First intermission vs. Carolina

Posted Jan 3, 2009 by Erik Erlendsson

Updated Jan 3, 2009 at 08:24 PM

That was a good 10 minutes, which means they were half as good as they were in the first period against Washington, since they didn’t play much at all in 20 minutes Thursday. But the second 10 minutes, Tampa Bay looked like they did against the Capitals.

Strong start wth Ryan Craig notching his first goal since November of last season by hanging out in his office right at the top of the crease. Then, sticking with the go-to-the-net mentality, Vinny Prospal put his stick on a puck that Vinny Lecavalier turned and sent toward the net.

But then Tampa Bay’s newly inexperienced defense were put into some positions they just didn’t look comfortable in. With Steve Eminger in the box for an interference call, Matt Smaby and Vladimir Mihalik were the second D-pairing over the boards and quite frankly, Mihalik looked out of position actually having backed into Smaby at one point at the top of the crease. That allowed Denis Seidenberg to come down the right slot unchallenged, and though his shot was blocked, Justin Williams got his skate in the way of Rod Brind’Amour’s shot for a goal.

Just over a minute later, Ty Wishart was way out of position, first staying too close to the near boards and then getting too high, leaving his half of the crease open and forciing Marty St. Louis to take up a position near the net. And while the goal was a fluke, with Chad Larose deflecting a Seidenberg shot just over a sprawling Mike Smith, Wishart looked a little lost on the play.

Well, everybody has to start somewhere, and the ide is for these guys learn from their mistakes.