on 22 shots in the loss while on the other end, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 22 of 23 shots.

It seemed that the tide turned for the Red Wings when they failed to score during a five minute power play.  Brunnstrom, who is competing for a spot on the Red Wings’ roster, helped his own cause with the lone goal and was effective with and without the puck.  Red Wings center Cory Emmerton, who is also competing to stick with the big club, had an assist tonight.

Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds didn’t play in tonight’s game.  The big story was in last night’s game when Simmonds was facing Red Wings goalie Jordan Pearce in the shootout, a fan threw a banana peel on the ice.  It had drawn disgust within the entire hockey community. The authorities have not found the moron.

The youngsters on the Red Wings have played decently over the past couple of days, especially against two of the powerhouse teams in the Eastern Conference: Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.  Some of the Grand Rapids ‘Red Wings’ such as Brendan Smith, Cory Emmerton, Tomas Tatar and Jan Mursak are getting more than a sample-size when they’re facing some of the elite.

Wednesday, the Red Wings got a big dose of Evgeni Malkin and Marc-Andre Fleury while tonight it was the line of Jagr, Van Riemsdyk and Sean Couturier stood out.  Jagr must have found a time machine because he’s playing like it’s 1999. Van Riemsdyk is in line for a breakout season while Couturier is making lives tough for the Flyers coaching staff, as the 8th overall pick in this summer’s draft is playing like he doesn’t want to go back to the junior ranks.  Philly has another star in the making in Brayden Schenn.  He was acquired from the Los Angeles Kings in a blockbuster trade that sent Mike Richards (no, not Kramer) to Hollywood. He’s an early favorite for the Calder Trophy.

The Red Wings and Flyers battled it out in London, Ontario last night as the Red Wings beat the Flyers 4-3 in a shootout.  The next time these two teams will meet this season is February 12, 2012 at the Joe Louis Arena.

The Red Wings’ next game is this Sunday at 5:00 pm as they host the Chicago Black Hawks at the JLA.

The Red Wings got goals from Niklas Kronwall and Jiri Hudler.  Hudler, who had a forgettable 2010-’11 season, is trying to get back into the good graces of head coach, Mike Babcock, and his goal could be a start.  Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard played two periods and let in three goals on 20 shots.  Howard is trying to shake off a bruised bone from his left foot, which he suffered at last weekend’s practice.  His backup for tonight, Joey MacDonald, did admirably well by stopping all six shots in the final period.

The best player for the Red Wings was Pavel Datsyuk as he assisted on both goals for the Red and White.  Datsyuk is going to wear #24 this preseason in honor of former Red Wing teammate, the late Ruslan Salei.  Salei was in the tragic plane crash in Russia that claimed the lives of the entire Locomotiv Yaroslavl KHL team on September 7.

The next Red Wings preseason game is tomorrow night in London, Ontario as they will face off against the Philadelphia Flyers at the John Labatt Centre.  Game time will be 7:00 pm.

Two of the top Red Wings, Henrik Zetterberg and Nicklas Lidstrom, did not play in tonight’s game.

Roloson rolls into the semi-finals

Going into the quarterfinal series the spotlight was on Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. He had, after all won a Stanley Cup and kept the Penguins title hopes alive despite the injuries to superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. But, as it turned out, a 41 year old journeyman goalie stole the show. Tampa Bay’s Dwayne Roloson stopped 36 shots to earn his second career playoff shutout and send the Tampa Bay Lightning into the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.

In an epic game seven, defensive struggle between two grinding teams, the Bolts prevailed 1-0. Roloson is now 6-0 in elimination games in his career, second only to Chico Resch who was 7-0. The Bolts netminder ended the series with a league leading .941 save percentage and 1.77 goals against average, second only to the Capitals Michal Neuvirth.

The Lightning won its third consecutive game and third road game while becoming the 24^th team in NHL history to come back from a 3-1 deficit and win a series.

For the first time in the entire series, the Bolts and Pittsburgh Penguins played a scoreless first period. The Lightning’s penalty kill remained near perfect stopping the Penguins twice with the man advantage.

Pittsburgh’s power play was 1 for 32 after the period. Tampa Bay was outshot 15-7 and the Penguins won 14 of 22 faceoffs. Pittsburgh controlled the play for much of the period, but Roloson stood tall. The Bolts best scoring opportunity occurred with 45 seconds left when Simon Gagne redirected a Nate Thompson shot toward the net. Marc-Andre Fleury made his best save of the night to keep the game scoreless.

