Game 13: Tampa Bay at Philadelphia

The good news: Tampa Bay broke their losing streak, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1. The bad news is that they're still rather inconsistent. But, hey, at least they're learning to hold on to leads now, right?

Overall, I liked this game. The first period was a little slow, but that's been the case for most of the season so far. It's like they all have to work themselves up to actually playing hockey or something. The pre-game mental preparation just doesn't seem to be quite there. It's as if they start the game and then think to themselves, "Oh yeah. Hockey game. Yeah, I can do that." Some are worse than others.

Penalties are still a problem. Seems as if that's going to be the case for much of the season. But what can you expect from a team that doesn't have a set roster?

A thought on the Carle/Eminger-Downie trade is that I guess they ("they" being the management/ownership of the Lightning) were far more interested in getting rid of Boyle than actually getting Carle. I mean, if they had really thought so highly of Carle, they would've given him a lot more than just 12 games to get adjusted.

Opening up salary cap space? I hardly think so. Not unless they're clearing room to bring in someone else - probably yet another forward, if that's the case. These guys are clueless when it comes to defensemen - obviously, all these former hockey guys in management/ownership used to be forwards - and they have absolutely no idea, nor do they seem to care, about team chemistry. The defense was actually doing just fine before this trade. They were really coming together and playing pretty well.

So, now, what was the point of that trade again?

Speaking of the defense, the shots allowed were under 40, but still over 35. Can't blame them for that too much, really. The Lightning will be lucky to have any of the same guys on defense that started the season by April at this rate. It's got to be unnerving. Again, most of the penalties in the game for Tampa Bay were against the defensemen.

Smith had a pretty good game. Better than the last two, certainly, but nothing like he'd been playing the few games before those. If goalies not named Brodeur were actually considered for MVP, he should be up for that. Without Smith, and Kolzig for that matter, the Lightning could be winless on the season right now.

Speaking of defensive play - which seems to be the theme here - St. Louis had a fantastic game defensively. Now I understand why he's playing the point during power plays. He was just as good offensively as usual, but his defensive game was just great. He was just all over the ice tonight, and I mean that in a good way.

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