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, eight points out of a playoff spot.

After 51 games, forward Steven Stamkos leads the team and the NHL in goals with 34. He leads the Bolts in and is third in the NHL in points with 57. Martin St. Louis is tops in assists with 33. Marc-Andre Bergeron leads the team in rating with a +8.

Forward Steve Downie is last in rating with a -16 and has accumulated 119 penalty minutes. Goalie Mathieu Garon has 16 wins, a 2.88 goals against average and a .901 save percentage.

Defenseman Eric Brewer leads Tampa Bay in ice time, averaging 23:19 per game. Steven Stamkos leads in shots on goal with 181.

The Lightning have scored 145 goals (10th in the NHL) and allowed 170 goals (30th (last) in the 30 team NHL). The Bolts special teams are far from average. The power play success rate is 13.7% (26th in the NHL) and the penalty kill is at 80.6% (24th 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.

Tampa Bay is 21st in the league in faceoff percentage, winning just 49.3% of their draws.

Box Scores

Game 49 – Tampa Bay Lightning 4 – Washington Capitals 3 OT

Game 50 – Tampa Bay Lightning 1 – Winnipeg Jets 2 OT

Game 51 – Tampa Bay Lightning 6 – Florida Panthers 3

Three Stars of the Week

Martin St. Louis – Four goals and two assists.

Steven Stamkos – Two goals and three assists.

Vincent Lecavalier – One goal and three assists.

Transactions

The Lightning recalled and then reassigned Pierre-Cedric Labrie to Norfolk (AHL).

Injuries

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.

Forward Adam Hall is out with an upper body injury and may return next week.

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 Ryan Malone is day-to-day with an upper body injury.

Bolt Notes

The Bolts are eight points out of a playoff spot and eight points away from a division championship. 62 points are still out there to be won with 31 games left. For the Lightning to get into the postseason tournament, they will probably need to get 44 of those remaining 62 possible points. There are eight more games against divisional foes and the Bolts need to win all of those to have a chance. Realistically, Tampa Bay needs to win the division to make the playoffs. Possible? Yes. Probable? No.

The next handful of games will tell GM Steve Yzerman whether or not he  is a buyer or seller. If he is a seller, look for impending unrestricted free agents Dominic Moore, Ryan Shannon, Adam Hall, Pavel Kubina, Brett Clark, Matt Gilroy, Dwayne Roloson and Bruno Gervais to be offered up to the rest of the NHL.

The Week Ahead

Tampa Bay hosts Los Angeles on Tuesday. They travel to the New York Rangers on Thursday, Buffalo on Saturday and Pittsburgh on Sunday.

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

After the All-Star break, Norfolk found itself in Adirondack for a Friday night game against former Admiral Michael Leighton and the Phantoms. The Phantoms claimed an early one goal lead as Leighton baffled the Admirals offense. Adirondack would score once more in the second. Norfolk’s Carter Ashton finally put the Admirals on the board midway through the second period. Unfortunately, Leighton and the Phantoms would shut down the Admirals offense for the rest of the night. The Phantoms would add another goal for insurance and send Norfolk on to Springfield with a 3-1 loss.

Saturday, Springfield goalie Manny Legace was hoping to celebrate his 40^th birthday with a win. Norfolk jumped out to a two goal lead with goals from Evan Oberg and Richard Panik. Springfield struck back with a goal five minutes into the second period. The Admirals Trevor Smith scored twice to make it 4-1. Manny Legace was pulled in favor of backup goalie, Paul Dainton. Dainton was put to the test and surrendered goals to Mark Barberio and Jeff DImmen. Norfolk and Springfield both went scoreless in the third and the Admirals retired for the night with the 6-1 win.

Super Bowl Sunday was not so super for the Admirals. After a goal filled game the previous night, the Admiral fans were hoping to see more of the same offensive power on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately they would be disappointed. Springfield grabbed the early lead, 1-0 after the first period. The Admirals owned the second period as Pierre-Cedric Labrie and Michel Ouelett each scored. Disaster struck in the third as the offense was shut down and the defense mailed the remainder of the game in.Springfield struck three times and took home a 4-2 win.

Cory Conacher (25G 26A 51Pts +4), Trevor Smith (18G 32A 50Pts +21) and Mark Barberio (6G 33A 39Pts +16) find themselves at the top of the Ad’s scoring list. Conacher was unusually quiet this weekend with just two assists. Goaltender Dustin Tokarski (19-11-0 2.50GAA) went 1-1 this week while Jaroslav Janus (8-8-2 3.16GAA) went 0-1.

For the Season the Admirals are 27-18-1-2 with 57 points. They are currently six points behind the East Division leading Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. 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

Trevor Smith – Two goals and three assists.

Evan Oberg – One goal and three assists.

Pierre-Cedric Labrie – One goal and two assists.

Transactions

Pierre-Cedric Labrie – Returned to the Norfolk Admirals (AHL).

Injuries

Richard Petiot – Undisclosed – Day-to-day

Alexandre Picard – Undisclosed – Day-to-day

An Observation from the Stands

The second half of the season is in full swing. Norfolk finds itself in fifth place in the division. The Admirals need every point that they can get. This road swing was brutal as they gave up four out of a possible six points and fell three more points behind the Penguins. It does not look like the Penguins or the Hershey Bears are going to make this any easier for Norfolk. Adirondack will be in town this weekend and the Admirals need to play every game like it’s a playoff game. They played like that at home against the Bears, but it seems that they play down to their competition. It is high time that the Admirals snap out of it and play each game like it is their last!

The Week Ahead

The Admirals play a weekend series at home against the Adirondack Phantoms this Friday and Saturday night.

Follow WB Philp on Twitter @LightningShout and “Like” Hockey Independent Lightning on Facebook.

Follow Ken Peacock on Twitter @VBKen.

The Bolts are in fourth place in the Southeast Division and trail the division leading Florida Panthers by ten points. Tampa Bay is in 13th place in the 15 team Eastern Conference, nine points out of a playoff spot.

After 47 games, forward Steven Stamkos leads the team and the NHL in goals with 32. He leads the Bolts in and is second in the NHL in points with 52. Martin St. Louis is tops in assists with 30. Marc-Andre Bergeron leads the team in rating with a +8.

Forward Steve Downie is last in rating with a -17 and has accumulated 111 penalty minutes. Goalie Mathieu Garon has 13 wins, a 2.95 goals against average and a .901 save percentage.

Defenseman Eric Brewer leads Tampa Bay in ice time, averaging 23:23 per game. Steven Stamkos leads in shots on goal with 163.

The Lightning have scored 130 goals (11th in the NHL) and allowed 160 goals (30th (last) in the 30 team NHL). The Bolts futile special teams got even worse this past week. The power play success rate is 13.3% (28th in the NHL) and the penalty kill is at 79.6% (25th in the NHL). The league average power play percentage is 17.3% and the average NHL team kills off 82.8% 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 49.1% of their draws.

Box Scores

Game 45 – Tampa Bay Lightning 5 – Boston Bruins 3

Game 46 – Tampa Bay Lightning 2 – Dallas Stars 1

Game 47 – Tampa Bay Lightning 4 – Phoenix Coyotes 3

Three Stars of the Week

Martin St. Louis – One goal and four assists.

Teddy Purcell – Three goals.

Vincent Lecavalier – One goal and three assists.

Transactions

The Lightning reassigned defenseman Evan Oberg to Norfolk (AHL).

Injuries

Forward Ryan Shannon is out 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 with an upper body injury.

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

Forward Ryan Malone is day-to-day with an upper body injury.

Forward Steve Downie is day to day with an upper body injury.

Bolt Notes

The Bolts went 3-0 this past week with two straight road wins. The playoffs are not out of the question, but with 35 games remaining, the Bolts are nine points out of the last playoff spot and they need to jump over five teams. The injury list is long and the AHL call ups are many. Tampa Bay should get much healthier after Tuesday’s game when the league will fall silent during the All-Star break. The Lightning look like they will stand pat and not look for help through trades. Dwayne Roloson is now clearly the backup goalie to Mathieu Garon, but that could change at any moment as Tampa Bay has pulled its starting goalie a total of nine times through 47 games.

The Week Ahead

Tampa Bay hosts Columbus on Tuesday before the All-Star break.

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

First up for the Admirals this past week was the Albany Devils. The Devils have won all previous meetings with Norfolk this year. Albany struck first and built a 3-1 lead after one period of play. Cory Conacher scored the lone Admiral goal. The Admirals scored twice early in the second with goals from Evan Oberg and Mark Barberio. Albany would score their last goal of the night in the second before surrendering two more goals to Michel Ouellet and Admirals Captain, Mike Angelidis. Both teams went scoreless in the third period. Despite the rough first period, the Admirals were able to battle back for the 5-4 win. Dustin Tokarski played well, with the exception of the first period.

The Admirals moved on to Syracuse, New York for a Friday night matchup against the Syracuse Crunch. Once again Norfolk dug themselves a big hole. At the end of two periods it was six goals for the Crunch and a big goose egg for Norfolk. At the beginning of the third period goalie Jaroslav Janus was pulled in favor of Dustin Tokarski. Mike Angelidis and Richard Panik scored goals, but it was not enough to win the game.Syracuse took home the 6-3 victory and sent Norfolk on a nice bus ride to Connecticut.

It was just a week ago that Connecticut and Norfolk met down in Virginia. The Admirals won both of the games at Scope and were hoping to add one more in Connecticut. This game was very similar to the two previous matches as Norfolk found themselves down 3-1 at the end of one. Dustin Tokarski was pulled after surrendering three goals on three shots. Tyler Johnson scored the lone Admiral goal. Ondrej Palat would cut the lead to 3-2 with the lone goal of the second period. Carter Ashton opened the scoring in the third to tie the game at three. Cory Conacher would put the Admirals ahead 18 seconds later to give Norfolk the 4-3 lead. Less than two minutes laterSyracuse would tie the game and send it to overtime. After a scoreless overtime period a shootout took place. It took ten rounds to complete the shootout, but in the end Richard Panik secured the 5-4 win for the Admirals.

Cory Conacher (24G 22A 46Pts +3) and Mark Barberio (5G 32A 37Pts +16) find themselves at the top of the Admirals in scoring. Conacher leads the AHL in goals scored and is fifth overall in scoring. Carter Ashton (16G 14A 30Pts +7) is holding on to fourth place in scoring. Dustin Tokarski (17-9-0 2.53GAA) was pulled from the Connecticut game after allowing three goals on three shots. Jaroslav Janus (8-6-2 3.17GAA) went 1-1 this week.

For the Season the Admirals are 25-14-1-2 with 53 points. They are currently two points behind the East Division leading Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.Norfolk is currently on a 1-0-0-0 streak and is 5-3-1-1 in their last ten games.

Angelidis leads the way for the Admirals

Three Stars of the Week

Mike Angelidis – Three goals.

Cory Conacher – Two goals and an assist.

Mark Barberio – One goal and an assist.

Transactions

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

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

Charles Landry – Returned to the Norfolk Admirals (AHL).

Evan Oberg – Returned to theNorfolk Admirals (AHL).

Injuries

Richard Petiot – Undisclosed – Day-to-day

An Observation from the Stands

Lately the Admirals have let the opposition build an early lead. In all three games this week Norfolk had to fight back from two to three goal deficits. They lost one, won one in regulation and won in the tenth round of a shootout. Even with the call ups missing from the lineup they still have a potent offense and it shows. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Tampa Bay not only has a goalie situation in the NHL, but the AHL netminding isn’t looking that good either. You can look at the stats and say that Tokarski isn’t having a bad season, but what you see on paper is not always what you see on the ice. He need some work before the Bolts bring him up.

The Week Ahead

Next up for the Admirals is a three-game home stand starting Tuesday night against the Charlotte Checkers followed by a Friday and Saturday night series against the Hershey Bears.

Follow WB Philp on Twitter @LightningShout and “Like” Hockey Independent Lightning on Facebook.

Follow Ken Peacock on Twitter @VBKen.

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.

Follow WB Philp on Twitter @LightningShout and “Like” Hockey Independent Lightning on Facebook.

Follow Ken Peacock on Twitter @VBKen.

The Bolts are in fourth place in the Southeast Division and trail the division leading Florida Panthers by eleven points. Tampa Bay is in 13th place in the 15 team Eastern Conference, nine points out of a layoff spot.

After 40 games, forward Steven Stamkos leads the team and the NHL in goals with 28. He leads the Bolts in points with 43. Martin St. Louis is tops in assists with 21. Marc-Andre Bergeron leads the team in rating with a +7. Steve Downie is last in rating with an alarming -17.

Forward Steve Downie is last in rating with an alarming -17 and has accumulated 100 penalty minutes. Goalie Mathieu Garon has 11 wins, a 2.85 goals against average and a .903 save percentage.

Defenseman Eric Brewer leads Tampa Bay in ice time, averaging 23:14 per game. Steven Stamkos leads in shots on goal with 139.

