Forum: Talk Lightning

Wanted to throw this up before flying home, here’s the link to the ECHL announcement

Basically, the players are free agents, but Tampa’s players - Chris Lawrence and Kevin Quick - will be reassigned.

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That was certainly an entertaining period, the kind of game I’m sure Versus wanted to see on national TV. Both teams are trading quality scoring chances, there have been some good hits, a decent fight with Radek Smolenak vs. Aaron Asham (majority decision to Asham) and a combined 29 shots on goal. Fans here are getting their money’s worth.

The boarding call on Scottie Upshall I didn’t think warrented a major and a game misconduct. I understand the attempt to crackdown on hits from behind, and it was a hit from behind, and maybe they really wanted to calm down some of the hits and scrums that were popping up. Certainly the hit was a penalty, no doubt about it as Artyukhin had his back to Upshall and Upshall did look like he tool an extra stride and raised up some on the hit, but I don’t think it was a major.

Nonetheless, the Lightning have 2:27 of the power play left heading into the second period. If they don’t score, look out. If Tampa Bay does score, maybe it will settle them down a bit.

Here’s hoping the second 20 minutes are as entertaining as the first 20.

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Before anybody asks, because I know after reading my post from yesterday you are dying to know, but yes, I did make it over to see the Liberty Bell on Monday afternoon. It was worth the walk, with the exception of the old man in a mobile wheelchair honking his car horn down the sidewalk anytime he came withing five feet of a pedestrian, including me which nearly knocked me out of my toque.

As far as today’s game, there’s a lot of moving parts going on.

First of all, Radim Vrbata is a healthy scratch tonight, the second time this season he’s been a healthy scratch. Vrbata didn’t say much about the situation this morning, but he’s noticeably upset about sitting out tonight. Ryan Craig will join Vrbata in the pressbox.

Gary Roberts has been placed on injured reserve after pulling his groin muscle during practice on Monday.

The team has called up both Radek Smolenak and Paul Szczechura and both will be in the lineup tonight. Interim coach Rick Tocchet hinted at something like this after the loss in Colorado on Saturday, saying some guys needed to pick up their game or changes would have to be made. Well, changes have been made.

Here’s how the lines will look to start the game

Ryan Malone-Vinny Lecavalier-Marty St. Louis

Vinny Prospal-Steven Stamkos-Jussi Jokinen

Steve Downie-Paul Szczechura-Mark Recchi

Evgeny Arthyukhin-Adam Hall-Radek Smolenak

Will be very interesting to see how things break down with the changes tonight, but before the puck drops, I want to read what you guys, the fans, think of this move today. Is it needed? Is it warrented? Do Vrbata and Craig need to be sat?

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Good morning from the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. Sunday sure felt like a long, long day. After spending a third day in a third different time zone, then sitting on the tarmac in Denver for over an hour before take off followed by a nearly four-hour flight, it was a short night last time with dinner, some football and a couple of Simpsons episodes on the DVD player in my room and it was time to sleep. I had set my alarm this morning to get up at a decent time, but of course slept through the alarm, turned it off and woke up 45 minutes later. Nice. Had just enough time for a coffee and breakfast sandwich at Au Bon Pain before heading over to practice. I plan on getting over to see the Liberty Bell for the first this afternoon as it’s only a few blocks from the hotel. I’ve walzted around Independance Hall one time before during the Eastern Conference final in 2004 but haven’t seen the Liberty Bell, so I plan to change that today.

As far as practice, Matt Pettinger skated on his own before the rest of the team hit the ice, the first time he’s been on the ice since being injured in practice last week. Marek Malik is practicing so it looks like he’ll return tomorrow against Philly.

Some mixing of the lines going on as well today. Here are your combos:

Ryan Malone-Vinny Lecavalier-Marty St.Louis

Vinny Prospal-Jussi Jokinen-Radim Vrbata

Steve Downie-Steven Stamkos-Mark Recchi

Gary Roberts-Adam Hall-Evgeny Artyukhin (or Ryan Craig)

Jeff Halpern is dressed in red (injured) but was doing some battle drills in the corner with assistant coach Wes Walz where he was doing and lot of quick starts and stops and looked pretty good. Don’t think that means a return is imminent, but certainly he’s not too far off.

