Steve Yzerman questions motives behind Versus criticism of 1-3-1 trap

Posted Nov 17, 2011 by Erik Erlendsson

Updated Nov 17, 2011 at 03:20 PM

The meeting of the league’s 30 general managers earlier this week figured to center around Philadelphia’s tactics last week against Tampa Bay’s neutral zone trap when the Flyers sat on the puck in their own zone refusing to move it forward unless Lightning players came up to forecheck.

The move led to plenty of reaction around the league and led to criticism of the Lightning’s style of play. The harshest critics came during the intermission of the game, which was broadcast nationally in the United States on Versus, from studio analysts Keith Jones and Mike Milbury who called Tampa Bay’s style of play “embarrassing’’.

Tampa Bay general manager Steve Yzerman questions the motives of the criticism coming from the Versus analysts.

“Versus is owned by Comcast, Comcast owns the Flyers, Keith Jones is a broadcaster with the Flyers and is hardly impartial,’’ Yzerman said. “I think that anybody that looks at that objectively should be saying, “Did Tampa do the right thing or Did Philadelphia do the right thing’’ and you can make an argument both ways.’’

When the league’s GMs got together on Tuesday in Toronto, that was the crux of the situation, they discussed it as part of the agenda and essentially agreed to monitor things and deal with them accordingly should another team try the same stall tactics against Tampa Bay, or any other team.

“In general felt like this has happened in 8,000 or so games since coming out of the lockout, so let’s not overreact to it,’’ Yzerman said. “If more situations like that occur and become regular, that we’ll have to look at ways to govern or legislating a team’s inability, whether it be the offense or the defense, so we don’t have situations like that occur.’’

Yzerman said the discussions centered around whether or not something should be done now rather than what precisely should be done. Prevention would be the next step should a similar situation arise, and at that point it would have to be determined whether it’s the responsibility of the team with the puck to move it forward or the team in the defensive posture to come and forecheck.

“If this becomes a regular issue, it will be discussed again,’’ Yzerman said. “But to me, we have take the red line (at center ice) out of the game and made the end zones bigger, so what happens in the end zones is everybody retreats to the front of the net and you have five guys in front of your net blocking shots, you can’t get pucks through to the net.

“In the neutral zone, teams retreat into the neutral zone and you see a 1-4 (formation), you see a 1-2-2 and you see a 1-3-1 in any game. So at any time in any game, the team with the puck can decide we are just going to stay here and stop and force you to come to us. Then that team is going to have a decision to make, do I go or do I not go.’’

The next general manager’s meeting is scheduled to take place in March.

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Lightning’s Ryan Malone to play vs. Hurricanes

Posted Nov 1, 2011 by Erik Erlendsson

Updated Nov 1, 2011 at 02:30 PM

RALEIGH - The Lightning may have caught a break as LW Ryan Malone didn’t suffer any kind of a break. Or strain. Or tear.

After missing practice to undergo both an X-ray and MRI on Monday, Malone was given the green light and will be in the lineup when Tampa Bay faces the Carolina Hurricanes Tuesday night at RBC Center. Malone was one of the first players on the ice for the morning skate and said he has no limitations despite suffering an undisclosed upper-body injury during Saturday’s home victory against Winnipeg.

“We just wanted to look at an injury that is OK,’’ Malone said Tuesday morning. “We did an MRI just to check things out and everything is good. I’m ready to play.’’

The mystery injury is not related to his surgically repaired shoulder – stemming from a separated shoulder suffered in the first round of the playoffs – which kept him away from contact for the first two weeks of training camp. But whatever the situation involves, it won’t be enough to keep him out of the lineup.

“Unless he comes off the ice after a bad miracle happens, but right now we are believing in the good miracle, so he should be fine,’’ head coach Guy Boucher said.

One change Boucher did make for the game is inserting LW Mattias Ritola into the lineup while taking out C Tom Pyatt as the coaching staff continues to tackle the challenge of not letting players sit for too long of an extended period of time. Ritola has appeared in four of the first 11 games and has not played since the home opener on Oct. 17.

“It’s not because Pyatt isn’t playing well, I just don’t want to lose Rito,’’ Boucher said. “Rito hasn’t played in a while and in the games he’s played he’s played really well. We all know that we have a bunch of extra forwards since we kept (rookie Brett) Connolly and at this point of the year I don’t want to lose any guys.’’

