Game 32: Tampa Bay at Atlanta
The Tampa Bay Lightning lost to the Atlanta Thrashers 4-3.
The team was starting to break out of their pattern of falling behind and then playing catch up, but they slid right back into that again. Frankly, I'm not too surprised. That seems to happen whenever a guy either gets traded or put on waivers. The team starts to get better and then management/ownership sabotages them by tinkering with the roster.
St. Louis was just outstanding. He was everywhere. He had 7 shots on goal, which led all shooters for the game off of both teams, and of course his two goals. This is a guy who's definitely doing all he can to win games, and has been particularly ramping up his play over the last couple of weeks. Which isn't to say that Lecavalier and Prospal (or Malone or Recchi) haven't been working really hard as well on that top line - they have. But St. Louis has just taken it up another notch is all.
Smith didn't look particularly sharp in the first period, letting in three goals, but he was a lot better as the game went on. And the defense didn't exactly have their best night, either. Three of the four penalties (before the chippiness at the end) were taken by defensemen.
They're shooting a lot more - and have been able to prevent more shots. So that's definitely been an improvement. Letting the other team pepper your goalie for 40+ shots a game was not a good thing. Although, team-wide faceoffs haven't as good as before. But maybe it's one thing at a time, I guess.
2 comments:
I read Jokinen/Tocchet's comments in the Times today about the "Wake up call" by being placed on waivers by Brian Lawton. Wasn't that a foolhardy move though? Putting him at risk of being snatched up by others? Wouldn't a benching be preferable?
Same goes for the players Marty is citing in his disgust in todays story. Someone needs to spend a few days in the press box if they aren't playing up to par -- no matter WHAT their paycheck pays them.
I'd read a comment by Malone that pretty much said anyone who's not pulling their weight ought to be replaced by guys in Norfolk. I'm not sure if he was suggesting guys be sent down or just sat out, tho.
But it's about time that at least some of the players are finally getting publicly angry about this. It shows that they care, and the fans need to know that - particularly when they're losing. Otherwise, it really looks bad.
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