The Lightning have scored 107 goals (17th in the NHL) and allowed 134 goals (28th in the 30 team NHL). The Bolts special teams are awful. The power play success rate is at a season low 13.77% (27th in the NHL) and the penalty kill slipped below 80% at 79.50% (23rd in the NHL). The Bolts are in the middle of an appalling 1-34 road power play skid.Tampa Bay is 25th in the league in faceoff percentage, winning just 48.5% of their draws.

Tampa Bay has won 11 of 16 games at the Tampa Bay Times Forum and six of 24 games on the road.

Box Scores

Game 38 – Tampa Bay Lightning 3 – Toronto Maple Leafs 7

Game 39 – Tampa Bay Lightning 1 – Ottawa Senators 4

Game 40 – Tampa Bay Lightning 1 – Montreal Canadiens 3

Three Stars of the Week

Vincent Lecavalier – Two goals and an assist.

Steven Stamkos – Two goals.

Dominic Moore – Two assists.

Transactions

Tampa Bay acquired defenseman Brendan Mikkelson from Calgary for forward Blair Jones.

Pierre-Cedric Labrie was recalled by the Lightning.

Forward Brett Connolly returned from Team Canada.

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

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 and Adam Hall are day-to-day with upper body injuries.

Bolt Notes

The Bolts went 0-3 this past week. At the mid-season mark, Tampa Bay is in trouble. They are nine points out of a playoff spot with four teams to jump over to get into the postseason tournament. The Lightning plays nine of its next 12 games at home and must go on a run to maintain hopes of a playoff appearance in 2012. The Bolts have lost 18 road games, only two less than their total road losses last season.

The first half MVP is superstar Steven Stamkos. The Tampa Bay sniper has a NHL best 28 goals and is on pace for another 50 goal season. The 21 year old center has grabbed hold of a leadership role with the team and is playing a more physical game, getting to the front of the net and battling for “garbage” goals.

The biggest disappointment  of the first half is $3 million goaltender Dwayne Roloson, who is 6-9 with a 3.76 goals against average and an .881 save percentage, last and second to last in the NHL respectively.

The Week Ahead

Tampa Bay hosts Vancouver on Tuesday and  Carolina on Thursday. The Bolts travel to Washington on Friday before hosting Pittsburgh on Sunday.

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

On Wednesday night, the Norfolk Admirals faced off against division rivals, the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Pennsylvania. The normally tough Brad Thiessen was just not himself. The Admirals beat Thiessen three times in the third period. Richard Panik, Cory Conacher, and Radko Gudas  all lit the lamp to give Norfolk a 3-0 lead. The Penguins put their only goal of the night in the second frame. Cory Conacher would get his second of the night in the third and Mike Angelidis put things to bed with the Admirals fifth goal of the night. Dustin Tokarski stopped 20 of 21 shots in theNorfolk 5-1 win.

Friday night had the Admirals and Albany Devils squaring off at the Norfolk Scope. Norfolkdominated the first two periods with goals from Mark Barberio, Carter Ashton, Trevor Smith, and Evan Oberg. Halfway thru the third period Norfolk fell asleep and Albany started their comeback. The Devils would score four unanswered goals and send the game to overtime.Albany finished the Admirals off with a goal at 3:31 of the overtime period for the 5-4 win.

The Devils were back on Saturday night and set the tone early. Stephane Veilleux of the Devils slashed Cory Conacher as the teams lined up for the opening face-off. If they were trying to intimidate the Admirals, it worked.Albanydominated the entire game. They scored their first goal in the first and added two more in the second.Norfolkwas only able to put one goal on the board from Richard Panik. With the 3-1 win the Devils have now won all four meetings of the season.

Trevor Smith (16G 28A 44Pts +18) and Cory Conacher (2G 20A 41Pts +7) find themselves at the top for scoring. Smith and Conacher are 3^rd and 5^th in scoring in the AHL.  Mark Barberio (4G 28A 32Pts +18) leads allNorfolk defensemen and is in third place amongst all Admirals in scoring. Carter Ashton (15G 12A 27Pts +9) continues to hold onto fourth place.  Dustin Tokarski (14-8-0 2.45GAA) went 1-1 this week. Jaroslav Janus (7-5-2 3.04GAA) lost in his only start this week to the Albany Devils.

For the Season the Admirals are 21-12-1-2 with 45 points. They are currently four points behind the East Division leading Hershey Bears.Norfolkis currently on a 0-1-1-0 streak and is 5-3-1-1 in their last ten games.

Three Stars of the Week

Cory Conacher  – Two goals and an assist.

Trevor Smith – One goal and four assists.

Richard Panik – Two goals.

Transactions

Evan Oberg – Returned by theTampaBay Lightning.

Pierre-Cedric Labrie – Recalled by theTampaBay Lightning.

Injuries

Alexander Picard – Undisclosed injury – Day to day

Richard Petiot – Undisclosed injury – Day to day

Kevin Quick – Lower body injury – Day to day

An Observation from the Stands

One of the big issues Norfolk has had in the past is starting slowely after the Christmas break. The Admirals have played six games and lost three of them. You can attribute the losses to bad breaks, penalties, carelessness, or flat out being outplayed. At the end of the day none of these excuses matter. A loss is a loss and losing those points will matter at the end of the season. The last two games against Albanywere terrible performances by the Admirals. In the first game they built a four goal lead and lost it in the final 15 minutes. The following game they let the Devils walk all over them.Albanyhas won all four meetings with the Admirals this season. It’s time forNorfolkto wake up and beat them.

The Week Ahead

The Admirals remain home for three games this week. The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins will be in town for a rare Tuesday night game. Sean Avery and the Connecticut Whale come to town Friday and Saturday night.

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The Bolts are in fourth place in the Southeast Division and trail the division leading Florida Panthers by ten points. Tampa Bay is in 12th place in the 15 team Eastern Conference, six points out of a layoff spot.

After 37 games, forward Steven Stamkos leads the team and the NHL in goals with 26. He leads the Bolts in points with 43 (4th in the NHL). Martin St. Louis is tops in assists with 20. Stamkos leads the team in rating with a +12.

Forward Steve Downie has accumulated 80 penalty minutes and goalie Mathieu Garon has 11 wins, a 2.73 goals against average and a .907 save percentage.

Defenseman Eric Brewer leads Tampa Bay in ice time, averaging 23:18 per game. Steven Stamkos leads in shots on goal with 128.

The Lightning have scored 102 goals (13th in the NHL) and allowed 120 goals (25th in the 30 team NHL). The Bolts special teams still need work. The power play success rate is 14.7% (24th in the NHL) and the penalty kill slipped to 80.1% (24th in the NHL). Tampa Bay is 25th in the league in faceoff percentage, winning just 48.8% of their draws.

Tampa Bay has won 11 of 16 games at the Tampa Bay Times Forum and six of 21 games on the road.

Box Scores

Game 35 – Tampa Bay Lightning 5 – Philadelphia Flyers 1

Game 36 – Tampa Bay Lightning 4 – Montreal Canadiens 3

Game 37 – Tampa Bay Lightning 5 – Carolina Hurricanes 2

Three Stars of the Week

Steven Stamkos – Six goals.

Martin St. Louis – Six assists.

Steve Downie – Two goals and five assists.

Transactions

The Lightning recalled defenseman Evan Oberg from Norfolk for the sixth time this season.

The Lightning announced the signing of Norfolk forward Pierre-Cedric Labrie to a two year, two way contract.

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.

Forward Nate Thompson is day-to-day with a lower body injury.

Defenseman Victor Hedman is out indefinitely with a concussion.

Bolt Notes

Tampa Bay got just what they needed this week. The Bolts went 3-0 and accumulated six out of a possible six points. The Lightning has won five of their last seven games. The offense is clicking as they averaged over four goals per game and gave up only two goals per game. Goalie Mathieu Garon sparkled with three wins, a 2.00 goals against average and a .935 save percentage. Superstar Steven Stamkos jumped to the top of the NHL goal scoring race, netting six goals in three games to give him 26 on the year. Martin St. Louis is back and better than ever after a facial fracture. He had six helpers this week. Ryan Malone had a three assist game Saturday night versus Carolina and recent call up JT Wyman scored his first NHL goal and garnered two points this week.

The Week Ahead

Tampa Bay is at Toronto on Tuesday, at Ottawa on Thursday and at Montreal 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 returned to action after the Christmas break with a Wednesday night game against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Bridgeport opened up the scoring eight minutes into the first period. This would be their only goal of the night as the Admirals defense shut the Sound Tigers down. Norfolk would get two goals in the second period from Mike Kostka and Philip-Micheal Devos. This would be all that the Admirals needed to secure the 2-1 victory. Both teams went scoreless in the defensive third period. Dustin Tokarski  was stellar in net turning aside 26 of the 27 shots.

Friday night saw the Admirals and Sound Tigers back in action once more at the Scope. Norfolk dominated the first and second periods. Cory Conacher and Matt Fornataro would score in the opening period. Tyler Johnson would add another in the second frame. The Admirals found themselves in penalty trouble in the third period and Bridgeport capitalized on those mistakes. The Sound Tigers scored two quick power play goals before the Admirals were able to recover. Bridgeport continued to put on the pressure, but Tokarski answered back and the Admirals held on for the 3-2 win. Bridgeport winger, Tomas Marcinko was injured when Jean-Philippe Cote of the Admirals was pushed to the ice.Cote’s skate came up and caught Marcinko in the neck. Marcinko was rushed to aNorfolk hospital and required surgery. Marcinko is back with Bridgeport and recovering from his injury.

Norfolk was in Hershey on Saturday for a New Year’s Eve match against the division leading Bears.  Ondrej Palat opened the scoring in the first period for the Admirals. Hershey would strike back in the second. Norfolk found themselves on the power play twice, but the defense failed as the Bears would get two shorthanded goals to take a 2-1 lead into the locker room. Mike Kostka tied the game in the third and sent the game to overtime. Both teams failed to score in the overtime frame and that brought on the shootout. Braden Holtby stopped all five of the Norfolk shooters, while Jaroslav Janus stopped all but Keith Aucoin. Aucoin’s shootout goal secured the 3-2 Bear win.

Trevor Smith (15G 24A 39Pts +17) and Cory Conacher (19G 19A 38Pts +6) find themselves atop the Admirals scoring list. Mark Barberio (3G 26A 29Pts +19) leads all Norfolk defensemen and is in third place among all Admirals in scoring. Carter Ashton (14G 11A 25Pts +9) continues to hold onto fourth place.  Dustin Tokarski (13-7-0 2.40GAA) went 2-0 this week. Jaroslav Janus (7-4-2 3.04GAA) lost the shootout decision against the Bears on Saturday.

For the Season the Admirals are 20-11-0-2 with 42 points. They are currently 2 points behind the East Division leading Hershey Bears. Norfolk is currently on a 4-0-0-1 streak and is 7-2-0-1 in their last ten games.

Three Stars of the Week

Mike Kostka - Two goals, one assist, a +1 rating and seven shots on goal.

Kostka is the first star of the week

Dustin Tokarski – Two wins in two games and stopped 53 of 56 shots.

Cory Conacher  – One goal, two assists and a +1 rating.

Transactions

J.T. Wyman – Recalled by the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Evan Oberg – Recalled by the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Charles Landry – Assigned to the Norfolk Admirals (AHL) from the Florida Everblades (ECHL)

Pierre-Cedric Labrie – Signed to a two-way NHL contract by the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Injuries

Alexander Picard – Undisclosed – Day-to-day

Pierre-Cedric Labrie– Undisclosed – Day-to-day

Richard Petiot – Undisclosed – Day-to-day

Kevin Quick – Lower Body Injury – Day-to-day

An Observation from the Stands

Norfolk has a bad habit of coming back from the holiday break and losing a few. Coach Cooper must have had a good talk with them before the first game and they came out hungry for a win. The games against Bridgeport were solid games. If there is one thing that they still need to work on, it is taking to many penalties. They have to cut down or it will come back and bite them in the rear end.  Dustin Tokarski and the defense played great games againstBridgeport. The Admirals truly deserved the wins.

Saturday’s loss against the division leading Bears was a result of a defensive collapse. The defense that played well on Wednesday and Friday failed to show up in Hershey. Having the man advantage usually benefits a team, but not the Admirals. Twice they allowed shorthanded goals to the league’s top offensive team. Not a good night for the boys. It is time to tighten their belts and get things together. We are all looking for a nice long run, deep into the playoffs this year. Time to get things going guys!

The Week Ahead

The Admirals find themselves on the road Wednesday night in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for a match against the Penguins. Norfolk returns home for a Friday and Saturday night set against the Albany Devils.

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The Bolts are in fourth place in the Southeast Division and trail the division leading Florida Panthers by twelve points. Tampa Bay has fallen to 13th place in the 15 team Eastern Conference.

After 34 games, forward Steven Stamkos leads the team in goals with 20 (1st in the NHL) and points with 37. Marc-Andre Bergeron is tops in assists with 19. Stamkos leads the team in rating with a +10.