As I’m sitting here typing this, Gary Roberts just slammed his stick against the boards and walked back to the dressing room. I didn’t catch what happened to him, but he looked like he had a slight limp going on.

Also of note, and I think this is interesting, Mike Sullivan is running a lot of practice today. I’ve spoken to a couple of players and they are happy to have Sullivan back because of what he can add in terms of how he thinks the game and how he adds another teaching element.

That’s all I have for now. Here’s hoping no more trades go down today so I can head over and see a piece of history this afternoon.

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The Tampa Bay Lightning announced this trade Sunday at 12:10 p.m.  Here is the team’s news release with the details:

The Tampa Bay Lightning have acquired right wing Lauri Tukonen from the Dallas Stars in exchange for defenseman Andrew Hutchinson, it was announced by Executive Vice President & General Manager Brian Lawton.

Tukonen, a 6-foot-2, 198-pound native of Hyvinkaa, Finland, has skated in 22 games with Lukko Rauma of Finland this season, tallying five goals, eight assists and 22 penalty minutes. Originally drafted 11th overall by Los Angeles at the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, Tukonen, 22, has skated in five career games with the Kings (2006-07 and 2007-08). He appeared in 185 career American Hockey League games with Manchester, tallying 36 goals, 103 points and 74 penalty minutes.

Tukonen skated in three World Junior Championships for Finland from 2004-2006, collecting Bronze Medals in 2004 and 2006. In 2006 he finished third in tournament scoring with three goals and 10 points in seven games. On July 21 he was traded to Dallas by Los Angeles in exchange for Richard Clune.

Hutchinson, 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, skated in two games with the Lightning this season, averaging 14:43 of ice time. Signed as a free agent by the Lightning prior to the season, he appeared in 20 games with Norfolk this season, recording a goal, 13 assists and 14 penalty minutes. The 28-year-old native of Evanston, Illinois has appeared in 97 career NHL games with Tampa Bay, Carolina and Nashville.  He has accumulated 10 goals, 33 points and six power-play goals. 

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The latest Steven Stamkos diary entry is posted, entitled A Thanksgiving Feast where Steven talks about celebrating his first Thanksgiving in the U.S.

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It’s probably not a surprise, but we were greeted in Denver last night with snow. Lots of snow. It’s still snowing. It’s not the kind that really sticks to the road, but it does accumulate on the grass and on top of cars. And it actually feels kind of strange because it just doesn’t feel cold enough for it to be snowing. But snowing it is.

I think this is my fourth or so trip into Denver and it’s a really beautiful site to look out on the horizon and see the Rocky Mountains off in the distance. It’s a view that I don’t think could ever get old, sort of like seeing the mountains in Vancouver, I could stare at them all day. Driving down to the arena this morning, it was a refreshing and downright picturesque scene to look down the streets and see the snow covered trees lined down each side of the street. A very Rockwell-like scene.

I’ve also noticed that for the first time visiting here that I’m struggling a bit with my breathing. There are times where I just can’t seem to get enough air into my lungs. My sinuses were certainly affected last night as well as I struggled to get some good sleep and kept waking up with a dry mouth. I kept a bottle of water on the nightstand just to keep my throat moist!!

I guess it just comes with the change in altitude. Even the board inside the Lightning locker room today reminded the players to drink plenty of water today.

As far as the game tonight against the Avalanche is concerned, Olie Kolzig gets the call in goal. He’s struggled of late so he’ll look for a bounce-back effort tonight. Peter Budaj goes for Colorado.

Gary Roberts will be in the lineup tonight in place of Evgeny Artyukhin. Interim coach Rick Tocchet said he wants Artyukhin to get a look at the game from above tonight after he struggled in Friday’s game, with Tocchet stating that Minnesota had three quality scoring chances as a direct result of a mistake by Artyukhin.

So the line combos tonight will look like this:

Ryan Malone-Vinny Lecavalier-Marty St. Louis
Vinny Prospal-Steven Stamkos-Radim Vrbata
Gary Roberts-Jussi Jokinen-Mark Recchi
Ryan Craig-Adam Hall-Steve Downie

Marek Malik will miss his second consecutive game with a lower body injury, so Andrew Hutchinson goes back into the lineup. Hutchinson was a minus-3 against Minnesota, but Tocchet said he felt Hutchinson got better as the game went on, stating that it can be tough to make the quick jump from the minors to the NHL and try to pick up the speed right away.