Tampa Bay must have felt pretty good going to the locker room with the score tied. They had weathered the Penguins initial emotional storm.

The only goal of the game was scored by the Bolts Sean Bergenheim at 5:41 of the second period off a no look, backhand pass from Dominic Moore. For Bergenheim, it was his third goal in four games. Moore’s assist was his fourth point of the series. Steve Downie, the game six hero also assisted on the goal for his seventh point in the series.

Dwayne Roloson had to make only seven saves in the period as the defense tightened up very nicely.

Tampa Bay outshot the Penguins in the second period for the first time in the series, 11 to 7, but the superior goaltending of Fleury kept the Bolts from opening up a two goal margin. He made a brilliant, acrobatic glove save on defenseman Pavel Kubina’s power play shot.

Dwayne Roloson stopped all 14 shots the Penguins threw at him in the third period. The Lightning went into a defensive shell and held on to beat the Penguins. The contributions of Mattias Ohlund, Eric Brewer, Mike Lundin, Pavel Kubina, Brett Clark and Victor Hedman cannot be overlooked. Although Pittsburgh held the play in the Lightning zone for most of the period, the Bolts blueliners were magnificent.

The Lightning defensive corps was outstanding throughout the series, giving up less than two goals per game despite the team being outshot 257 to m180.

In a class move, the Penguins presented the Lightning with a game puck to commemorate their first series win since 2004. The Bolts will give the puck to assistant coach Wayne Fleming who is battling brain cancer. Fleming is the Bolts penalty kill coach, an area that the Lightning were near perfect in the series, giving up only one power play goal in 35 Penguins chances with the man advantage.

Tampa Bay will face a familiar foe, the Washington Capitals in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals starting on Friday in the Verizon Center in Washington.

Eastern Conference Semi-Final Schedule

No. 1 Washington Capitals vs. No. 5 Tampa Bay Lightning

Game 1: Friday, April 29 at Washington, 7:00 p.m. (VERSUS, TSN only)

Game 2: Sunday, May 1 at Washington, 7:00 p.m. (VERSUS, CBC only)

Game 3: Tuesday, May 3 at Tampa Bay, TBD (Sun Sports, VERSUS, TSN)

Game 4: Wednesday, May 4 at Tampa Bay, 7:00 p.m. (Sun Sports, TSN)

*Game 5: Saturday, May 7 at Washington, 12:30 p.m. (NBC, TSN only)

*Game 6: Monday, May 9 at Tampa Bay, TBD (Sun Sports, VERSUS, TSN)

*Game 7: Wednesday, May 11 at Washington, TBD (Sun Sports, VERSUS, TSN)

*If necessary

Steve Downie celebrates

The gritty Steve Downie is showing the Penguins and the NHL what we in Tampa have known for a while. He’s a valuable, complete hockey player, not just an agitator. The Bolt forward scored to break a 2-2 tie in the third period to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning over the Pittsburgh Penguins and force a Game 7 in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.

Downie finished the game with a goal and two assists. Teddy Purcell, Ryan Malone and Sean Bergenheim also scored for the Lightning.

Dwayne Roloson remained on fire, stopping 27 of 29 shots and was the Bolts best penalty killer, stopping all four of the Penguins power play chances. Forwards Nate Thompson, Adam Hall, Dominic Moore and Sean Bergenheim were relentless on the penalty kill and were a big reason for the Lightning’s 4-2 win.

The Penguins scored first when Pascal Dupuis beat Dwayne Roloson off of the goalies own turnover. If history prevailed, the Pens would have scored again and won the game. That wouldn’t happen as the Lightning became the first team to win in the series after not scoring first.

The Penguins came out firing in the third stanza. Jordan Staal scored after a beautiful Dupuis pass to tie the game early in the period. The turning point may have come thirty seconds later when Dwayne Roloson stopped Maxime Talbot on a breakaway and a rebound chance and then made a third, acrobatic save on Pascal Dupuis rebound chance. Bolstered by Roloson’s brilliant goaltending, the Bolts came down the ice and Vincent Lecavalier found a wide open Steve Downie in the slot, who was stopped on his first shot but jammed the puck by Marc-Andre Fleury off the rebound to put the Lighting ahead.

Former Penguin Ryan Malone then applied the finishing touches off a tremendous feed from Mattias Ohlund. Bugsy skated away on a breakaway and didn’t fool around with a fancy deke. He simply put the puck on a tee and blasted it by Fleury to put the exclamation point on the night.