Forward Steve Downie has accumulated 76 penalty minutes and goalie Mathieu Garon has eight wins, a 2.84 goals against average and a .902 save percentage. Dwayne Roloson has become the number two goalie, struggling with six wins, a 3.72 goals against average and an .883 save percentage.

Defenseman Eric Brewer leads Tampa Bay in ice time, averaging 23:08 per game. Steven Stamkos leads in shots on goal with 118.

The Lightning have scored 88 goals (15th in the NHL) and allowed 114 goals (28th in the 30 team NHL). The Bolts special teams were awful this week. The power play success rate fell t0 14.3% (25th in the NHL) and the penalty kill slipped to 80.7% (25th in the NHL).

Box Scores

Game 33 – Tampa Bay Lightning 2 – San Jose Sharks 7

Game 34 – Tampa Bay Lightning 1 – Colorado Avalanche 2 OT

Three Stars of the Week

Martin St. Louis – One goal and one assist.

Pavel Kubina – One goal.

Dominic Moore – One goal.

Transactions

The Lightning recalled defenseman Evan Oberg and forward JT Wyman from Norfolk and then reassigned Oberg to the Admirals. This was the fifth time this month that Oberg was reassigned.

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 Matt Gilroy is day-to-day with a lower body injury.

Forward Nate Thompson is day-to-day with a lower body injury and is slated to return on Tuesday.

Bolt Notes

Tampa Bay was embarrassed by San Jose early in the week, then played well versus the Avalanche, but still lost in overtime. They have now lost 12 of their last 18 games and are eight points out of a playoff spot with five teams to jump over. A daunting task, to be certain, with 48 games left.

The Bolts remain woefully inconsistent. The defense and goaltending are struggling mightily. Injuries are hurting the blue line as the Bolts are playing with only six healthy defensemen. Five of the seven defensemen have negative +/- ratings, with Victor Hedman and Brett Clark  ”leading” the way with a -12 and a -11 rating respectively.

Many are calling for GM Steve Yzerman to “do something” to help his club, but it is very difficult to work a trade this early in the season because most teams still do not know if they are buyers or sellers yet.

The measure of an NHL GM and organization  is how they handle adversity. Last season, almost everything fell into place and it looked relatively easy to the Lightning faithful. Now that the road to the playoffs has become rocky, Yzerman and the Bolts brass have an opportunity to show their mettle.

Tampa Bay must go on a run immediately following the Christmas break. The schedule favors them as 12 of the next 18 games are on home ice.

The Week Ahead

Tampa Bay hosts Philadelphia on Tuesday, Montreal on Thursday and Carolina on Saturday.

Are you looking for The Quarterdeck Log? Ken will be back when the AHL break is over next week.

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Follow Ken Peacock on Twitter @VBKen.

The Bolts are in fourth place in the Southeast Division and trail the division leading Florida Panthers by ten points. Tampa Bay has fallen to 13th place in the 15 team Eastern Conference.

After 32 games, forward Steven Stamkos leads the team in goals with 20 (1st in the NHL) and points with 37. Marc-Andre Bergeron is tops in assists with 19. Stamkos leads the team in rating with a +12.

Forward Steve Downie has accumulated 72 penalty minutes and goalie Mathieu Garon has eight wins, a 2.75 goals against average and a .905 save percentage. Dwayne Roloson is still struggling with six wins, a 3.67 goals against average and an .882 save percentage.

Defenseman Victor Hedman leads Tampa Bay in ice time, averaging 23:04 per game. Steven Stamkos leads in shots on goal with 114.

The Lightning have scored 85 goals (15th in the NHL) and allowed 105 goals (28th in the 30 team NHL). The Bolts special teams numbers were a mixed bag this week. The power play improved slightly and is clicking at 15.3% (23rd in the NHL). The penalty kill slipped to a success rate of 81.2% (22nd in the NHL).

Box Scores

Game 30 – Tampa Bay Lightning 4 – New Jersey Devils 5

Game 31 – Tampa Bay Lightning 5 – Calgary Flames 4 OT

Game 32 – Tampa Bay Lightning 3 – Columbus Blue Jackets 2

Three Stars of the Week

Steven Stamkos – Four goals and three assists.

Blair Jones – Two goals, and an assist.

Dana Tyrell  – Three assists.

Transactions

The Lightning signed former Stars and Wild forward Antti Mietinen to a two year, one way contract. He was then claimed off waivers by the Winnipeg Jets.

The Lightning recalled defenseman Evan Oberg from Norfolk, returned him and then recalled him again.

Injuries

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.

Forward Martin St. Louis has facial and nasal fractures from getting hit with an errant shot in warm ups. He has been cleared to start working out but remains out indefinitely.

Defenseman Matt Gilroy is day-to-day with a lower body injury.

Forward Nate Thompson is day-to-day with a lower body injury.

Bolt Notes

After losing to the Devils earlier in the week, the Bolts won two straight and added four points to their season total. This is the first time since Thanksgiving that Tampa Bay has won two straight.

Steven Stamkos is on fire. He had seven points in the three games this week (4G,3A) and looks to be taking more of a leadership role with the absence of his injured mentor Martin St. Louis.

The Week Ahead

Tampa Bay is at San Jose on Wednesday and at Colorado on Friday.

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 opened up their week with a Friday night match at home against the Hershey Bears. The Bears dominated the Admirals for the first period and half of the second. They capitalized on two Norfolk penalties and jumped ahead with a 2-0 lead. Trevor Smith would put the Admirals on board with his 14^th goal of the season at 16:38 of the second. Hershey would answer back in the closing minutes of the second period. Norfolk would score twice in the third with goals from  Cory Conacher and Pierre-Cedric Labrie, but Hershey  scored to keep the lead and secure the win. Dustin Tokarski did not have his best night, letting in two soft goals that he should have stopped.

On Saturday the Admirals found themselves in Pennsylvaniato take on the East Division leading WB/S Penguins. The Admirals jumped out to an early lead with goals from Matt Fornataro and Carter Ashton  in the first period. The Penguins would answer back with a goal towards the end of the period and one to tie the game up at two early in the second. Tyler Johnson, Cory Conacher, and Michel Ouellet would put the Admirals ahead for good. Norfolk took their 5-2 victory and set sail for Hershey.

Norfolk was in Hershey for their second Sunday. They fell to the Bears last week and on Friday night back at the Norfolk Scope. The Admirals found themselves on the penalty kill two times to many early in the first. The Bears took advantage of the situation and put two goals up on the board. Michel Ouellet would score, but the Bears quickly regained the lead on a Chris Bourque goal with four seconds left in the first. Both teams were scoreless in the second period. The Admirals came alive and dominated the third period. The defense held the Bears scoreless while the offense lit the lamp five teams in the final period. The Admirals saw goals from J.T. Wyman, Philip-Michael Devos, Trevor Smith, Richard Panik, and Tyler Johnson. Mark Barberio is quietly racking up the point and had three assists.  Jaroslav Janus was solid in net as the Admirals coasted to a 6-3 win.

Michel Ouelette is Norfolk's first star of the week

Trevor Smith (15G 22A 37Pts +17) and Cory Conacher (18G 17A 35Pts +5) find themselves at the top of the Admirals scoring race. Mark Barberio (3G 23A 26Pts +19) leads all Norfolk defensemen in scoring and has moved ahead of forward Carter Ashton (14G 10A 24Pts +8).  Dustin Tokarski (11-7-0 2.50GAA) went 1-1 this week. Jaroslav Janus (7-4-1 3.14GAA) had a solid performance against the Bears on Sunday.

For the Season the Admirals are 18-11-3-2 with 37 points. They are currently in a three way tie for first in the East Division with the Hershey Bears and the WB/S Penguins. Evan Oberg was returned from Tampa Bay and is accumulating the air miles, but not getting any time on the ice.Norfolkis currently on a 2-0-0-0 streak and is 7-3-0-0 in their last ten games.

Three Stars of the Week

Michel Ouelette – Two goals and two assists.

Trevor Smith – Two goals and two assists

Mark Barberio – Five assists and a +6 rating.

Transactions

Evan Oberg – Returned from the Tampa Bay Lightning.

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

J P Cote – Signed to an AHL contract.

Injuries

Richard Petiot – Undisclosed injury – Day-to-day

Kevin Quick – Lower body injury – Day-to-day

An Observation from the Stands

Playing against the Hershey Bears is never fun. For some reason the Admirals always struggle against them. The Friday night game was no exception. The Hershey Bears have one of the top rated power play and penalty kill units in the AHL. The Admirals got themselves in trouble and let the Bears power play have at them. While the offense managed to mount a comeback, their efforts were not enough to win the game. Tokarski dropped another game and allowed two soft goals. If the fans inTampaBayare looking for some help in goal I would suggest they look elsewhere, Tokarski is not ready for the NHL.

The Admirals redeemed themselves on Saturday against the Penguins. Tokarski got the start and played like a good AHL goalie; nothing fancy just a solid AHL performance. I don’t know what happened between Norfolk and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, but whatever was said or done had an impact on the team. It was a great overall performance.

In the opening period of Sunday’s game, the Admirals put forth another dismal performance. The Bears quickly jumped on the Admirals, going up 3-1. The second period was a defensive struggle with no one scoring. Then something must have clicked.Norfolkcame alive and scored five unanswered goals and took home a rare win in Hershey. Janus was solid in net and the Admirals saw more goals from the role players rather than the stars. It was a great win for the Admirals.

The Week Ahead

Norfolk will enjoy the Christmas break, as their next game will be against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on December 28 at the Norfolk Scope.

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The Lightning are in fourth place in the Southeast Division and trail the division leading Florida Panthers by eleven points. Tampa Bay has fallen to 13th place in the 15 team Eastern Conference.

After 29 games, forward Steven Stamkos leads the team in goals with 16 (4th in the NHL) and points with 30. Marc-Andre Bergeron is tops in assists with 19. Stamkos leads the team in rating with a +8.

Forward Steve Downie has accumulated 67 penalty minutes and goalie Mathieu Garon has six wins, a 2.70 goals against average and a .909 save percentage. Dwayne Roloson has six wins, a 3.55 goals against average and an .886 save percentage.

Defenseman Victor Hedman leads Tampa Bay in ice time, averaging 23:04 per game. Steven Stamkos leads in shots on goal with 102.

The Lightning have scored 73 goals (20th in the NHL) and allowed 94 goals (27th in the NHL). The Bolts special teams numbers took a dive again this week. The power play is clicking just 14.7% (24th in the NHL) of the time. The penalty kill is successful 82.0% (18th in the NHL) of the time.

Box Scores

Game 26 – Tampa Bay Lightning 2 – Ottawa Senators 4

Game 27 – Tampa Bay Lightning 1 – New York Islanders 5

Game 28 – Tampa Bay Lightning 3 – New York Rangers 2 SO

Game 29 – Tampa Bay Lightning 2 – Philadelphia Flyers 5

Three Stars of the Week

Martin St. Louis – Two goals.

Dominic Moore – One goal, a shootout goal and an assist.

Steven Stamkos  – Three assists.

Transactions

The Lightning loaned forward Brett Connolly to Canada’s World Junior Team.

The Lightning called up newly acquired defenseman Evan Oberg and then returned him to Norfolk.

The Lightning called up forward Blair Jones.

Injuries

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

Defenseman Pavel Kubina is day-to-day with a lower body injury.

Forward Martin St. Louis has facial and nasal fractures from getting hit with an errant shot in warm ups. He is out indefinitely.

Bolt Notes

Following a brutal, three loss week, the slumping Lightning went on a four-game road trip through Ottawa, Long Island, New York and Philadelphia. The Bolts garnered just two of a possible eight points during that trek.

Tampa Bay has now lost ten of their last 14 games, including six of their last seven.

The Lightning has only three players with a positive +/- rating. The defense has been horrific as Victor Hedman, Eric Brewer, Brett Clark and Bruno Gervais have a combined -26 rating.

The goaltending duo of Roloson and Garon had a terrible week, with a 4.00 goals against average and an .881 save percentage.

The offense remained anemic as the Bolts could only muster seven goals in four games.

Despite the awful numbers, the Bolts are just five points out of a playoff spot with 53 games to play. It may not be time to panic, but this team needs help, especially on the blue line. Without any real help in Norfolk and Mattias Ohlund suffering a setback in his rehab, look for GM Steve Yzerman to make a move to bolster the blue line.

The Week Ahead

Tampa Bay is home versus New Jersey on Monday and hosts Calgary on Thursday. They finish the week at Columbus 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 wrapped up a three game road trip against division rivals Binghamton and Hershey. First up on Friday were the Senators.Norfolk struck first on Michel Ouelette first goal in his first game after a lengthy injury. The Senators would follow up with their only goal of the night to make it 1-1. The second period was all Admirals. Matt Fornataro, Mike Kostka, and Cory Conacher scored to make it 4-1. Trevor Smith sealed the victory with his goal in the third.

Saturday’s match had Trevor Smith lighting the lamp to get the scoring started. Former Admiral, Rob Klinkhammer, responded for the Senators. Cory Conacher and Trevor Johnson put the Admirals up 3-1 in the second. The Senators opened up the third, but Conacher and JT Wyman sealed the 5-2 victory forNorfolk.