Matt Smaby was sent back to Norfolk today, as he was essentially called up as insurance in the event Hutchinson didn’t make it through waivers on Friday. Also, Jason Ward cleared waivers today - he cleared recall waivers on Friday - and was officially reassigned back to Norfolk.

Don’t forget, tonight’s game is on WTOG, CW-44.

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Happy Holidays to everyone, once again. Sitting high above the Xcel Energy Center, one of my favorite buildings in the league to visit. It’s hard to make a hockey arena unique, with the setup basically the same all around the league, but the Wild did it right. From the high school hockey jerseys that adorn the concourse to all the standing room only seats that rest behind the top of the lower bowl to the pair of balconies in each of the corners opposite the benches. It’s pretty nice in here, and the atmosphere is certainly the tops in the league south of the Canadian border.

Was sitting in my hotel room last night watching the local broadcast on the Fox affiliate and they were interviewing some brave 0 and I do mean brave - souls who were camping out last night outside a local Best Buy in anticipation of the Black Friday deals the electronic chain was offering. I didn’t see a space heater or bonfire anywhere near them and I thought, that’s just crazy. I mean, this is Minnesota and yes it’s cold. Last night the wind was whipping through at about a 15 mph clip, giving a rather chilly wind chill affect and there’s no way I would even consider camping out on concrete in that weather. In fact, I wouldn’t even consider camping out anywhere, not even a fishing lodge on one of the many lakes up here with a fireplace inside it. But that’s just me and my thin Florida blood!!!! I hope those guys got some good deals (and I hope plenty of people purchased, we need any kind of boost to the economy right now!!!!!)

Well, the wife is off at Disney today with the kids and here fried while I’m up here in the cold weather, and getting ready to embark to another cold climate in Denver later tonight. At least there won’t be gobs of snow on the ground!!!!

As far as this afternoon’s game, it’s Wes Walz day here at the Xcel Energy Center as the team has a nice tribute planned for the former Wild captain who is making his first return to St. Paul today. There will be a video tribute shown before the game, his son Kelvin will help with the “Let’s Play Hockey’’ cheer before the game and the team will present him a scrapbook which will include memories from fans the team has been collecting the past couple of weeks.

The Lightning have also brought up defenseman Andrew Hutchinson from Norfolk after he cleared waivers this afternoon. So that’s three recalls in the past 24 hours, with Hutchinson joining Matt Smaby and Steve Downie. Also, Jason Ward cleared recall waivers today, but no word yet on what the team’s plans are for him, but Ward is not with the team.

Smaby, Downie and Hutchinson are all taking warmups, so not quite sure yet of what the lineup will look like. Have to think that Downie is a certainty to play as there are not enough healthy forwards to bump him out of the lineup. On defense, not sure. Bringing up Smaby and Hutchinson might have been insurance in case Lukas Krajicek has issues on this road trip with his bruised knee, but Krajicek is skating. One of the two will certainly be in, however, as Marek Malik is not taking part in warmups.

In goal, Mike Smith gets the call for Tampa Bay while Niklas Backstrom will start for Minnesota. The two squared off to dual shutouts in the first meeting this year, with the Wild earning the extra point with a shootout victory.

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Happy Thanksgiving to everybody. Yes, I’m working, that’s how dedicated I really am to my job providing you guys the information you crave. Plus, I really like my job and I’d like to keep it, so here I am. That means no Thanksgiving for me, no dinner out of the house (sorry Mom), no dinner at home (sorry Judy) and no special delivery from the wife and mother-in-law at St. Joe’s where sister-in-law is awaiting twins and is spending the holiday in a hospital bed.

But enough about me!

David Koci apparently broke his hand during his fight with Colton Orr Wednesday night and is out 2-4 weeks with what the team is calling an upper-body injury (does it become lower body when his hands are at his side?). Also, Matt Pettinger has been listed as out 2-4 weeks which suggests he suffered a sprained ligament in his knee.

Marek Malik is questionable after suffering a lower-body injury (he wasn’t limping around from what I could tell) so it looks like he’s out for Friday.

Lukas Krajicek didn’t practice but is expected to play this weekend. Chris Gratton did not practice today, but Gary Roberts did.

With the injuries taking their toll, the Lightning recalled defenseman Matt Smaby and left wing Steve Downie from Norfolk, which means that Pettinger and Koci have been placed on injured reserve to clear roster space.