Tampa Bay is trying to become the 24^th team in NHL history to come back from a 3-1 deficit. The Bolts will travel to Pittsburgh, where they have already won twice in the series, to play Game 7 on Wednesday night.

*Photo courtesy of Chris O’Meara

He's back!

Superstar Steven Stamkos, Pavel Kubina and Simon Gagne each had two goals and Vincent Lecavalier and Dominic Moore also scored as the Tampa Bay Lightning destroyed the Pittsburgh Penguins in game five of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals, 8-2. The Bolts avoided elimination and pulled themselves to within one game of tying the series at three games apiece. They’ll get that chance on Monday night in Tampa.

Gagne, Stamkos and Lecavalier each netted goals in a ten minute span spreading over the first and second periods and forced the early exit of Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury after he gave up four goals on 14 shots. Fleury’s replacement, Brent Johnson followed suit, giving up four goals on just eleven shots. The Bolts were battering the Penguins 7-0 before Mike Rupp and Chris Conner each scored in the third period.

Teddy Purcell had three assists, Marty St. Louis and Steve Downie (just back from a one game suspension) each pitched in with two helpers. 14 different Lightning players had at least one point. Tampa Bay’s eight goals and four power play goals were team playoff records.

Steven Stamkos had one point in the first four games of the series, but exploded to score his first two NHL playoff goals and ended the game with three points. He played with a renewed sense of urgency and positioned himself in front of the net all game and battled.

Goalie Dwayne Roloson remained solid in between the pipes for the Lightning, saving 31 of 33 Pens shots.

The Bolts special teams were nothing short of amazing, going 4-7 on the power play and 7-7 in killing penalties.

This game could signal a turning point in the series as the sleeping giants for Tampa Bay have awoken. Up until now, Steven Stamkos and Simon Gagne have been very quiet. They are quiet no more.

*Photo courtesy of Gene Pusker.

Dwayne Roloson reacts to giving up game winner

With just over three minutes left in the second overtime, the Penguins James Neal flung a bad angle shot from the side board that tipped off of goalie Dwayne Roloson’s glove and then the crossbar to give Pittsburgh a hard earned 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning and a 3-1 series lead.

It’s hard to blame Roloson who was terrific most of the night and made fifty saves in the loss, but allowed two bad angle, unscreened goals. In comparison, Marc-Andre Fleury only had to make 29 saves in the game. Roloson’s goaltending was a big reason that the Bolts were able to stay in this game, but the goals he allowed were soft. Even though the Bolts trail 3-1 in the series, Roloson has not allowed more than three goals in any of the four games.

It’s hard to blame the heartbreaking loss on lack of effort. The Bolts came back from yet another two goal deficit to tie the score. The heart and soul, Marty St. Louis scored late in the second period off a beautiful flip pass from Vincent Lecavalier. Marty made a highlight reel move as he brought the puck from his backhand to his forehand and beat Marc-Andre Fleury to pull the Lightning within a goal. Sean Bergenheim played like a man possessed all night and was rewarded late in the third period as he found the puck amidst a scrum around the goal and fired it home to tie the score. I believe that Bergenheim was the best player on the ice for the Bolts. Talk about effort. Eric Brewer and Marty St. Louis played just short of 35 minutes in the game.

Perhaps the blame can be placed upon the special teams. The Bolts effective power play (4-11 going into the game) was silenced by the leagues top penalty killing unit. Tampa Bay went 0-4 with the man advantage last night. Pittsburgh scored their first power play goal of the series when Lightning killer Tyler Kennedy beat Roloson short side at 8:14 of the first period.

Perhaps you can blame it on the inability of the Lightning to win a faceoff that mattered. The final numbers looked okay, but Tampa Bay seemed to lose every draw in the defensive zone.

Perhaps you could put the blame on the Bolts struggling superstar Steven Stamkos who took a pass from Marty St. Louis in front of the Pittsburgh net with five minutes to play and missed everything despite having an open net to shoot at.

Ultimately though, the blame needs to be put upon the Lightning’s inability to start fast. Tampa Bay was off its game for the first 30 minutes last night. Players could be seen standing around and not skating. Getting the puck over the blue line and through the neutral zone seemed impossible. Much of this was due to the playoff savvy Penguins who refused to give the Bolts an inch of ice to maneuver.