SCORING PROWESS

D Marc-Andre Bergeron finished the month of October with a team-high 12 points on two goals and 10 assists. The 12 points mark the third highest point total in a month for a defenseman in franchise history.

The record of 15 is held by Doug Crossman (Nov., 1992) and Dan Boyle (Nov., 2005). Boyle also had 13 points in Dec. 2006, and 12 points in Dec. 2002. Roman Hamrlik (Nov. 1995) and Shawn Chambers (March 1994) also registered 13-point months by a defensemen.

KEEPING IT UP

Despite only playing 10 minutes, 34 seconds on Saturday, and only taking two shifts in the third period, Connolly’s level of play has not dropped off, according to Boucher.

Connolly remains in a top six role currently playing with C Vinny Lecavalier and RW Marty St. Louis. And though the rookie is still looking for his first goal, Connolly has three assists and his plus-3 rating is tied for second on the team.

“There’s no two-ways about it, he’s an NHL player,” Boucher said. “He has speed, he’s smart enough and has great vision (on the ice). He’s got grit, a lot of grit actually. All these make for a player who can play on our top two lines right now.’’

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Video: Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Guy Boucher after 1-0 victory against Winnipeg

Posted Oct 30, 2011 by Erik Erlendsson

Updated Oct 29, 2011 at 11:45 PM

Watch some of Guy Boucher’s thoughts following Saturday’s 1-0 victory against the Winnipeg Jets

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Video of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Tesla coils in action

Posted Oct 29, 2011 by Erik Erlendsson

Updated Oct 29, 2011 at 07:24 PM

I should have thought about this last week when they went off the first time instead of that poor quality Blackberry picture I put out on Twitter, but here is video of the Tesla Coils as they went off during pregame ceremonies prior to Tampa Bay’s game against the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 29, 2011.

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Video: Lightning goaltender Mathieu Garon after a 21-save shutout of Buffalo

Posted Oct 22, 2011 by Erik Erlendsson

Updated Oct 22, 2011 at 11:07 PM

It’s been a little while, but here is a video of Lightning goaltender Mathieu Garon after his 21-save shutout of the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. The shutout was the 20th of his career.

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Lightning defenseman Eric Brewer expected to play

Posted Oct 20, 2011 by Erik Erlendsson

Updated Oct 20, 2011 at 12:59 PM

After missing practice on Wednesday, Lightning D Eric Brewer is expected to be in the lineup Thursday when Tampa Bay hosts the New York Islanders.

Brewer, who had back surgery earlier in his career, said he had something crop up on him Tuesday and wanted to make sure nothing new was bothering him.

“It’s just the day-to-day of the season and everybody is going to have something at some point and I just felt that I needed to address,” Brewer said. “I could have practiced (Wednesday) I just wanted to throw a few questions by some people and carry on; I felt fine out there (on the ice Thursday) morning.”

Brewer did not address whether the situation was related to his back or if he took any kind of an injection to alleviate what Lightning coach Guy Boucher referred to as “some swelling” that Brewer experienced.

“I don’t feel any worse than I have and I actually feel a little better,” Brewer said. “It’s not anything I’m scared of or worried about, it’s just how the season goes, you are busy at the start of the season and everybody has a different routine in the fall and I just have to tweak mine a little bit. Once the days start to roll, roll, roll, you just have to get in that.”

Tampa Bay is already without veteran D Mattias Ohlund, who underwent arthroscopic surgery on his knees last week and could be out until December.

IN AND OUT

Boucher indicated last week that rotating forwards in and out of the lineup was not going to be a long term situation. But with the team struggling to pick up wins (0-3-2 in the past five) he said some experimentation continues to find out what works and who play well together.

That means Mattias Ritola and Ryan Shannon will sit tonight while Blair Jones and Tom Pyatt will play against the Islanders.

“We have a lot of experiments since the beginning of the year, and soon the experiments will end, but it’s something we need to go through whether it brings us wins or loss, we need to go through these experiments,” Boucher said. “We have new guys coming in and some new chemistry, so we need to find that chemistry and every game, every practice we find out more about our guys.”

Shannon will be scratched for the second time in three games, but it has nothing to do with his play, according to Boucher.