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The Lightning certainly put in a much better effort against the Rangers on Wednesday. They outhit New York to a 26-11 margin, including seven (mostly crunching) hits from Evgeny Artyukhin. I think they played well defensively, for the most part, and didn’t have many of the those “OHHHHHH, FUUUUDDDDGGGEE’’ moments, with the exception of a four-on-four situation in overtime where it seemed like the Rangers spent four of the five overtime minutes in the Lightning zone. Again, a vast improvement over New Jersey.

But there just is not enough sustained offensive pressure. It’s just not there. I’m not sure it will be there any time soon. The 20-game mark tends to be the first real bench mark for teams to figure out what it is they have. And while ownership spent gobs amount of money over the summer on forwards, they never addressed finding a defenseman to get them the puck. Well, actually, they had one, but that’s a whole different story that requires more time than I want to dedicate to.

The transition game just is not there. They have some guys with good first passes out of the zone - Ranger, Malik, Meszaros (sometimes) - but it’s not consistent enough. And they have nobody they can count on to carry the puck up and ice to open things up and allow an easy in to the offensive zone. So they end up doing a lot of dumping and chasing. But the chasing has to result in regaining the puck and that just doesn’t happen often enough.

Now, having said that, the Lightning have played in nine overtime games this season. That’s nine extra points that could have been lost. Of course, it also means that with a 2-7 record, that’s seven points not gained. Where would they be with a 5-4 record in overtime? Or a 6-3 record? I don’t think there would be as much talk about how poor this team is.

So to give you something to chew on this Thanksgiving instead of turkey and cranberry sauce, with the Lightning record sitting at 6-8-7, considering all the changes that have gone on in a short period of time, and even since the start of the season, do you think the overtime results are worth looking at from a glass-half full approach or is the glass half-empty?

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The old net presence factor favors New York through 40 minutes of play. Interim coach Rick Tocchet has talked in recent days about charting what he calls net presence. He’s not sure how he’s going to chart it or what the exact parameters are for defining it will be. But no doubt, it will be one of things that he’ll say he’ll know it when he sees it. Well, the Rangers have done it and Markus Naslund has made it pay off with a pair of goals, the first on a rebound from a Michal Rozsival, who was able to get a point shot past a stickless Ryan Craig.

After Ryan Malone did it by being around the net - on a power play nonetheless - and scooping up a rebound and lifting a backhand over Henrik Lundqvist, Naslund struck again when he just stuck his stick out at the last minute and tipped another Rozsival shot past Mike Smith.

Overall, though, it was a better period for Tampa Bay. The physical aspect is there, as it was earlier this month when the two teams met in Madison Square Garden, on the Lightning’s part. Evgeny Artyukhin, Steven Stamkos and Mark Recchi, along with Malone, are laying some big hits. There was a nice tilt between David Koci and Colton Orr, with a slight edge to Koci especially after he was able to pull Orr’s jersey over his own head and all but ending the fight. And after being out shot 10-5 in the first period, the shot clock now reads 21-20 in favor of the Rangers.

But the scoreboard is where it counts and it reads 2-1 in favor of New York. Need more of that same effort in the third coupled with more net presence and some more sustained pressure, which was a little better in that period compared to the first.

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All right, I’m copyrighting it right now, Stammer the Hammer. Definitely. It’s mine, you can’t have it, you can’t use the phrase unless you offer me some hefty, hefty royalties. I’m thinking like $100 just for thinking about it, $150 for speaking it and perhaps $250 to use it on your blog. How about $500 for each t-shirt? A bit outrageous? Yeah, probably, but after the end of the first period, it’s certainly an apt moniker. First he hammered Nikolai Zherdev along the near boards, and I mean drilled him with a good hit. Then, Zherdev apparently didn’t like it, so he went looking to get a piece of Stamkos, only Stamkos hammered him in the fight, as well. Yes, it’s his first NHL fight. No, it’s not his first hockey fight. (See below)

Tampa Bay needs to find a way to generate some offense because they just haven’t shown any ability to stay in the offensive zone with any sustained pressure. And this is one area that needs some serious improving. They want to be a puck possession team but they never seem to have the puck.

Some good hitting going on in this one. Didn’t like Colton Orr jumping Evgeny Artyukhin after what looked like a clean hit on Blair Betts. And Orr only got 4 minutes for roughing. Isn’t that instigating?