This may be as far as the Lightning can go this season and that’s okay. This team and organization has come a long way in just one year. But, there is still a glimmer of hope and Tampa Bay need look no further than their teammate Simon Gagne for inspiration. After all, Gagne was a big part of the never say die Flyers of last season. Philadelphia, the number seven seed in the East, overcame a 3-0 series deficit and a 3-0 deficit in the first period of Game 7 before rallying to advance to the Eastern Conference finals.

The barely breathing Bolts have two days to rest and get ready to start their steep, uphill climb.

Fleury was the difference

The Pittsburgh Penguins recuperated from a 5-1 beating at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning in game two, and beat the Bolts 3-2 last night in Tampa to take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference first round series.

In the first home playoff game in four years the Lightning saw Pittsburgh’s Maxime Talbot and Arron Asham score 45 seconds apart in the first period and Tyler Kennedy score 21 seconds after the Bolts fought back to tie the game. The Kennedy goal was a true back-breaker as it knocked the wind out of the Bolts who spent almost 40 minutes mounting a comeback.

The Pens won despite giving up two more power play goals, both to Martin St. Louis. The Bolts overcame an early 2-0 deficit, but Kennedy’s late goal was enough to stave off any Lightning comeback.

The Penguins have won six consecutive Game 3’s and are 10-1 in the third game of playoff series dating back to the 2008. Over the same period, goalie Marc-Andre Fleury is a sparkling 12-4 following a playoff loss. Fleury was the difference in this game as he stood on his head and stopped 25 of 27 shots.

Bolts goaltender Dwayne Roloson was solid again, stopping 27 of the 30 shots he faced.

Pittsburgh is missing superstar Sidney Crosby due to injury just as the Lightning is missing Steven Stamkos. The difference is that Stamkos is actually playing in each game…sort of. The Bolt phenom had just three shots on goal last night to give him a grand total of five for the series. He has scored just four times in the last 25 games. Stammer looks confused on the ice and has lost his swagger. Stamkos did record his first career playoff point, assisting on St. Louis’ first goal. Simon Gagne, Vincent Lecavalier and Eric Brewer also recorded assists for the Lightning.

The Bolts special teams remained hot as the power play went two for four and the penalty kill went two for two, making the Bolts a perfect 15 for 15 for the series. These statistics do not add up to a 2-1 deficit for the Lightning, but the Penguins are playoff tested and know how to win close games; Something Tampa Bay will learn with time.

The Lightning’s Steve Downie and the Penguins Chris Kunitz may face suspensions for separate incidents.

Game four will start at 7:00 PM in Tampa Bay on Wednesday night.

*Photo courtesy of wstera2′s.

Brewer impresses

Defenseman Eric Brewer was a wrecking ball that rolled over the helpless Pittsburgh Penguins Friday night in Pittsburgh. The veteran defenseman played almost 25 minutes, had a goal, two assists, three shots, three hits, was a +2 and led the Tampa Bay Lightning to their first playoff win in four years. The Bolts totally dominated the Penguins and came away with a 5-1 victory to tie the series at one game apiece. Brewer’s patient, in control game gave the Bolts the boost of confidence from the back end they needed.

Three broken teeth and two root canals equaled a goal and an assist for the heart and soul of the Bolts, Martin St. Louis.  Vincent Lecavalier, Nate Thompson and Mattias Ohlund also scored for the Lightning. For Ohlund, the empty net goal was his first goal in his two years with the Bolts. Simon Gagne was a force with three assists.

The first period was the direct opposite of the last period of game one. The Lightning scored on two of their first three shots. Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was a brick wall on Wednesday night but gave up three goals on eight shots in the first period last night. Fleury struggled mightily, stopping only 16 shots on the night.

Bolts backstop Dwayne Roloson continued to sparkle as he stopped 35 of 36 shots including 14 in the third period. Roloson had only himself to blame for not getting a shutout as he went on a walkabout and put himself in no mans land and was scored on by Craig Adams.

Superstar Steven Stamkos continued to struggle as he could muster only one shot on goal and was demoted to the third line for most of the game.

Tampa Bay’s special teams were dominant. The Bolts power play was two for six. The penalty kill was a perfect seven for seven and added a shorthanded goal.

This game will go a long way for the young Lightning team. They played physical, playoff style hockey and beat the Penguins handily. They forced Pittsburgh to play undisciplined hockey.

And now, the best of five series shifts to Tampa on Monday night at the St. Pete Times Forum.

