Game 35: Florida at Tampa Bay

The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Florida Panthers for the second night in a row by the score of 6-4.

You know, I've always thought that going after rebounds was a very underrated thing in hockey. Nobody stresses any kind of importance on it, nobody does it, and nobody talks about it. I've always sort of thought that was a mistake. I mean, look at tonight's game - at least the last three Lightning goals (that I can remember) came off of staying with rebounds. You have to know the scouting report on the opposing goalie to have an idea of the kind of rebounds he gives, but still.

Lecavalier's second goal was amazing. That took some serious focus to do. I think St. Louis had the initial shot, which bounced high off of Vokoun. Then Lecavalier stopped it in midair, dropped it down to his own stick, and then shot it in. Oh, and that was in the middle of six, seven, or eight players shoving each other around the net for position, too.

The look on Malone's face after his goal was priceless. Obviously he didn't expect that to go in. He stuck with the rebound and then blindly backhanded the puck towards Lecavalier, who was standing in front of the net to one side. But it never got to Lecavalier since it just went in. Vokoun didn't expect that one to go in, either, since he was at the other side of the net.

Artyukhin had another strong game. I would guess that he's one of those players who does his best when he plays with an edge. Which means he's prone to taking some stupid penalties. That's burned the Lightning a couple of times, but he's doing a lot better about that as he's also playing better, too.

Speaking of penalties, that was still a problem. Of the eight power plays allowed by Tampa Bay, five of those came from penalties on defensemen. And the two power play goals allowed came also on penalties taken by defensemen. Now, the officiating was rather questionable tonight, as well as last night, but the fact is that the defensemen need to start playing a bit smarter so they don't get even those questionable calls.

I suppose that I probably could've just written this whole blog in one sentence: The Lightning were all over the Panthers like a bad date. Statistically, puck possession-wise, physically, and, most importantly, on the scoreboard they led by leaps and bounds. This is the team that we all have suspected that they could be with the right kind of encouragement. And, obviously, the team leaders are doing something right with the encouragement bit of things.

They won their third game in a row. Now the danger is letting themselves think that they're finally past all of their troubles. They need to keep thinking that while they're doing better, any little slip will land them back in the losing column. Confidence is definitely a good thing, but getting cocky isn't. It's a fine line to walk, especially when you've been sitting at the bottom for a while.

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