“Last game, he played really well and he doesn’t deserve to be taken out,” Boucher said of Shannon. “I only have 12 forwards to put on there and that’s the experiment, we need to know about some other players and we’ll only know if we put them in, so (Shannon) is kind of paying for it but he played really we’ll last game.”

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The Lightning will be without defenseman Mattias Ohlund a month or longer

Posted Oct 10, 2011 by Erik Erlendsson

Updated Oct 10, 2011 at 04:07 PM

The Lightning will be without veteran defenseman Mattias Ohlund for up to a month, general manager Steve Yzerman said on Monday.

Ohlund, who was placed on injured reserve prior to the start of the season, will have arthroscopic surgery performed on both knees on Tuesday. The procedure will be performed by team orthopedic doctor Ira Guttentag.

The 35-year-old began to feel discomfort in his knees during the last week of preseason. Ohlund was kept off the ice beginning the morning of Sept. 29 prior to a preseason game in Montreal and the team had hoped rest would be enough to allow Ohlund to recover and get back on the ice.

But after undergoing MRI testing in Tampa early last week – which revealed no structural damage – Ohlund flew to Ohio late last week to get a second opinion from Dr. Anthony Miniaci at the Cleveland Clinic where it was confirmed that a procedure would help clean up some loose cartilage that is floating around.

“He felt that if he got it scoped out there, clean up some loose bodies – and it’s nothing major – floating around in there and that if he got it cleaned out while he is going to be off, because they have to been able to alleviate the discomfort that he’s been feeling,’’ Yzerman said. “He was showing a little bit of improvment, but he said it just didn’t feel right and figuring that if he was going to be out a little bit, let’s take that time and use it as wisely as possible, clean up whatever is in there irritating. So maybe he’s out a little bit longer, but when he comes he should feel better when he does come back.’’

Yzerman said the likely timetable for Ohlund’s recover could anywhere from a month to a month-and-a-half, depending on how the recovery process progresses.

“I’m going to say four to six weeks, but it really depends on how he feels, so it could be before that,’’ Yzerman said.

Ohlund missed time at the beginning of last season with similar discomfort in his knees.

With seven healthy defensemen on the roster and Tampa Bay carrying the maximum 23 players, Yzerman said he does not expect to be in the market to find somebody to fill in during Ohlund’s absence and head coach Guy Boucher will work with the current group while shuffling around the defensive pairings.

“It hurts because what it does is, we know have to put (Victor) Hedman against the top lines – and it’s not that he can’t do the job – but it asks a lot of other guys who are not in spots they are normally in,’’ Boucher said.

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Tampa Bay Lightning captivated by Tampa Bay Rays wild card berth

Posted Sep 29, 2011 by Erik Erlendsson

Updated Sep 29, 2011 at 12:26 PM

While the Lightning were prepping for Thursday night’s preseason game against the Canadiens, the talk around the team centered instead around baseball.

With plenty of Tampa Bay Rays supporters inside the Lightning locker room, the stunning turnaround of events late Wednesday night provided plenty of buzz during the morning skate after the Rays late rally to earn the wild card spot in the American League, overcoming a 7-0 deficit against the Yankees to win in extra innings on Evan Longoria’s walk-off home run moments after Boston blew a one-run, ninth inning lead in Baltimore.

“It was almost a Hollywood story the way they made it end, it was unbelievable to watch,’’ said Lightning C Nate Thompson, who took batting practice with the team during the summer. “It was almost like somebody had a remote control just controlling both games, and then the rain delay (in Baltimore) being able to watch both games, to be able to see that was just unbelievable and I’m really happy for them.’’

For Lightning coach Guy Boucher, he’s looking forward to heading over to Tropicana Field for one of the Rays’ home playoff games once Tampa Bay returns from spending six days in Quebec.
“I’m impressed by (the comeback) because that’s something that is rare, but I’m not surprised by it, first because that’s what they have been doing for a month, coming back and proving the odds wrong,’’ said Boucher, who planned to call Rays’ manager Joe Maddon and offer congratulations. “We are all impressed by it, I think it’s inspiring and I think it’s great for the town.’’

Getting to watch the game proved to be a somewhat difficult task, however, as the Red Sox-Orioles game was shown on French sports channel RDS, but during the rain delay they switched over to the Rays while also showing Longoria’s clinching home run.