Fleury was brilliant

The playoff savvy Pittsburgh Penguins scored twice in eighteen seconds early in the third period and went on to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-0 last night. The Bolts were making their first playoff appearance in four years.

Despite being the second highest scoring team in the Eastern Conference, the Lightning couldn’t solve Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who stopped all 32 Lightning shots  en route to his fifth career playoff shutout.

Bolts backstop Dwayne Roloson deserved a better fate as he played superbly, stopping 37 of 39 shots in the loss.

The Bolts came out flying in the first period and rifled 14 shots at the acrobatic Fleury. The second period belonged to the Penguins, who seemed to gain confidence in front of their netminder and outshot the Bolts 18-7. The game remained scoreless solely because of the stellar play of both goaltenders.

In the third period, Alex Kovalev and Arron Asham scored and Chris Kunitz added an empty net goal for Pittsburgh.

Tampa Bay killed off all six of its penalties and did not convert its only power play chance.

Superstar Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis could get off only three shots between them. The Pittsburgh defense out-muscled and hit them every chance they got. The tone was set early when Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik destroyed Stamkos with a solid, legal check that sent the Lightning star, crumpling to the ice.

Defenseman Pavel Kubina was nothing short of terrible as he turned the puck over three times, seemed lost on the ice and lost track of Alex Kovalev, allowing him to score the Penguins first goal. Defensemen Matt Smaby and Marc-Andre Bergeron were healthy scratches and Randy Jones is near returning from his ankle injury. Perhaps Kubina needs to sit for awhile.

Martin St. Louis suffered two fractured teeth in the loss and underwent two root canals following the game. He’ll play on Friday night. After all…It’s the playoffs!

If Tampa Bay wants to stay in the series they will need to play with much more urgency and be physical for 60 minutes. Game two is Friday night at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh.

Lightning vs. Penguins First Round Schedule

Game 1 – Wed., April 13, @Pittsburgh, 7 PM
Game 2 – Fri., April 15, @Pittsburgh, 7 PM
Game 3 – Mon., April 18, Home, 7:30 PM
Game 4 – Wed., April 20, Home, 7 PM
Game 5 – Sat., April 23, @ Pittsburgh, TBA
Game 6 – Mon., April 25, Home, TBA
Game 7 – Wed., April 27, @ Pittsburgh, TBA

Tale Of The Tape

So puckheads…Who ya got?

You can click here: 2011 NHL All-Star rosters to see the players that will participate in this year’s All-Star game in Raleigh, NC.

James had the first pick and promptly chose Team Eric Staal, so I got Team Lidstrom. His alternate captains named by the NHL are Ryan Kesler and Mike Green, while mine are Martin St. Louis and Patrick Kane.

Below you will find our mock draft picks and the projected lines for the game.

Team Staal projected line-up:

Line combos:
Alex Ovechkin-Eric Staal-Rick Nash
Steven Stamkos-Jonathan Toews-Paul Stastny
Matt Duchene-Ryan Kesler-Jeff Skinner
Patrick Elias-Claude Giroux-Phil Kessel

Defensive Pairings
Zdeno Chara-Duncan Keith
Shea Weber-Mike Green
Marc Staal-Dan Boyle

Goalies:
1st Period: Cam Ward
2nd Period: Marc-Andre Fleury
3rd Period: Carey Price

Team Lidstrom project line-up:

Line combos:
Daniel Sedin-Henrik-Sedin-Martin St. Louis
Loui Eriksson-Brad Richards-Patrick Kane
Patrick Sharp-Anze Kopitar-Corey Perry
David Backes-Danny Briere-Martin Havlat

Defensive pairings:
Kris-Letang-Nicklas Lidstrom
Keith Yandle-Dustin Byfuglien
Brent Burns-Erik Karlssson

Goalies:
1st period: Tim Thomas
2nd period: Jonas Hiller
3rd period: Henrik Lundqvist

Forwards Sidney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin, Henrik Zetterberg, Jarome Iginla and Ales Hemsky, as well as defenseman Tobias Enstrom will miss the All-Star week-end due to personal reasons or injury.

The 2011 NHL All-Star draft will be aired on Friday January 28th at 8PM, while the Super Skills will be on Saturday January 28th at 7PM Eastern time. The All-Star game will be played on Sunday January 29th at 4PM Eastern time.

You can also follow me on Twitter for updates on the Montreal Canadiens and the NHL in general.