Norfolk found itself inChocolate Town, Hershey,PA on Sunday. They quickly got themselves in trouble as Hershey capitalized on two Norfolk penalties. Cory Conacher would cut that lead in half, but Hershey found them on the power-play once more and scored the third power-play goal of the period. The Bears added one more goal for good measure to make it a 4-1 first period lead for the Bears. The Admirals bounced back in the second with goals from Trevor Smith and Tyler Johnson. Hershey put the clamps down in the third, stopped the Admiral offense and added two more goals to take a 6-3 victory.

Trevor Smith (13G 20A 33Pts +17) and Cory Conacher (16G 16A 32Pts +41) find themselves at the top for scoring. Carter Ashton (13G 9A 22Pts +6) follows closely behind. Cory Conacher maintains his hold as the scoring leader for all AHL rookies. Mark Barberio (3G 18A 21Pts +13) leads all Norfolk defensemen in scoring.  Dustin Tokarski (10-6-0 2.43GAA) found his 5 game winning streak snapped Sunday Night against the Bears.  Jaroslav Janus (6-4-1 3.16GAA) had a victory against Binghamton this week.

For the Season the Admirals are 14-7-3-2 with 33 points. They are currently in a three way tie for first in the East Division with the Hershey Bears and the WB/S Penguins. Evan Oberg was returned from Tampa Bay, while Blair Jones found himself recalled to the big club. Norfolk is currently on a 0-1-0-0 streak and is 6-4-0-0 in their last ten games.

Three Stars of the Week

Cory Conacher – Four goals and three assists

Tyler Johnson – Three goals and four assists.

Michel Ouelette – One goal in his return from a lengthy injury.

Transactions

Evan Oberg – Returned from the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Blair Jones – Recalled by the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Injuries

Richard Petiot – Undisclosed – Day–to-day

Kevin Quick – Lower body injury – Day-to-day

An Observation from the Stands

Playing against the division cellar dwellers is not a guaranteed win. The Admirals usually seem to have difficulty with teams that are struggling. They proved me wrong Friday and Saturday with 5-1 and 5-2 wins respectively. Granted, the Senators were not up to full strength, but a win against someone in your division is a big win. A bit of trivia … former Admirals and current Senator, Mike McKenna, has never won a game in goal against the Admirals.

Sunday had the Admirals playing the Bears. The Bears have the top power play unit in the AHL. Norfolk must have missed out on the briefing and promptly gave up three power play goals to the Bears. While they did fight back to within a goal, they caved in the third period and lost 6-2. Norfolk cannot afford to lose to Hershey. They have to solve the puzzle or they are going to find themselves out of the playoffs early. They will see Hershey two more times this upcoming week.

The Week Ahead

Norfolk returns home for a Friday night game against the Hershey Bears. Saturday and Sunday find Norfolk traveling to WB/S Penguins and the Hershey Bears.

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Follow Ken Peacock on Twitter @VBKen.

There Boucher goes again...thinking

By now, just about every fan of hockey knows what the 1-3-1 trap is and that the Tampa Bay Lightning used it effectively enough Wednesday night to cause the Philadelphia Flyers to employ a stall tactic of holding and not advancing the puck. In fact, the referees blew the play dead and forced two faceoffs in the Flyers zone. Eventually the Lightning won the game 2-1 in overtime.

After the game, fans, players and media all began debating who to blame for this NHL “atrocity” that had just played out on National TV…Versus is on National TV, isn’t it?

For the record, in my opinion, there is no question that the burden was on the Flyers to move the puck. After all. They possessed the puck and were the attacking team.

That being said, I certainly understand the fans not liking Tampa Bay’ coach Guy Boucher’s strategy. It is BORING and not the up-tempo style of play the NHL has forced its members to play since the lockout.

Agreed. It’s a system that will cause you to become a drooling Zombie in the first period and awaken in the third period with the imprint of your keyboard on your forehead, but I’m fairly certain that every player and fan of the Lightning, if given the choice of running and gunning to a ninth place finish or keeping a pillow close by during the 1-3-1 dominated games and getting to the Cup Final, will take the latter.

The Bolts defense has been putrid over the last two seasons. Coach Boucher knows the cards he has been dealt and instead of folding, has decided to do something that is foreign to most of the NHL coaching community…THINKING and EMPLOYING A STRATEGY!

I have mad respect for Guy Boucher’s figuring out a way to slow down the highest scoring team in the NHL despite missing two of his top four defensemen. (Victor Hedman and Mattias Ohlund) Even if you don’t like the style of play, how can you disrespect a coach who finds a way to win? Isn’t that his job?

Boucher has employed the 1-3-1 system since he came into the NHL. Did no one watch the Lightning’s sweep of the Capitals last year? Where was all the uproar during that series?

And I don’t want to hear anything about a trap system that embarrasses the NHL from you Detroit and New Jersey fans. Unless, of course, you want to give back your cheesy little fake souvenir Stanley Cups.

For those of you that have completely lost your minds and your ability to reason, who think the league should immediately jump in and create an “Avery Rule” of some sort to stop this “embarrassing” type of play…Stop “should-ing” all over yourself. It ‘aint gonna happen.

When all is said and done, Boucher and the Lightning are beyond reproach. They did what they are paid to do…WIN. They broke no rules nor did they disrespect or embarrass the game of hockey.

What are your thoughts puckheads?

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The Lightning are in third place in the Southeast Division, tied with Florida, two points behind the Washington Capitals and seventh in the Eastern Conference.

After eleven games, forward Steven Stamkos leads the team in goals with six. and defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron leads in assists with 10 and points with 12. Stamkos also leads the team in rating with a +5.

Forward Steve Downie has accumulated 42 penalty minutes and goalie Mathieu Garon has three wins, a 2.43 goals against average and a .921 save percentage

Defenseman Victor Hedman leads Tampa Bay in ice time, averaging 23:05 per game. Steven Stamkos leads in shots on goal with 39.

Hedman leads the defensive corps with a +3 rating.

The Lightning have scored 33 goals and allowed 35 goals. The power play is still struggling, scoring 16.70% of the time (9th in the east) and the penalty kill is successful 85.7% of the time (6th in the east).

The Bolts scoring attack remains balanced as 14 players have netted goals and 20 players have at least one point in eleven games.

Box Scores

Game 9 – Tampa Bay Lightning 4 – Buffalo Sabres 3

Game 10 – Tampa Bay Lightning 3 – Nashville Predators 5

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Game 11 – Tampa Bay Lightning 1 – Winnipeg Jets 0

Three Stars of the Week

Steven Stamkos – Four assists.

Marc-Andre Bergeron – Three assists.

Vincent Lecavalier – Two goals.

The Connolly Conundrum Solved

After Tuesday nights win over the Buffalo Sabres, Tampa Bay Lightning GM Steve Yzerman wasted no time in telling everyone that he had decided to keep 19 year old rookie forward Brett Connolly with the big club.

In a text message to the media, Yzerman wrote, “We feel Brett’s shown that he belongs in the NHL and makes our team better. So, we’ve decided to keep him.”

Who will be the odd man out once defenseman Mattias Ohlund returns from injury? Right now, the top candidates to be sent to Norfolk are forwards Mattias Ritola and Blair Jones.

Transactions

No transactions made this week.

Injuries

Defenseman Mattias Ohlund remains on IR after undergoing surgery on both knees. He is out indefinitely and according to Bolts beat writer Erik Erlendsson is coming along, “A little slower than hoped.”

Summary

The Lightning earned four of a possible six points this week.

Goaltender Dwayne Roloson had a terrific week, stopping eight of eight shots versus Nashville after releiving Mathieu Garon and stopping all 28 shots he faced against Winnipeg on Saturday night to lead the Bolts to a 1-0 win.

The Bolts need to get better defensively and fix the power play. They are scoring three goals per game (5th in the NHL) and allowing three goals per game (24th in the NHL). Giving up more goals than they score with the likes of Stamkos, St. Louis and Lecavalier on the roster is simply unacceptable.

The Week Ahead

Tampa Bay plays at Carolina on Tuesday, home versus Chicago on Friday and at Florida on Sunday.

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 Norfolk Admirals opened up the week by starting a seven game road swing that will take them from Charlotte, North Carolina all the way north to Providence, Rhode Island. After a setback in Charlotte, the Admirals bounced back with victories over Adirondack, Providence, and Syracuse. Norfolk returns home for some well-deserved rest and practice before heading to Albany for a Friday night match up with the Devils.

Offensively the Admirals were led by Carter Ashton. Ashton (9G 5A 14Pts +2) leads all rookies in scoring and is fourth overall in the AHL. Trevor Smith (5G 8A 13Pts +10) and Cory Conacher (4G 8A 12Pts 0 +/-) followed closely behind.  Mark Barberio (2G 9A 11Pts +6) leads the defense. The Admirals blue line was bolstered by the return of veteran Scott Jackson.

Goalie Dustin Tokarski (3-2-0 .864 SV%) appeared in two of the four games this week and went 1-1. Jaroslav Janus (4-0-1 .902%) played net in the other two games, winning both. While Tokarski was named the number one goalie out of training camp, Janus has proven that he can fill that position as well.

Norfolk won three of their four games this week, scoring 16 goals and allowing 11 goals. The net-minders stopped 53 of the 59 shots. The Admirals went 5 for 15 on the power play and killed off 16 of 19 penalties. So far this season the Admirals have played ten games and have a 7 – 2 – 0 – 1 record and 15 points. They are three points ahead of the WB/S Penguins and the Hershey Bears. Norfolk has scored a league high 46 goals and allowed 34 goals.

THREE STARS OF THE WEEK

Carter Ashton – Four goals and an assist.

Mark Barberio – A goal and four assists.

Jaroslav Janus – 2-0, stopping 53 of 59 shots.

TRANSACTIONS

Trevor Ludwig – Released from PTO

Scott Jackson – Assigned by Tampa Bay

Charles Landry – Assigned by Tampa Bay

INJURIES

Richard Petiot – Undisclosed – Day To Day

Michel Ouellet – Undisclosed –Day To Day

WHATS NEXT

Friday          11/4     Admirals @ Albany Devils (New Jersey Devils)

Saturday     11/5     Admirals @ Bridgeport Sound Tigers (New York Islanders)

Sunday        11/6     Admirals @ Providence Bruins (Boston Bruins)

OBSERVATION FROM THE STANDS

On paper, the Admirals are a contender. Offensively they are keeping up with those expectations. Carter Ashton is everything that the scouts said he was. He leads the Admirals and all AHL rookies in scoring. He’s not afraid to mix it up either. The Admirals rookie line of Conacher, Ashton and Johnson have been great.

On the other hand, the defense needs work. The return of Scott Jackson will help bolster the blue line and end the numerous defensive failures that have led to turnovers and goals.

The goaltending tandem of Tokarski and Janus has been solid. Tokarski was the clear number one goalie at the beginning of the season, but Janus is now competing for the starting job. Tic (Tokarski) needs to shake off the cobwebs and step his game up if he wants to hold on to the top slot.

While the Admirals are tasting success early on, the big test comes when the WB/S Penguins visit the Scope on November 9. The Penguins eliminated Norfolk from the Calder Cup playoffs last season.

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Follow Ken Peacock on Twitter @VBKen.

Brett Connolly, Yzerman's first draft pick makes the team

Today the Tampa Bay Lightning cut down to the23 man roster limit by sending forward Dana Tyrell to Norfolk. This means that their number one prospect, Brett Connolly has made the team. The junior eligible, 19 year old sniper can play a total of nine games before the Lightning needs to decide whether or not to send him back to his junior team. If he remains with the team after the ninth game, his $2.7 million contract will activate.

Tyrell, who played all of last season with the Lightning, was a victim of circumstance. With defensemen Mattias Ohlund and Scott Jackson injured, the Bolts could keep 14 forwards. Of the 15 remaining forwards, only Tyrell could be sent down without going through the waiver process.

Because of the defensive injuries, the Bolts decided to keep Blair Jones, Tom Pyatt and Mattias Ritola to further evaluate them.

Connolly was the Bolts leading scorer in the preseason and if the lines that practiced together today are any indication of how the team will start the season on Friday, he will skate with Ryan Shannon and Dominic Moore on the third line.

Here is your Tampa Bay Lightning 2011-12 opening day roster:

Forwards– Steven Stamkos, Vinny Lecavalier, Dominic Moore, Nate Thompson, Marty St. Louis, Ryan Malone, Brett Connolly, Mattias Ritola, Blair Jones, Teddy Purcell, Steve Downie, Adam Hall, Ryan Shannon, Tom Pyatt.

Defensemen — Eric Brewer, Victor Hedman, Pavel Kubina, Marc-Andre Bergeron, Matt Gilroy, Brett Clark, Bruno Gervais.

Goalies — Dwayne Roloson, Mathieu Garon.

Injured reserve — Mattias Ohlund (No structural damage to knee), Scott Jackson (Will be sent to Norfolk)

*Bottom Connolly photograph courtesy of Susan Ferlita.

