The Montreal Canadiens came into Florida on their post-Christmas road swing. Hopefully along the way they enjoyed the weather, had a grouper sandwich and maybe got in a round at a golf course somewhere along the way. Those would have been the highlights of their trip to Florida, because as they leave, they’re leaving with nary a point and their first back-to-back losses of the season at the hands of the Panthers in Miami and the Lightning in Hockeybay.
Going into the game, the Bolts were stirred a bit — if not shaken — by Dmitry Afanasenkov being waived and his departure from the franchise. Add to the rumors coming from all directions that John Tortorella, Jay Feaster or both were imminently going to be handed their walking papers and you have a team not only hoping to rebound from a humiliating loss, but a team that needs to show their stuff. Their real stuff.
And for one night, they did just that.
41 shots, 3 goals, 2 points and 1 game below .500. Is this new life for the Lightning or a fluke in a season that has drudged along in frustrating fashion?
Vaclav Prospal snapped a 21 game goal drought. Andreas Karlsson, the other player waived on Friday, participated in Saturday night’s game. The Lightning, with some of the worst special teams records in the NHL, looked formidable against the Habs who have some of the best special teams in the league. Dan Boyle and Brad Richards both had 2 points a piece and Martin St. Louis also had an assist.
And while the Lightning didn’t face many shots, I gotta hand it to Johan Holmqvist for holding down the fort in the Lightning zone. He made the saves that had to be made and could have likely gotten away from another netminder on any given day.
3-1 the final at Times Palace tonight. The Lightning start a road trip to ring in the new year and one has to wonder if anything else “new” will be coming the Lightning’s way before the final horn sounds for 2006?
last updated December 31, 2006 at 1:08 pm
Good to see you back John! Have a wonderful New Year!
Have to say I am very upset with the lack of play from the Lightning this year. They seem to pick and choose what games they want to show up for mentally. Our power play is non-existent and our penalty kill is atrocious. Maybe it took a few players to actually be put on waivers to wake up everyone on the team for tonights game. They are players, they are not invincible. If you or I didn’t show up mentally for work day after day we would eventually find ourselves out in the cold looking for a new job. They need to understand that this is a job, and they need to show up every game ready to play or they will be facing the same fate we would.
I liked the hustle they showed tonight. I saw them hustle like that other times this season only to forget to show up the following game. When they don’t “show up” they look like over paid prima donna’s, afraid to get down and dirty by not throwing a check. Not going to the front of the net to get rebounds seems to be their pattern this season. What happened to the guys we had during the cup run? Those players would rush the net and not give up until it went past the goalie. What happened to the guys who would stand in front of the goalie and block shots in layers upon layers of players rather than leave their goalie out to dry?
I think Holmqvist is a great young goalie who has alot of potential. No goalie can save pucks that are second and third rebounds. Even in youth hockey the kids are taught to clear the puck after the goalie makes the initial save. Why can’t these NHL players remember this simple concept? To have 41 shots on goal and only have 3 actually go in the net baffles me. I do know they aren’t getting the lucky bounces that it takes to score, but only 3 out of 41 is sad. We are continuously making marginal goalies from other teams look like super stars.
I loved the hustle and grit they showed tonight, but will this same team show up again for the next game? That’s the multi-million dollar payroll question.