“That was the best baseball I’ve ever watched in French my whole entire life,’’ Thompson said. “But you could tell when we were over there that they have a pretty tight group and the way Joe Maddon operates he has fun with the guys. . . so it’s a little similar to us as we got to hang out with them and see what they are like. And it just goes to show you the character they have on their team and they never quit. To be nine games out in September and still come back to win the wildcard is unbelievable.

“It shows the resiliency they have and if I’m the Texas Rangers I’m a little nervous right now playing the Tampa Bay Rays.’’

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Tampa Bay Lightning reduce training camp by 27 players

Posted Sep 25, 2011 by Erik Erlendsson

Updated Sep 25, 2011 at 04:12 PM

For Lightning management and coaches, the relatively easy decisions were made on Sunday. Now general manager Steve Yzerman and company have a little over a week to make the difficult choices.

Tampa Bay reduced training camp by 27 on Sunday, leaving 26 players remaining. Those remaining players will practice Monday morning before the team departs for
Quebec to spend three days at a mountain resort north of Montreal before closing out the preseason with two games against the Canadiens, on Thursday in Montreal and Saturday in Quebec City.
The Lightning must cut at least four more players to get down to the maximum of 23 before the season begins on Oct. 7 in Carolina.

The following players were placed on waivers Sunday, and assuming are not claimed by another team, will report to Norfolk: Forwards – Mike Angelidis, Michel Ouellet, JT Wyman, Alex Picard and Trevor Smith; Defensemen – Richard Petiot and Mike Vernace.

Players who do not require waivers and were assigned to Norfolk: Goaltenders – Dustin Tokarski, Jaroslav Janus and Pat Nagle; Forwards – Tyler Johnson, Richard Panik, Carter Ashton, Alex Hutchings, James Wright. Defensemen – Mark Barberio and Radko Gudas

In addition, forwards Cory Conacher and Matt Fornataro along with defensemen Jeff Dimmen and Kevin Quick were released from their tryout agreements, but all four players are under contract with Norfolk and will report to the Admirals on Monday. Also released from their tryouts and assigned to Norfolk were forwards Eric Neilson, Gabriel Desjardins, Philip-Michael Devos and Pierre-Cedric Labrie. Ondrej Palat, a seventh-round pick in 2011, was also assigned to Norfolk’s training camp.

D Daniel Milan, who came to camp as a tryout before signing a three-year entry level contract, was assigned to his junior team, Moncton of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Among those remaining in camp vying for the last spots on the opening night roster include 2010 first-round draft pick Brett Connolly, Mattias Ritola, Blair Jones, Tom Pyatt, and Dana Tyrell.

“There is absolutely no clarity, and right now it’s the opposite, there is a lot of players that are fighting for spots,’’ Lightning coach Guy Boucher said. “And they are not necessarily fighting for the 13th spot, they could be fighting for higher spots. And that is what I told the players the other day, the vets and everybody, it’s not still “let’s get through this training camp’’, if somebody is better than you, they are taking your spot.’’

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Lightning add defensive depth

Posted Sep 23, 2011 by Erik Erlendsson

Updated Sep 23, 2011 at 05:57 PM

The Tampa Bay Lightning signed defenseman Daniel Milan to a three-year, two-way contract today, Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman announced. Milan is currently attending the team’s training camp.

Milan, 6-foot-3, 194 pounds, skated in 68 games last season with the Moncton Wildcats of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, recording 14 goals and 38 points. He led all Moncton defensemen in goals and also ranked first among all QMJHL rookie defensemen in points. His eight power-play goals were good for fifth among all Wildcats skaters. In addition, Milan appeared in five QMJHL postseason games, registering a goal and an assist. Following the 2010-11 season, Milan was honored as Moncton’s Rookie of the Year after breaking the club’s scoring record for first-year defensemen.

A native of Detroit, Michigan, Milan enjoyed a successful career in his home state before making his junior debut with Moncton in 2010-11. Serving as team captain in his senior season at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Prep, he notched five goals and 18 points in 31 games and received High School All-State honors, as well as Catholic League All-Conference recognition. As a result, Milan became the first player from the Michigan high school hockey system to make the jump directly to a Major Junior hockey league team.

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