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Tampa Bay Lightning General Manager Steve Yzerman’s recipe for success finds the Bolts armed and ready to continue their climb to the top of the NHL in the coming season. No one could have predicted the 2010-11 Bolts would make it to the Eastern Conference Final and finally succumb to the eventual Cup winners, the Boston Bruins in a thrilling 1-0 Game Seven. Yzerman has blended grizzled veterans and brash youngsters together to quickly challenge for the Eastern Conference crown. Stevie Y’s best off season “move” was to keep his core group together despite losing playoff stars Simon Gagne and Sean Bergenheim to free agency. Yzerman took care of superstar Steven Stamkos, re-signing the sniper to a five year, $37.5 million contract  and inked veteran goalie Dwayne Roloson to a one year contract. Roloson went 10-6 with a 2.51 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage in his first postseason appearance since 2006. The Bolts GM also re-signed former Olympic teammate Eric Brewer, who played over 25 minutes per game and led the team in blocked shots in the postseason. In fact, that core group that remains was responsible for 86% of the team’s goals and 74% of its points last season.

Tampa Bay will again compete for the Southeast Division title and go deep into the Stanley Cup playoffs in 2011-12.

Entering: Goalie Mathieu Garon (free agent); Defenseman Bruno Gervais (trade with NY Islanders); Defenseman Matt Gilroy (free agent); Forward Alexandre Picard (free agent); Forward Ryan Shannon (free agent); Defenseman Richard Petiot (free agent); Forward Michel Ouellet (free agent); Forward Tom Pyatt (free agent); Forward Trevor Smith (free agent)

Exiting: Forward Simon Gagne (signed with Los Angeles); Forward Sean Bergenheim (signed with Florida); Goalie Mike Smith (signed with Phoenix); Defenseman Randy Jones (signed with Winnipeg); Defenseman Mike Lundin (signed with Minnesota); Defenseman Matt Smaby (signed with Anaheim); Defenseman Mathieu Roy (signed with Carolina);  Forward Marc Pouliot (signed with Phoenix)

The Defense:  Defensively, Tampa Bay’s roster is full. The Bolts’ blue line has eight players signed to one way contracts:  Eric Brewer, Pavel Kubina, Mattias Ohlund, Victor Hedman, Marc-Andre Bergeron, Brett Clark, Bruno Gervais and Matt Gilroy. Yzerman will be open to second guessing for not going out and signing a big name defenseman to patrol the Bolts blue line, but having Brewer right from the get go is a plus for the Bolts. That being said, the back-end is an area of deep concern. Ohlund and Kubina are a year older and their best days are behind them. While Gervais seems to be a good fit and Gilroy may blossom into a top four defenseman, both have a lot to prove. If Gilroy and Gervais play well accompanied with big Victor Hedman’s emergence as a defensive force (85 blocked shots, 54 hits and 48 takeaways),Tampa Bay’s defense could be much improved.

Roli has found the Fountain of Youth in Tampa

The Goaltending:  The Lightning are solid between the pipes with starter Dwayne Roloson, now the NHL’s oldest player (He turns 42 next month) returning and free agent Mathieu Garon as the backup. Roli is a physical freak of nature and is always in top condition, but the Lightning took no chances and signed Garon to take some of the regular season load off of him. Look for Garon to play as many as 30 games, especially in back to back situations. All in all, the goaltending will be better than last season, especially with Roloson in the fold at the start of training camp. The Lightning’s goalies were nothing short of horrible in the first half of the season last year. With Roloson and Garon on board from the start, the Bolts goaltending will be vastly improved in 2011-12.

The Offense:  Tampa Bay returns, arguably the most talented group of forwards in the league:  Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier, Steven Stamkos, Steve Downie, Teddy Purcell, Ryan Malone, Dominic Moore, Nate Thompson and Adam Hall. That means the Bolts are looking for a fourth liner and replacements for departed forwards Simon Gagne and Sean Bergenheim, who left via free agency. The most obvious candidates to replace Gagne and Bergenheim are newly acquired forwards Ryan Shannon and Tom Pyatt. Shannon scored career highs in games played (79), goals (11), assists (16), points (27) and rating (+3) last season with Ottawa. No less than nine players, including Carter Ashton, James Wright, Dana Tyrell, Blair Jones and Mattias Ritola will vie for the fourth line spot.

Superstar Steven Stamkos is healthy and hungry

Projected MVP:  Steven Stamkos – Look for newly extended all star center Steven Stamkos to be even better this season. Stamkos has been the league’s top goal-scorer over the last two seasons (only his second and third in the NHL) and has been a beast on the power play, leading the league in power play goals. The one aspect of the young superstars’ game that has been overlooked is his durability. Stamkos has played in every game over the past two seasons, despite nagging injuries. Coach Guy Boucher recently disclosed that Stamkos, “Basically broke his sternum” in the opening series of last years Stanley Cup playoffs. Yet the Bolts superstar played on. Make no mistake, Stamkos has lived up to his billing and will continue to do so.

Prediction: Steven Stamkos – 82 games, 54 goals, 50 assists, 104 points and 19 power play goals

Purcell is poised for a big season

Breakout players – Teddy Purcell. The Lightning forward skated in 81 games last season, posting career highs with 17 goals, 34 assists and 51 points. He had six goals and 17 points in 18 playoff games. In the four-game sweep of the Washington Capitals in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, Purcell posted six assists to tie the Lightning playoff record for most helpers in a single postseason series. Purcell is on the precipice of stardom and his numbers will again be career highs.

Prediction:  Teddy Purcell – 80 games, 25 goals, 38 assists for 63 points.

Steve Downie. Downie had his breakout season in 2009-10 when he scored 22 goals, had 42 points and over 200 penalty minutes. The gritty forward played in only 57 games last season because of injuries. This will be Downie’s  fifth NHL season and he will again be a top six forward skating with the likes of Stamkos, St. Louis and Lecavalier. Look for the talented winger to post career numbers this season.

Prediction:  Steve Downie – 80 games, 25 goals, 32 assists, 57 points and 200 penalty minutes.

Prior to last season, I drank the Bolts’ blue Kool-aid and believed they had a solid chance to make the playoffs. This season with Yzerman able to add the ingredients of playoff tested players and a rested Dwayne Roloson, the Bolts look to be in the mix for the Stanley Cup.

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*Steven Stamkos, Teddy Purcell and Dwayne Roloson photographs courtesy of Linda Hamilton*

Tampa Bay Lightning 2011-12 Schedule

Keep in mind that the combined salaries of Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Pavel Kubina, Ryan Malone and Mattias Ohlund will make up roughly half of the projected $60 million salary cap.

The Lightning will be looking to add a mobile blue-liner and a power play quarterback while sorting out the goaltending situation.

The NHL salary cap could rise as high as $60 million. The Bolts have $36.55 million in actual salary committed to 11 players and buyouts of Todd Fedoruk and Vaclav Prospal. Here is what the Bolts salary cap numbers look like currently:

Tampa Bay Lightning Salary Cap Chart

NMC – No Movement Clause
NTC – No Trade Clause
EL – Entry Level Contract
UFA – Unrestricted Free Agent (The free agency period begins on the first day of July. At that point, an unrestricted free agent is free to negotiate and sign a contract with any NHL team.)
RFA – Restricted Free Agent (Current team must extend a “qualifying offer” to a restricted free agent by July 1 to retain negotiating rights to that player.)

NHL 2011 Free Agent Compensation Chart
If a RFA player signs an offer sheet, his current team has seven days to match the contract offer and keep the player or else he goes to the team that gave the offer sheet, with compensation going to his first team.

An offer with a $1,034,249 annual cap hit or less: No compensation
More than $1,034,249 — $1,567,043: Third-round pick
More than $1,567,043 — $3,134,088: Second-round pick
More than $3,134,088 — $4,701,131: First and third-round pick
More than $4,701,131 — $6,268,175: First, second and third-round pick
More than $6,268,175 — $7,835,219: Two first-round picks, a second and third
More than $7,835,219 and higher: Four first-round picks

Overview

Steve Yzerman’s number one priority is to re-sign Steven Stamkos by the July 1 deadline. If you have heard any reports stating that the Lightning will let Stamkos become an unrestricted free agent…DON’T BELIEVE THEM! Stamkos has been quoted many times stating that he has made Tampa Bay his home and he is happy with the organization. Look for the Bolts to sign their young superstar at a salary around $7 million per year for more than five years. He will be in Tampa Bay for a long time.

The goaltending situation is not so simple. Both Dwayne Roloson and Mike Smith are UFA’s. Both have publicly stated that they are willing to return, but Yzerman’s hands may be tied as the duo may be too expensive of a package. Mike Smith would have to be open to taking a pay cut for this to happen. If the Bolts GM decides to keep just one, look for Roloson to stay and  an affordable free agent to be the back up. The Bolts are deep in goaltending with prospects Cedrick Desjardins and Dustin Tokarski, but both need more seasoning and Desjardins, a free agent himself, is coming off late season shoulder surgery and may not be ready by training camp. Yzerman may look to a high end free agent to put between the pipes and let both the aging Roloson and Smith go. Available free agent goalies of interest include Ilya Bryzgalov and Tomas Vokoun.

Defenseman Eric Brewer is an interesting case. While he was solid and provided an experienced blue line presence for the Lightning, he probably will be able to get a nice raise in salary on the open market. This may make him unaffordable to Yzerman and Tampa Bay.

Simon Gagne had an unproductive start to the season and missed much of the regular season due to injury. He showed his worth as he scored eight goals and had 27 points in 30 games after the All-Star break. Gagne is an absolute playoff stud ans was an integral part of the Lightning’s run to the Eastern Conference Final, netting five goals and seven assists in 15 games. Because of Gagne’s high salary, he may be a cap casualty. Yzerman may not be able to fit a $5 million, 60 game, and 40 point forward into his plans.

Tampa Bay will likely re-sign playoff stars Teddy Purcell and Sean Bergenheim. Both had breakout playoff performances and will merit raises, but both forwards remain affordable.

It will be interesting to see if GM Yzerman can continue his ‘Golden Touch’ when it comes to signing free agents and making trades.

Click here for a complete and sortable list of free agents.

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*Salary and cap information courtesy of CapGeek.com

Lightning backstop Dwayne Roloson was nothing short of brilliant, stopping 36 of 37 shots and keeping the Bolts in the game despite their lack of offense. Roloson dropped to 7-1 all-time in elimination games which include a 4-1 record this year.

The first period saw both teams flying up and down the ice. Each team had four scoring chances and both goalies were sharp. Lightning netminder Dwayne Roloson made the first key save of the contest as he stopped Milan Lucic on a breakaway with just under five minutes left in the period. For the first time in the series, the opening period ended scoreless with the Bruins out-shooting the Bolts 15-9. Both teams were sharp and played well without picking up a penalty. This was probably the best non-scoring period of the entire playoffs.

In the second period, the Lightning spent much of the time in their own end and got out-shot 14-8. Boston‘s pressure produced many good scoring chances and if not for the superior goaltending of Roloson, the Bruins would have scored. He was brilliant in stopping veteran Mark Recchi twice, keeping the Bruins off the scoreboard..

Steven Stamkos was hit in the face by a slapshot that went off Martin St. Louis stick. Stamkos was ushered to the locker room, bleeding from his nose and was back on the ice five minutes later wearing a full cage. He’s a hockey player.

The Lightning had their scoring chances thwarted by the Bruins solid defense. The much maligned Tomas Kaberle was key in stopping at least three chances by blocking close-in shots.

The period ended scoreless and without any penalties called. The last playoff game without a penalty through two periods was played in 1993.

The scoreless tie was finally broken by the Bruins as David Krejci found a streaking Nathan Horton who beat Roloson at 7:33 of the third period. The Bruins beat the Bolts through the neutral zone and Horton got by Steven Stamkos and Mattias Ohlund.

Boston played suffocating defense the rest of the way, Tim Thomas was solid and Horton’s goal stood up.

In the end, Tampa Bay’s transition game was not good and their inability to keep possession of the puck hurt them badly.

The Bolts had a decided advantdge over the Bruins going into the contest in special team play, but the game was penalty free. The Bruins are the best 5 on 5 team in the NHL and made one play more than the Lightning.

The Lightning’s “Big Three” (Stamkos, St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier) were held to just four shots combined.

This game wasn’t about what the Lightning didn’t do, but instead, what the Bruins did do. The Bruins defense, led by Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg were very good and Vezina front runner Tim Thomas was unbeatable.

This was a classic game in which both teams played at a high level and left it all on the ice. Tampa Bay can hold their heads high for this performance and their run to the conference final.

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Question:  I just wondered if you could talk about your decision on the goaltending. Mike Smith told us you didn’t tell him until about lunchtime and he said maybe that was to kind of keep the pressure off. If you could just talk about that decision?

Boucher:  “Yes, that’s exactly the reason why. And we did that this year. We had Desjardins come in who was coming from the American League, and he’s playing — we’re playing the Canadiens, and that’s the team he got traded from, his team of his youth.  And sometimes to avoid some pressure and making sure the guys sleep well at night, rather tell them after, at lunchtime. And we did that. And I think it paid off.  He played really well.”

