The Stretch Run

The NHL season's finally come down to this. We're starting in on the beginning of the end. The final stretch of the regular season. It's put up or shut up time in the NHL. The next two and a half months will separate the genuinely good teams from the pretenders.

There's been quite a difference of opinion on which category the Lightning fall into by the so-called experts. I say "so-called" because I know hockey about as well as they do, and we're all biased in one way or another, but somehow my opinion seems to be more favorable. And it's not because they're more cynical than I am, since I can be pretty cynical.

What it comes down to is this: the media, who are mostly Canadian I might add, are pretty down on the Lightning. However, I was looking at a mid-season poll done by ESPN last week, and at the time, 18% of the 17,000+ fans that had voted thought that Tampa Bay had a legitimate chance at winning the Stanley Cup. They were the third most voted for in the East after Ottawa and Philadelphia - and Tampa currently sits at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.

So what does that tell me? The fans seem to know something that the media are deliberately overlooking. Fans are usually the hardest on their teams, but if 18% of 17,000 or so people think that the Lightning have a chance, then that's really saying something.

The Lightning are 7 points out of first place in the Southeast Division (and out of third in the Eastern Conference), 9 points out of eighth place in the conference, with 32 games left to go in the season, and 2 games at hand over Carolina (the Southeast Division leader).

So what do they need to do to make it to the second season of the NHL? Accurate passing, particularly thru the neutral zone, would be good, for one. Staying out of the penalty box, for another. The defense need to play defense, and the forwards need to produce offense. It's a simple concept, but one that tends to get lost in individual efforts. That goes along with keeping the game as simple as possible. They also need to start dictating the play on the ice, which is something they haven't really done all season. The need to play their game, their way, and force the other team to go along with it.

Most importantly, the leaders in the locker room need to be the leaders on the ice. If the team isn't doing as well as they should, they need to do their best to carry them on their backs. Frankly, one guy needs to take charge and stay in charge, and I know that no one's really wanted to do that with Tim Taylor out. But it desperately needs to be done. You can't win by committee, no matter how hard you try.

And when Taylor does come back, whoever's in charge needs to stay in charge and not just hand it off to Taylor at the first chance they get. A change like that is definitely not good for a team in the stretch run, and I don't think it'd be disrespectful to Taylor, either. It has to be one guy until the end of the season regardless of what happens, and I think Taylor would totally understand that.

Out of the three guys who wear the "A" on the team, I think that the one who should take the team and bend it to his will ought to be Lecavalier. The entire team really looks to him to start things on the ice, anyway, so him taking total control would be the next logical step. And with him having been named captain of the East All-Star team, the idea's already been planted in their heads anyway. I think most of them would be relieved for it, to be honest.

Now, you might think after reading this laundry list that this is an impossible task for the Lightning. I don't think so. The team has been doing most of this stuff off and on all season. They just need to put the pieces together, and I think having one clear-cut leader will really help with that.

If they want it bad enough, then they'll do something about it. It's as simple as that. It just really just depends on how badly they want it. That's the bottom line.

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