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RW Roy Earning His Ice Time

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 16, 2007

TAMPA - The Lightning announced Saturday that C Chris Gratton is out for two weeks to recover from a hip injury.

Tampa Bay recalled C Blair Jones from the team's AHL affiliate in Norfolk to take Gratton's roster spot.

Gratton is the latest in a growing list of injured Tampa Bay players, and the Lightning are looking for other players to make an impact. One player who has come through recently is RW Andre Roy.

The Lightning are now without Gratton, RW Michel Ouellet (shoulder), LW Ryan Craig (knee) and D Dan Boyle (wrist), and none of them are expected to return soon.

Roy had two goals in two games coming into Saturday, the fourth two-game goal-scoring streak of his career.

He came close to getting his first three-game streak in the second period, but Washington G Brent Johnson made the save.

"I just try to go out and keep doing what I've been doing; crashing the net, obviously," Roy said. "The goal in Montreal was a lucky bounce for me. I think that gave me a little confidence.

"I felt pretty good after that, and I approached the last game vs. Calgary with a little more confidence, then I scored another one. And that always helps even though I know part of my role is to go out there and be a physical presence every night."

Roy saw his ice time increase to 9:00 against Calgary on Thursday, his second-highest of the season, and he had 7:23 of ice time Saturday.

Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella said Roy's ice time has increased because of his performance.

"I try to leave it up to the players to decide ice time," Tortorella said.

Jones said he was intent on trying to make the most of his opportunity with the Lightning. The 2005 fourth-round pick had six goals, 13 assists and 23 penalty minutes in 26 games for the Admirals.

"I'd be an idiot if I came here and thought I was just here to fill a roster spot," Jones said. "I want to come here and make something stable and play hard and show them I want to stay here."

Jones' opportunity will have to wait another day, as he saw just nine seconds of ice time against Washington.

CAPS STAY STRONG: Washington came into the game having killed 14 consecutive shorthanded situations, and even the high-powered Lightning power play couldn't crack the Capitals' unit.

The Lightning power play was ranked seventh in the league with a 20.9 percent success rate and was third in the league at home, scoring 25.6 percent of the time.

Tampa Bay had four opportunities with the man advantage Saturday and had five shots on the power play.

NUTS AND BOLTS: Lecavalier's goal and assist gave him 51 points on the season, the most in team history through 33 games. The previous high was 43 points in 33 games by St. Louis last season. ... St. Louis played his 490th game with the Lightning, tying him for fourth all-time with Cory Sarich.

Cristina Ledra

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