“I think the other thing, too, is that all year we’ve used everybody. And we prided ourselves on giving everybody a good chance. When people deserve things, whether they’re a fourth line or a third line or seventh or eighth D, when they deserve — I’m one of those guys that I’ll give people a chance.”

“And I felt that Smitty had been terrific for us for a long, long time, and he deserved to get a game.  At the same time, I felt that giving a little breather to Roli, a bit like Vancouver did with Luongo, and Luongo came back and they have been winning since.”

“It’s a decision I don’t regret at all.  I’ve done it in the past and it worked.  I’ve had it done against me and it worked.  And I think it’s the same for Vancouver and it worked. So it wasn’t something emotional at all.  It was something thought of methodically and it was unanimous as a staff, that we wanted to give a breather to Roli and give a chance to Smitty to participate in something he’s been a part of.”

Question:  After that first period, you guys were all over them and came out with 1-0 lead. Was there a sense of frustration heading into the second, and the way Thomas was playing at that point, could you sense maybe, we’ll have to try to work hard to beat them?

Boucher: “No. You know what, with their goaltender, we’re not frustrated, we’re expecting that. He’s done it all year. He’s done it in the Playoffs. And if you don’t expect that, it’s because you got the wrong expectations. So we were expecting a real tight game. You’re right, we played extremely well that first period. We were very poised with the puck, and it was something we wanted to correct from the previous two games where we had too many turnovers. I think we didn’t really have any turnovers in the first period. We played really good, and should have had probably one or two other goals. But I think what happened on our power play, got a little too cute. And if you look at the replays, you know, a few times it was just an inch away. And so if you score that second goal, obviously you feel a little different, and I think it’s more the second period power plays that might have gotten to us. And I feel that in the second period, we’re trying to make pretty plays, a bit five-on-five, still got a lot of chances, but I feel that we were better in the first and we were better in the third.  It was a good second period, but good is not good enough.”

“If you want to beat that goaltender, you know, I guess at some point shots, I think we were 30 to 12 or something close to that, so I guess we’re going to need 55. There’s no two ways about it. That’s an amazing goaltender that keeps on doing what he’s been doing the entire year and the entire Playoffs.”

Question:  Your team is so known for its skill, but the way you turned around Game 4 with physicality, you started this one out with great physicality, first the hit by Ohlund on Marchand, and then you get the hit by Clark on Krejci and you get the goal coming off of that one. Is that the ticket for you guys, to get this series going the way you want, to get where you want to go? Do you feel like that’s got to be the thing, to be a physical?

Boucher: “No, I think the game itself is physical, whatever game you play.  And there’s opportunities some games that you are more than others. The one thing that I keep on hearing, and I heard it for a long, long time this year, is that we’ve got a few guys that have got skill, but we’ve got a lot of guys that grind it out.  And that’s something that I think has been overlooked for a long time. So whenever we played against tough teams, teams that thought they could run us out of the rink, and they found it very different.”

“We got guys who pay the price, who can take checks, and I think to me, the toughness, the real toughness is being able to take it and continue and being first on puck.  That’s real toughness. The rest, you can hit sometimes, but if you’re always hitting, it’s because you never have the puck. And rather get guys who are first on puck, but if there’s an opportunity that arises, our guys don’t back up in front of anybody, and it’s been like that throughout the entire year.  But it hasn’t been documented much.”

“But for us, it hasn’t changed, and it’s not something we want to add on. And that’s the way we play, that’s the way we played against Pittsburgh. That’s the way we played against Washington. So we just keep playing the way we’re supposed to play. I’m really proud of the guys. They fight really hard.  It’s extremely hard to play in this building. And to get 30 some shots and give the opponent only 20, you know, we usually should take that. But, against this goaltender, you need more. You need more. You need miracles. He’s making miracles. We have to come up with miracles.”

Question:  Can you update  Sean Bergenheim’s status?

Boucher:  “Well, he was out in the first period.  Obviously that hurt us. He’s one of those guys that’s been terrific for us. Got a good chemistry with his line. I was trying to find chemistry after that for Moore and Downie, and obviously missed him for two periods, more than two periods. So we’ll have to see.  Right now we couldn’t put him back on the ice, and we didn’t want to take a chance it would get worse. We’ll see tomorrow, and we’ll see the next game if we’re able to put him back on the ice.”

Question:  The Bruins got key contributions from their big guys Chara and Thomas.  How did you feel about the play of your top players tonight?

Boucher: “Well, if you look at Stamkos, I thought he was terrific tonight. He was the one that made the pass on the first goal. Gagne gets the goal, they get another play like that, Stamkos played well. He got himself alone against the goaltender. Marty St. Louis got chances in the first period to make it 2-0. And then Vinnie Lecavalier has been great through the entire series. So our top guys are doing everything they can, and they’re no different than the rest of the team.  We’re still trying to figure out the Thomas enigma.”

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For Smith it was his first career postseason start after stopping all 29 shots he faced in relief appearances in this series. Starter Dwayne Roloson was 0-2 in his past three games with a 5.64 goals-against average and .820 save percentage.

The Lightning came out throwing their weight around as Mattias Ohlund sent an early message by landing a devastating hit on Boston’s Brad Marchand. Soon thereafter, defenseman Brett Clark checked David Krejci at the Tampa Bay blue line to force a turnover that sent Steven Stamkos and Bruin killer Simon Gagne off on a two-on-one break. The Bruins Andrew Ference lost an edge as Stamkos passed the puck to Gagne who chipped it between Johnny Boychuk’s legs and past Boston goalie Tim Thomas at 1:09.

The first period was all Lightning as they dominated the Bruins completely. The Bolts totally shut down the middle of the ice and out-skated the Bruins. At one point, the Bruins went over 12 minutes and 3o seconds without getting a shot on goal.

The Bruins showed some late signs of life as the period ended with the Lightning outshooting them decisively 14-4.

The second period started with the Bruins killing off two straight interference penalties by a frustrated Nathan Horton. But, after those two awful penalties Horton came out of the penalty box to take a brilliant pass from Milan Lucic and absolutely rifle a bullet past Bolts goalie Mike Smith at 4:24 to tie the game at one. The play all started with a faceoff win by David Krejci.

Boston caught fire but couldn’t score on three straight power play chances.

The score remained tied at one until defenseman Zdeno Chara pinched into the offensive zone and created a turnover that Patrice Bergeron jumped on and found a streaking Brad Marchand who tipped it past Mike Smith to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead at 15:56. Chara made a great play and Bergeron showed great vision.

The second period ended with Boston leading 2-1 despite being out-shot 23-12 and going o for 3 on the power play.

Tampa Bay started the third period on fire out-shooting the Bruins 7-0 over the first eight minutes. Both goaltenders made miraculous saves:  Thomas on Steve Downie and Smith on Zdeno Chara.

The Lightning had many good scoring chances but could not get one past Tim Thomas. Boston’s Rich Peverley picked up an errant Marc-Andre Bergeron pass and deposited the puck into the empty net at 19:47 to seal the victory for the Bruins.

Bolts forward and leading playoff goal scorer Sean Bergenheim sustained what looked like a groin injury and didn’t play the second and third periods. His status is unknown at this time.

Make no mistake about it. Mike Smith played well and was not the reason Tampa Bay lost. Tim Thomas was the reason the Bolts were beaten. The Vezina Trophy front runner was simply brilliant, stopping 33 of 34 shots.

That being said, I look for Guy Boucher to come back in Game 6 with Dwayne Roloson in between the pipes for the Lightning. He is the man that the Bolts can rally around and force a Game 7.

Game 6 will be played in Tampa on Wednesday night.

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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

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.

Early in the day, rumors were swirling about defenseman Randy Jones going to Carolina for a mid-round draft pick, but nothing was done.

Newly Acquired goalie Curtis McElhinney was claimed off waivers by Ottawa. This shows how much the organization wanted to get rid of Dan Ellis‘ contract. In the end, Ellis was traded for nothing.

Norfolk goalie Cedrick Desjardins is set to return to practice and then to be evaluated by team doctors. If Desjardins proves healthy, the Bolts will have three goalies with NHL experience.

Tampa Bay’s Southeast Division rival, the Washington Capitals, got better by acquiring defenseman Dennis Wideman amd center Jason Arnott.

The roster will be a bit unbalanced with nine defenseman once Mattias Ohlund and Mike Lundin come back from injuries this week, but Yzerman was not about to trade a defenseman  just to get a depth forward. This decision was helped along by the good news that Ryan Malone will be back in April.

So Lightning fans, you now know the players that will lead you into the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Game 55:  Lightning 4 – Sabres 7 “Blasted”

The Tampa Bay Lightning (33-17-5) lost a golden opportunity to put some distance between them and their Southeast Division rival Washington Capitals on Tuesday night. The Caps lost earlier in the evening to the San Jose Sharks and the Bolts could have gone up five points over them, BUT…after being up 3-1 late in the second period, they allowed the Buffalo Sabres to score six unanswered goals and lost 7-4.

The Sabres scored five times in the third period; including four goals in a 3 minute, 13 second span to hand The Lightning its worst loss on home ice this season. Drew Stafford netted his third hat trick of the season and Thomas Vanek scored twice for Buffalo, while goalie Ryan Miller stopped 30 shots to improve his stellar record versus the Bolts to 17-4 all-time.

Captain Vinny Lecavalier scored twice and added a helper, while Sean Bergenheim potted a pair of goals for his first multi-goal game since March 2009. Tampa Bay is 4-2 after six games of its 12-game homestand.

Matt Smaby and Ryan Malone both were knocked out of the game because of injuries and the volatile Steve Downie was whistled for roughing and then a misconduct which put him in the sin bin for 12 minutes. From this point on the Lightning absolutely melted down.

The Bolts lost their minds and their ability to play an NHL-level game in the third period. The lowlights included a Marc-Andre Bergeron trip of Drew Stafford that resulted in Stafford pinning Dwayne Roloson’s leg allowing Jordan Leopold’s easy goal. Next, Mattias Ohlund simply handed the puck to Buffalo’s Tyler Ennis who found Tim Connolly for another easy score. Buffalo would then go on to score three more times in the third period. It was the fourth time this season that the Bolts have allowed five goals in a period this season. It marked the second time this season in 25 games in which the Lightning have lost a game when leading after two periods.

Dwayne Roloson was simply awful in net, stopping just 21 of the 28 shots he faced.

Game 56:  Lightning 4 – Hurricanes 3 OT “Bergeron bails out Bolts”

It was a great time for him to score his first goal in a Lightning sweater. Marc-Andre Bergeron took a pass at the right circle from Sean Bergenheim and fired it past Cam Ward, 1:32 into overtime to give Tampa Bay (34-17-5) a 4-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night. The goal stopped the second straight third period meltdown from happening as the Bolts blew a two goal lead in the final minute of regulation.

The ‘Canes tied it late on goals from Jeff Skinner and Eric Cole after  Carolina goalie Cam Ward had gone to the bench for the extra attacker.

Vincent Lecavalier continued his hot streak, scoring his fourth goal in the last three games.

The Lightning also got goals from Steve Downie and Sean Bergenheim as the Southeast Division leading Bolts finally put a little distance between themselves and the Washington Capitals. Tampa Bay now leads the Caps by five points. The Bolts are now only four points back of the Eastern Conference leading Philadelphia Flyers as the two teams meet in the St. Pete Times Forum on Tuesday night.

Superstar Steven Stamkos assisted on Bergenheim’s goal for his league leading 74^th point

Dwayne Roloson stopped 31 shots as the Lightning won for the eighth time in the last ten games.

The Bolts are 5-2, seven games into their epic 12 game homestand. They have now won nine consecutive overtime games.

This was a huge win, mentally for the Bolts. Many teams would not have had the will to come back and win in overtime after blowing a two goal lead with just a minute left in regulation, and after melting down and losing the way they did against Buffalo on Tuesday night.

Vincent Lecavalier has been the best player on the ice over the last few games and that bodes well for the Bolts future.

Where They Stand

The Lightning is 34-17-5 through 56 games and have accumulated 73 points. They lead the Southeast Division by five points over the Washington Capitals and are second to the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference. Tampa Bay has a 13 point cushion in the battle for a playoff spot. Barring a meltdown of epic proportions in their last 26 games, this team is, at least, a playoff team.

The Bolts are a solid 19-6-2 at home and are the fourth best team in the Eastern Conference on the road with a 15-11-3 record.

The Lightning is second in the Eastern Conference in goals scored with 172 and is now even in goal differential.

Superstar Steven Stamkos leads the NHL in goals (40), points (74) and power play goals (15). The Lightning sniper is third in the league in game winning goals (6) and shooting % (20.3).

Martin St. Louis is second in the NHL with 46 assists.

The Bolts power play is the best in the Eastern Conference, clicking at 20.7%. The penalty kill is sixth best in the Eastern Conference at 83.9%.

Out-shooting their opponents has become importamt to the Lightning as they win 58% of their games when they out-shoot the enemy, second best in the Eastern Conference.