Here’s the Stamkos video:

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After taking a couple of well earned (and deserved!!!) days away from the rink, I’m back for another grind. I hope everybody enjoyed super-sub these days, Tony Fabrizio, stepping in and helping out. (Thanks Tony!!!!)

Took some time to spend at home with the kids, especially the three-year-old who stayed home from preschool on Monday to try and shake off a sinus issue. Poor little guy fell asleep in the middle of checking out Madagascar 2 at the theatre on Tuesday night (since he missed half the movie, think I can get a half-refund? Me neither). But he woke up all perky this morning, tossing his blanket at his mother to get her out of bed this morning, a tactic more effective on her than on me, especially on cold mornings because I just don’t want come out from under the covers!

As far as tonight’s game, Mike Smith is in goal for Tampa while David Koci gets in the lineup for injured Matt Pettinger, who is scheduled to get an MRI today on his knee which was injured during practice Tuesday when his skate got caught in a rut during a drill with Andrej Meszaros. Not sure if we’ll receive an update tonight or not, but we’ll try to do our best.

Lukas Krajicek will be back in the lineup after missing Sunday’s game. He said he essentially had a bruised meniscus in his knee from Friday’s game where he had his knee fell on twice within two shifts against Nashville.

Chris Gratton and Gary Roberts are still out and on injured reserve. Both skated today, and looked like they skated hard. Not sure what the hold up is at this point, but if Gratton had a knee issue, he looks pretty good but gave no indication if he’s ready to go.

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Former Tampa Bay Lightning Associate Coach Mike Sullivan has returned to the team and will serve as associate coach to Interim Head Coach Rick Tocchet, Executive Vice President & General Manager Brian Lawton announced. 

In addition, Assistant Coach Cap Raeder will become goaltending coach and oversee the development of the organization’s netminders in Tampa Bay, Norfolk of the American Hockey League and Augusta of the ECHL, as well as unsigned prospects in the system. Wes Walz remains as an assistant coach on Tocchet’s staff.

“We are excited to add Mike to our coaching staff,” Lawton said. “He’s been here and knows the players well, and he’s an upgrade to the overall quality of our coaching. Mike is highly respected throughout the league and has been successful as a head coach at the NHL, AHL and International levels.”

Prior to joining the Lightning for the 2007-08 season, Sullivan served as head coach for the U.S. Men’s team at the 2007 World Championships in Russia.  In his first season as head coach of the Boston Bruins in 2003-04, Sullivan led the team to the Northeast Division title and the second-best record in the Eastern Conference with a mark of 41-19-15-7 and 104 points.  In his sophomore year with Boston Sullivan led them to a 29-37-16 record.  In 164 regular season games as a head coach he had a record of 70-56-15-23 with a 3-4 playoff record. 

Sullivan joined Boston after spending one season as head coach of their top American Hockey League affiliate in Providence, Rhode Island.  Under his guidance the P-Bruins captured their third division title as they won the North Division with a 44-20-11-5 record and 104 points.  That season they ranked third overall in the AHL in offense with 268 goals and established a franchise record with a 19-game home unbeaten streak from December 6 until February 23, posting a 16-0-3-0 record during that span. 

Following his stint with Providence he was named the assistant coach of the NHL’s Bruins on March 20, 2003 under then interim head coach Mike O’Connell.  He coached in Boston for the final nine games of the regular season as the Bruins posted a 3-3-3-0 record and were eliminated in the Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals before he returned to Providence to finish the season.

A native of Marshfield, Massachusetts, Sullivan played four seasons of college hockey at Boston University from 1986-87 until 1989-90.  He scored 61 goals and recorded 138 points in 141 career college games.  He was drafted by the New York Rangers as their fourth pick, 69th overall, in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft, though he never signed with them.  He began his NHL career in August of 1991 when he signed a free agent contract with the San Jose Sharks after spending one season with the San Diego Gulls of the International Hockey League.  Sullivan went on to play 11 seasons in the NHL and scored 54 goals with 136 points in 709 games during his playing career.

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The Lightning unveiled an alternate, third jersey in Sunday’s home game. The sweater highlights the team’s nickname: Bolts. We know what you thought of the team’s 7-3 loss to the Devils. But what do you think of the new jersey?

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