“He’s [Fleury] going to have good games. It’s not like he can change overnight. He’s going to put strings of games together, and he can’t do that with one game. So, you’ve got to be patient, too, and let him get back there.  With a goalie, you’ve got to give him time. He’s got to play four or five games maybe to prove that, but to sit here and question his psyche doesn’t really give him a chance.”

Love Marc-Andre Fleury or hate him, I couldn’t agree with Sid more.  Flower deserves a chance to get back on his game. The 09′ Cup earns him that.   Sid shows us all why he is a captain right here.  He is speaking directly in opposition with Coach Dan Bylsma’s current operating methodology of win one and get another for Flower.  That is treating Fleury like the backup, which he isn’t.   Bylsma has thrown Fleury under the bus a few times this year, but yesterday put Flower’s confidence directly under the spotlight.

“[Fleury] understands he doesn’t have confidence right now”

Nice coach.  Hang him out to dry to the press.  That’s just what he needs.  I mean if we are going to hold people accountable then  it is time to start tossing some of the fringe guys you are obsessed with giving chance to out there too.  Why is it that Tyler Kennedy gets a pass when he plays back to back crappy games?  Why has Mike Comire not been set on fire for pretty much pooping on the ice and then taking his next shift?  By his own player’s anonymous admission Dan is obsessed with the 3rd/4th liners and likes to give them opportunities.

Powerplay, line juggling, and all of the other nonsense aside, Disco has fumbled the handling of the goalie situation. You don’t take your confidence struggling starting goalie and burn him like you have four times this year to the press.  Sid and backup Brent Johnson have handled it like leaders.  Johnny went so far as to bark pretty hard at Shelly Anderson of the PPG when she tried to use baited questioning to get him to cut Flower’s legs out.  Good on those two for being teammates.

I agree with Sid, and the next opportunity where you can commit to giving Flower a solid chance to get his confidence back is to win or lose start him at home against the Canucks and Hurricanes next week and then at Florida and Buffalo the week after.  Vancouver is a West team so losing two points there isn’t going to hurt as bad and then next three games are against teams at the bottom of the East.  Creampuffs.  Tuneups.  There isn’t another opportunity like this on the schedule until the end of January (DET/NJD/CAR/NYI).  If Fleury hasn’t found it by the conclusion of the Buffalo game on the 24th, you have you answer from Fleury.

Other things in my notebook today:

• Apparently the All-Star game is moving to a format when players are voted to the teams and the elected captains pick sides.  Sure it sounds nifty, but it has a chance to put teammates on opposite teams which is why I hated the North America vs The World format.  I’m not sure why the All-Star game isn’t just a skills competition anymore anyway.
• Eric Tangradi upon his return to Wilkes-Barre has been rode fairly hard by new baby Pens head boss John Hynes.  Tangradi was drilled extra hard while being yelled at on the ice by Hynes during a practice last week for quitting on a rush drill according to Citizen’s Voice beat reporter John Bombulie.  There is some speculation that the directive came from on high to get Tangradi motivated but Hynes is also a taskmaster more like Michel Therrien than appeasing creativity man Dan Bylsma.
• So Mark Madden doesn’t think that Marc-Andre Fleury is over using his pokecheck.  The rest of the vision empowered world does.  Madden also said today on his HD-2 show that the Capitals are the Penguins biggest rival.  For a guy who knows so much about Penguins history I wonder how he cold ignore the Flyers like that.  The Caps won’t generate near the level of hate until they actually defeat us somewhere.
• Good to hear out of the GM’s meetings the Florida GM Dale Tallon’s proposal for a coach’s challenge/replay was shot down due to lack of support.
• The Bruins are rolling into town Wednesday pretty banged up.  Marco Sturm and David Krecji are both doubtful or worse.  Marc Savard won’t be back either but expect the Bruins to remember to take a few shots at Matt Cooke for last spring and maybe the Pens’ stars.  By the way, that’s why the game is on NHLN.
• After being absent from practice Monday both Evgeni Malkin and Johnson returned to the ice at Southpointe Tuesday.
• Of all of the centers that Crosby has taken more than 30 draws against the Bruins Patrice Bergeron owns him winning more than 60%.  Sid has a worse FO% against Bergeron than anyone.  Expect Disco to exploit last change on that one Wednesday night.

On a personal note you can expect more of these lump sum type summaries moving forward from me.  I finally an employed again and writing during the day is a non-starter.  I am taking notes in a real notebook now and bringing them here.  Be sure to follow me on Twitter:  @Ozman51