Tampa Bay still needs to get better in the face-off circle, winning the draws only half the time.

The Bolts best period for scoring is the second period, where they have scored 60 times. They lead the NHL with eight overtime goals. Tampa Bay needs to get better in the third period as they have allowed 62 goals against, fourth worst in the Eastern Conference.

If the playoffs started today, the Bolts would play the New York Rangers in the first round.

Injury Update

Forward Ryan Malone suffered an abdominal strain and will be out until the playoffs. He has been placed on IR. The Bolts called up AHL All-Star forward  Johan Harju from Norfolk to fill Malone’s spot.

Defenseman Mike Lundin has a middle body injury and has also been placed on IR.. This is a huge loss for the Lightning and they hope to get him back as soon as possible.

Nate Thompson is recovering from a head injury and is scheduled for a Tuesday return.

Three Stars of the Week

Vincent Lecavalier - Three goals and an assist.

Sean Bergenheim – Three goals and an assist.

Marc-Andre Bergeron – OT, game winning goal and two assists.

The Upcoming Week

Tuesday versus the Flyers, Thursday versus the Red Wings and Saturday versus the Stinkin’ Panthers.

Game 47:  Lightning 3 – Blue Jackets 2 SO “Stamkos Nets Two”

Superstar Steven Stamkos netted two goals (one on the power play) and Ryan Malone scored in the fourth round of the shootout to lead the Lightning past the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 Tuesday night. Stammer has at least one goal in three consecutive games since going six without one. The Bolts All-Star center leads the NHL in goals (35) and power play goals (15).

The Bolts continued their dominance at home by winning for the eighth time in the last ten games at the St. Pete Times Forum.

Lightning backstop Dwayne Roloson was superb in net, stopping 28 of 30 shots and all four in the shootout. The win was Roloson’s 200^th of his career. Roli was especially good at the end of regulation time as he made three outstanding saves in the waning seconds.

The Lightning’s special teams looked solid as the power play went one for four and the penalty kill was a perfect five for five.

The Bolts have had trouble with below .500 teams, but this was a solid effort against a game Blue Jackets squad.

The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Lightning  (27-15-5) and kept it one point ahead of Washington in the Southeast Division.

Game 48:  Lightning 3 – Thrashers 2 SO “Ten in a Row”

Plain and simple…the Tampa Bay Lightning (28-15-5) own the Atlanta Thrashers. Dominic Moore scored in the fourth round of the shootout to beat the Thrashers 3-2 Thursday night. It was the tenth straight time the Bolts have defeated their Southeast Division rival, the longest active streak in the NHL by one team over another. It was the fifth time this season that the Thrashers tasted defeat by the hands of the Lightning.

The Lightning got both regulation goals from the true Thrasher killer, Superstar Steven Stamkos. Stamkos has 15 goals in 17 career games versus the Thrashers. Stammer is hot as he scored his 36^th and 37^th Thursday night, giving him four goals in his last two games and six in his last four games.

Goalie Dwayne Roloson was solid in between the pipes, stopping 27 of the 29 shots he faced including three of four in the shootout.

The Bolts have 61 points and lead the Southeast Division by one over the Washington Capitals. They continue to dominate their Eastern Conference foes as they are 23-10-3 against them this season.

Note:  Earlier in the day, the Lightning sent goalie Mike Smith to Norfolk on a conditioning assignment.

Game 49:  Lightning 2 – Panthers 1 SO “Ellis and Moore Shine”

The Tampa Bay Lightning (29-15-5) beat the Florida Panthers 2-1 in a shootout Friday night for one reason, and one reason only…Dan Ellis. The Bolts backstop was nothing short of brilliant stopping 29 of 30 shots in regulation and all three Panthers shots in the shootout. Ellis made a miraculous pad save on a Dennis Wideman one-timer in overtime to keep the Lightning alive. It was the Bolts first win against Florida in three tries this season.

The Bolts were outplayed the entire gamr by the Panthers and if not for Ellis would have most certainly lost. Steve Downie scored the only goal of the game on a nifty passing play from Marty St. Louis and Superstar Steven Stamkos. The assist tied Stamkos for the league lead in points (66) with the injured Sidney Crosby. For the second consecutive night, Dominic Moore scored in the shootout to give Tampa Bay the victory. The goal withstood a video review to determine whether Moore hit the puck twice while dangling Panthers goalie Tomas Vokoun.

Vokoun stopped Vincent Lecavalier on a penalty shot with 1:05 left in overtime.

The Bolts killed off all eight of Florida’s power play opportunities, including a five on three for 44 seconds in the third period. The Bolts went 0-1 on their power play. A winning teams best penalty kill player must be the goalie and tonight Ellis was.

Game 50:  Lightning 7 – Thrashers 1 “Thrashers KO’d”

The Southeast Division leading Tampa Bay Lightning (30-15-5) pounded the Atlanta Thrashers 7-1 on Sunday night. It was the eleventh straight time the Bolts have beat Atlanta. The Lightning has swept the season series.

Superstar Steven Stamkos netted his NHL best 38^th goal of the season in leading the Lightning to their fourth win in a row. The Lightning center has seven goals in his last six games. Stamkos also leads the NHL in points with 67. Stammer has scored in 16 of 18 career games versus the Thrashers. He has killed the Thrashers this season scoring nine goals and dishing out three assists in six games.

Marty St. Louis, Nate Thompson (shorthanded), Simon Gagne (2), Pavel Kubina and Dana Tyrell also scored for the Bolts. Tampa Bay scored five straight goals in the second period to put the game away.

Teddy Purcell had three assists while Vincent Lecavalier tallied two helpers.

Goaltender Dwayne Roloson stopped 21 of 22 shots to get the win. The Thrashers had a grand total of nine shots on goal after the first period.

The Bolts lead the Southeast Division, three points ahead of the idle Washington Capitals.

Where They Stand

The Lightning had a big week, going 4-0 and accumulating eight points. Goaltending was a major reason for their success as Dwayne Roloson and Dan Ellis gave up a combined six goals in four games. The duo was even more impressive in the three shootout wins.

Through 50 games, Tampa Bay is 30-15-5 with 65 points and leads the Southeast Division by three points oiver the Washington Capitals. They are second in the Eastern Conference, four points behind the Philadelphia Flyers.

Superstar Steven Stamkos leads the NHL in goals (38), points (67), power play goals (15), game winning goals (6) and is second in shooting percentage (21.6). Martin St. Louis is second in the NHL in assists (40) and fourth in points (60).

Three Stars of the Week

Dwayne Roloson – Three wins, 1.67 GAA and a .937 SV%

Steven Stamkos – Five goals and an assist.

Dominic Moore – Two shootout winning goals and an assist.

St. Louis Honored

The heart and soul of the Bolts, forward Martin St. Louis was selected as an alternate captain for Team Lidstrom in the NHL All-Star game to be played in North Carolina this weekend. Each team has a captain and two alternates. The three-man management teams will select the other 18 players for their respective teams during the fantasy draft on Friday night in Raleigh. The 35-year-old St. Louis is the third oldest participant in this year’s All-Star game behind Lidstrom and Boston goaltender Tim Thomas. Undrafted out of the University of Vermont, the 2003-04 League MVP has three 90-point seasons on his resume as well as the 2009-10 Lady Byng trophy.

“It’s an honor, obviously, being next to Lidstrom. It will be quite something that I will remember when I step away from the game,” St. Louis told Erik Erlendsoon of the Tampa Tribune. “He’s the ultimate pro, he’s done everything he can do, and now to be next to him, it’s an honor.”

The Upcoming Week

Tuesday versus the Maple Leafs. The Bolts will be off for the All-Star break until February1.

Coach Guy Boucher’s special teams have been solid, even outstanding at times. The power play is clicking at 20.8% (7^th in the NHL), while the penalty kill unit is stopping opponents with the man advantage 82.8% of the time (10^th in the NHL).

On average, the Lightning get 32.8 shots on goal per game (6^th in the NHL) and score 2.94 goals per game (10^th in the NHL).

The NHL individual leader boards are chocked full of recognizable player names:

Superstar Steven Stamkos

33 goals – 1st in the NHL.

61 points – 2nd in the NHL.

6 game winning goals – 1st in the NHL.

14 power play goals – 1st in the NHL.

169 shots – 11^th in the NHL.

19.4 shooting percentage – 7th in the NHL.

Martin St. Louis

56 points – 4th in the NHL.

37 assists – 2nd in the NHL.

5 game winning goals – 2nd in the NHL.

Ryan Malone

9 power play goals – 4th in the NHL.

Steve Downie

90 penalty minutes – 14^th in the NHL.

These are the numbers of a great team bound for a long run into the Stanley Cup playoffs…Right?

To quote an ESPN talking head:  “Not so fast my friend!”

The Lightning is quite the statistical anomaly. That is to say, they deviate from the NHL group of division and league leading teams they find themselves in.

The Bolts have given up 148 goals (2^nd worst in the NHL) and are -11 in goal differential. Tampa Bay gives up, on average 3.17 goals per game (27^th of 30 NHL teams) and is last in the league in goals against while at even strength (98).

While their special teams have been solid, they have given up a league high nine shorthanded goals.

The Eastern Conference teams that share the top of the standings with the Lightning do not approach these levels of ineptitude. Boston (2.18), Pittsburgh (2.33). Montreal (2.38), New York (2.41) and Washington (2.60) give up far fewer goals per game on average than the Lightning (3.17) .

Boston, Montreal, Pittsburgh, New York, Philadelphia and Washington all have allowed 19 or less goals against than the Bolts. Philadelphia (+34), Boston (+31), Pittsburgh (+37), Washington (+8) and New York (+18) have far better goal differentials than the Lightning’s -11. That goal differential number is reserved for the four bottom feeders of the Eastern Conference. Only the Maple Leafs (-18), Senators (-38), Islanders (-37) and Devils (-53) have worse goal differentials.

The explanation for these frightening defensive numbers is simple…Horrible goaltending. While the addition of Dwayne Roloson has improved the Bolts goaltending of late, the numbers don’t lie.

Out of the 77 goalies that have played in the NHL this year, here are the Lightning goalies numbers and rankings.

Dwayne Roloson (20 games with the Islanders, 6 with the Lightning)

9 wins – 32^nd

16 losses – 2^nd,

68 goals against – 55^th.

2.74 GAA – 30^th

.913 save % – 25^th

Mike Smith

10 wins – 31^st

48 goals against – 40^th

3.20 GAA – 44^th

.883 save % – 48^th

Dan Ellis

11 wins – 26^th

5 OT/SO losses – 2^nd

76 goals against -60^th

3.07 GAA – 40^th

.884 save % – 47^th

Dan Ellis and Mike Smith rank 69^th and 73^rd (out of the 77 NHL goalies that have seen the ice this season) in power play save %. In other words, when most elite NHL goalies are at their best, Smith and Ellis are at their worst.

Certainly the goaltending is not all to blame. Only one defenseman has a positive rating this season. Matt Smaby, of all people, is a +1, while the rest of the blue-liners are in the negative:  Randy Jones -8, Brett Clark -7, Mike Lundin -7, Pavel Kubina -5, Mattias Ohlund -3 and Victor Hedman -2.

The Bolts forwards ratings read like a horror story. Of the 17 players that have donned a Lightning jersey this season, only Steven Stamkos (+10), Martin St. Louis (+3) and Steve Downie (+2) have positive ratings. Two, Dana Tyrell and Blair Jones are even. The 12 remaining forwards ratings are as follows:  Simon Gagne -21, Dominic Moore -16, Vincent Lecavalier -11, Adam Hall -9, Teddy Purcell -7, Mattias Ritola -5, Nate Thompson -5, Johan Harju -3, Sean Bergenheim -3, Marc Pouliot -2 and James Wright -2.

As a team, the Bolts are a -112. Their neighbors in the Eastern Conference standings are markedly better:  Philadelphia +197, Boston +154, Pittsburgh +124, New York +60 and Washington +44.

What does it all mean?

It means that the Lightning have won despite themselves…so far. Huge goaltending and defensive issues exist. The offense must get better five-on-five and continue to be consistently good on their special teams.

Simply looking at the standings does not tell the full story of the 2010-11 Tampa Bay Lightning. A peek inside the numbers tells us that eventually you are what the statistics say you are.

*Statistics courtesy of NHL.com and HockeyReference.com.

Game 44:  Lightning 3 – Capitals 0 “Solid Defense”

The Tampa Bay Lightning (26-13-5) made the Washington Capitals look ordinary and downright ineffective on Wednesday night. Bolts backstop Dwayne Roloson made 23 saves and shutout the Capitals for the second time in nine days, 3-0. The Lightning’s defensive effort was, in a word, spectacular.

The Bolts completely owned the neutral zone, forcing the Caps to play a dump-and-chase game. The problem for Washington was that when they dumped the puck, the Lightning players got to it first and headed the other way.

Alexander The Great was not a factor thanks to Mattias Ohlund and Mike Lundin who smothered him all night. Ovie had more broken sticks (3) than shots on goal (2). The line of Thompson, Hall and Tyrell completely shut down Ovechkin and the Caps first line.

Dominic Moore, Sean Bergenheim and Simon Gagne (no that’s not a misprint) all scored for the Bolts who have won seven of their last ten and are in sole possession of first place in the Southeast Division.

Capitals goaltender Semyon Varlamov was on his game stopping 35 of the Bolts 38 shots. Without his solid play the outcome would have been much worse for Washington.

Superstar Steven Stamkos had a game leading seven shots on goal, but was held pointless. He has only one point, an assist, in his last six games.

Simon Gagme’s breakaway goal was his fourth of the season and his first in 12 games.

Game 45:  Lightning 2 – Devils 5 “Dominated…Again”

Call it a letdown, call it playing down to the competition, call it what you want, but it is alarming. The Lightning are seemingly going through some growing pains and need to quickly realize that they have to come with their best effort every night or risk losing and losing a lot. Tampa Bay came out with another lame effort against the New Jersey Devils and got crushed 5-2. The Lightning is a combined 1-5 versus the Islanders, Oilers and Devils, the three worst teams in the NHL.

Brian Rolston and Travis Zajac each scored and had an assist during a four-goal first-period and Ilya Kovalchuk scored twice as the New Jersey Devils jumped all over the Lightning. This is only the second time all season that New Jersey has won consecutive games.

All-star Patrik Elias also scored to help the Devils end an 11-game road losing streak. New Jersey, the NHL’s worst team (12-29-2) has scored 11 goals in their last two games, both against the Lightning. It took them the previous six games combined to score 11 goals.

Superstar Steven Stamkos scored his 32^nd goal of the season tying him for the league lead with the injured Sidney Crosby. Martin St. Louis had the other goal for the Bolts, who are 2-12 against New Jersey since the start of the 2007-08 season.

Stamkos scored on the Lightning’s first shot of the game at 5:06 of the first period on the power play, breaking a personal six game scoring drought. New Jersey then scored four straight times, including a shorthanded goal by Travis Zajac. The shorty was the eighth given up by Tampa Bay, worst in the NHL. The first period ended with the Devils leading 4-1.

Marty St. Louis scored a highlight reel breakaway goal after two terrific passes by Victor Hedman and Steven Stamkos. The assist was Stammers’ 200^th career point in his 206^th game.

Kovalchuk scored on a laser beam of a shot at 13:40 of the third period to give the Devils a 5-2 lead.

Lightning netminder Dwayne Roloson was pulled in favor of Dan Ellis with four minutes remaining in the opening period. Roloson allowed an alarming four goals on nine shots.

Sean Bergenheim, Vincent Lecavalier, Mike Lundin and Simon Gagne were all a -3 on the night.

This was a huge loss taking into account that both the Capitals and Thrashers lost. The Bolts could have opened up a little bit of a gap between themselves and their nearest competitors with a win.

Game 46:  Lightning 4 – Carolina 6 “Special Teams Fail”

Despite Simon Gagne’s first two-goal game as a Lightning player, Vincent Lecavalier’s eighth goal of the season and Superstar Steven Stamkos’ NHL leading 33rd goal of the year, Tampa Bay (26-15-5) lost to the Carolina Hurricanes 6-4 Saturday night. The Lightning failed for a second straight night to separate themselves from the Washington Capitals in the Southeast Division standings. The Bolts lead the idle Capitals by two points. The Lightning are struggling mightily lately, losing for the fourth time in the past six games while giving up at least five goals in each defeat.

It was a night of lows as the Lightning went 0-5 with the man advantage, allowed their league worst, ninth shorthanded goal and gave up a season high four power play goals. It was the eighth time in 46 games this season that they allowed at least six goals and the 12th time they have given up at least five. In the last seven games, Tampa Bay opponents have scored 27 goals. This is especially alarming considering that they have a pair of shutout wins during that span.

Tampa Bay is a Jekyll and Hyde case study right now. On some nights they look like true Stanley Cup contenders, while on other nights they look like a team without direction or motivation.

Injury Update

Winger Steve Downie’s ankle is not fully healed. It is slowing him down enough to keep him from playing on either of the top two lines.

Top Lightning prospect Brett Connolly suffered a knee sprain during a game earlier in the week while playing with his junior level team Prince George in the Western Hockey League that could keep him out for a month.

Where They Stand

Despite just a two point week, the Lightning is 26-15-5 with 57 points, good enough for first in the Southeast Division, second in the Eastern Conference and sixth in the NHL. They are a solid 22-10-3 versus Eastern Conference teams. While the power play (20.8%) and penalty kill (82.8%) numbers have fallen off a bit of late, the Bolts remain a top tier special teams group. Tampa Bay has given up a league worst nine shorthanded goals.

Three Stars of the Week

Steven Stamkos – Two goals and two assists.

Simon Gagne – Three goals.

Vincent Lecavalier – A goal and and two assists.

The Upcoming Week

Tuesday versus the Blue Jackets, Thursday at the Thrashers, Friday at the Panthers and Sunday versus the Thrashers.

Game 40:  Lightning 1 – Capitals 0 OT “Roloson and St. Louis Star”

After over three periods of playoff style, back and forth, defensive hockey, the heart and soul of the Lightning finally scored on Washington goalie Semyon Varlamov to give the Lightning a well deserved 1-0 victory. The only goal of the contest was a direct result of the three Lightning Stanley Cup winning teammates making a great play. Pavel Kubina grabbed a loose puck near the red line as Martin St. Louis was coming back to the blue line to tag up. The two crossed paths at the line and Marty wheeled around and skated back into the offensive zone. Kubina found Vincent Lecavalier who fired a tough shot at Varlamov, who made an outstanding kick save. The rebound came to the hustling St. Louis who found the back of the net for the game winner 2:54 into the overtime period.

Newcomer Dwayne Roloson was simply brilliant in net, stopping all 34 shots hurled at him by the Ovechkin (eight shots) led offense. Roloson was especially solid in the second period when the Capitals fired 21 shots at him.

Tampa Bay and Washington came into the game tied in points, with the Lightning considered the division leader with a game in hand. The overtime victory gives the Bolts a 53-52 point edge, still with a game in hand over the Capitals..

This was a total team effort with every player chipping in.

Teddy Purcell led the team in shots (6), firing wicked wristers that would have beaten any human goalie.

Pavel Kubina was a stalwart on defense, blocking shots and making a smart hustle play for an assist on the game winning goal.

The fourth line of Tyrell, Thompson and Hall was outstanding as they shut down the Caps vaunted offense.

Vincent Lecavalier was all over the ice and was responsible for Marty scoring the OT goal.

Defenseman Mattias Ohlund was a one man wrecking crew, constantly punishing the Caps puck carriers.

Martin St. Louis scored the game winner, his 17th of the season and his fourth game winning tally.

And of course, there was the 41 year old Roloson. He played in his 533rd career game and his seventh debut game with a new team. The addition of the veteran backstop, accompanied by the Bolts high ranking power play and penalty killing units may propel this team to unexpected heights this season.

Game 41:  Lightning 1 – Penguins 8 “Punished”

The Lightning came crashing back to earth as the Penguins staked their claim as the best in the Eastern Conference last night by crushing the Bolts 8-1.

It took only seven seconds for the Penguins Evgeni Malkin to score and the rout was on. Vinny Lecavalier won the opening faceoff right past Sean Bergenheim and onto the stick of Malkin who was gone on a breakaway. Dwayne Roloson stopped the first shot but couldn’t corral the rebound as Malkin beat him on a sharp angle shot.

The goal that Malkin scored was the fastest allowed by the Tampa Bay Lightning to open a game. The previous mark was 12 seconds when Chris Higgins scored on March 4, 2006, for the Canadiens.

This was only a preview to what would come. Chris Conner and Tyler Kennedy scored and chased Lightning goalie Dwayne Roloson. Chris Kunitz scored on Pittsburgh’s next shot, the first faced by Dan Ellis, to make it 4-0 at 7:42 of the first period. Kunitz was at it again as he scored a power play goal at 18:56.

The first period mercifully ended with Pens up 5-0 with the Penguins outshooting the Bolts 20-8.

Kunitz added another power-play goal with 11 seconds remaining in the second period for his second NHL hat trick.

Marc-Andre Fleury lost his shutout when Adam Hall scored early in the third to make it 7-1. Fleury made 31 saves.

Lightning goalie Dwayne Roloson, who shut out Washington last nigh gave up five goals on 23 shots and was pulled twice. Dan Ellis gave up three goals on just 18 shots.

There is no need to over-analyze this one. It was a stinker. The Bolts were bad in all areas. Some would say that it was a predictable let down after the emotional, shut out victory versus the Capitals the night before.

Game 42:  Lightning 2 – Senators 1 “Roloson Shines”

After trailing 1-0, the Lightning (25-12-5) scored twice in the third period to defeat the Ottawa Senators 2-1. Adam Hall and Martin St. Louis scored while goalie Dwayne Roloson made 31 saves, many of them of the spectacular nature.

Without Roloson’s outstanding performance, the Bolts would not have won.

This was only the third time in 14 games that the Lightning have come from behind after trailing in the third period.

The Senators took a 1-0 lead, late in the second period as Jesse Winchester, on a 2-on-1, passed to Zach Smith who beat Roloson.

Lightning center Dominic Moore jumped on a give away by Alex Kovalev and found Adam Hall for an easy goal at 1:47 of the third period.

The Bolts took the lead for good as Marty St. Louis scored his 18th of the season from Ryan Malone and Superstar Steven Stamkos, 5:43 into the third period.

The addition of Roloson already has paid dividends. The Bolts have scored just six goals in the last four games, but has a 3-1 record, with Roloson starting three of those games. Roloson was huge late in the third period, turning away eight Senators shots in the last four minutes.

The Bolts came out flat and were lethargic for most of the game, but found a way to win thanks to Roloson.

Game 43:  Lightning 3 – Devils 6 “Playing Dead”

The Tampa Bay Lightning (25-13-5) again played down to the level of their competition and lost to the worst team in the NHL, the New Jersey Devils, last night

The Devils scored five times in the third period to rally for a 6-3 victory over the lethargic Lightning at Prudential Center. It was just the second time this season that the lowly Devils came back to win when trailing after two periods. It was also the first time since a 5-0 win over Washington on November 22 that the Devils scored more than three goals. The Devils had lost four in a row and 15 of 17.

Lightning forward Teddy Purcell opened the scoring at 2:36 of the first period as he scooped up a loose puck in the crease and beat Martin Brodeur. Steve Downie and Mattias Ritola assisted on the play.

New Jerseys David Clarkson converted on a breakaway at 5:05 to make it a 1-1 game, Victor Hedman lost the puck to Clarkson trying to keep it in.

Ryan Malone squeaked one by Brodeur on the short side at 16:01 of the first period. Vinny Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis were credited with assists

The Lightning dominated play, out shooting the Devils 13-5 in the opening period.

The second period was scoreless as the Bolts missed many opportunities to take control of the game.

Shots after two periods were 26-16 Lightning.

Great passing along the blue line led to Clarkson scoring his second of the night with a shot over Ellis’ glove at 15:46.

The Devils took the lead after Henrick Tallinder whacked a puck that floated to the net, hit Jason Arnott in the pants and went in with 12:08 left in the third.

Dan Ellis became the first goalie to give up more than two goals to the Devils in the last 20 games. Ellis would give up four goals to the only team in the NHL averaging less than two goals a game.

Dainius Zubrus put the one away, making it 4-2 with 5:54 left. He beat Steven Stamkos to the side of the net to score the goal.  Zubrus hacked a loose puck inside the right post with 5:54 to go.

Patrick Elias added an empty net goal to make it 5-2 Devils.

With 51.4 seconds left, Dominic Moore scored, but soon after the Devils Nick Palmieri scored his first NHL goal into an empty net to make it 6-3.

After giving up the weak short-side goal, Martin Brodeur was solid. He looked much better in this game than in previous contests. The Lightning out shot New Jersey 36-26, but Brodeur was brilliant at times stopping the Bolts shooters.

Dan Ellis allowed four goals on 24 shots in the loss. Ellis had a chance to make his case to be one of the two Lightning netminders and failed miserably.

Where They Stand

The Bolts added four points to their season total this week. They are leading the Southeast Division by one point over their next opponent, the Washington Capitals. Tampa Bay is the second seed in the Eastern Conference, two points behind the Philadelphia Flyers. They are 6-3-1 in their last ten games.

The Bolts will enjoy home cooking in seven of their next ten games. This bodes well for the Lightning as they are 12-3-2 at the St. Pete Times Forum.

Three Stars of the Week

Dwayne Roloson – Two wins, a 2.00 GAA and a .912 Save %. Shutout the potent Washington Capitals 1-0 and allowed only one goal in a 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators.

Adam Hall – Two goals and an assist while providing gritty play.

Martin St. Louis – Two goals and an assist.

The Upcoming Week

Wednesday versus the Capitals, Friday versus the Devils and Saturday at the Hurricanes.