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It's Team Toughness

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 28, 2007

DETROIT - Gloves drop down, fans stand up and two guys on skates square off.

It's the image that immediately comes to mind when the phrase 'team toughness' is mentioned in NHL circles. Perhaps the thought of the Broad Street Bullies is conjured up, those intimidating Philadelphia teams that won back-to-back titles in 1974 and 1975 with the likes of Dave Schultz.

But when Tampa Bay went about the task of trying to re-identify itself as a tough team to play against, it had nothing to do with finding players who are more likely to spend more time picking up their gloves off the ice than skating on it.

'It actually has very little to do with fighting,' Lightning coach John Tortorella said of defining team toughness. 'The way we talk about it is being a harder team to play against, it's a team toughness. Everybody equates team toughness with fighting, but that's not what it's about. It's protecting the puck in your end zone when you are being pinched by the opposing team and not giving it back to them while waiting for a better play to come along.

'It's getting on to a puck offensively and winning that battle, winning the battles defensively, neutral zone loose pucks that are 10 feet away with both players going for it, you need to come up with that puck to determine what end you are going to play in.'

The occasional fight, however, is part of that equation, though, right?

'It does come into protecting one another and that is part of it,' Tortorella said.

But it's only a minimal part as Tortorella points out, with other factors such as taking a hit to make a play or taking the extra stride to finish a check.

While the headliners are always going to get their pictures on the front page of the newspapers, it takes everybody on the ice to win games. That's where the 'team' comes into the equation with everybody on the ice putting forth the effort each night on each shift.

'It's about sticking together and being disciplined,' right wing Andre Roy said. 'We have the type of guys here who can do that. Even somebody like Marty St. Louis, who is going to play hard every shift, who is not afraid to go into a corner and take the hit.'

The return of Roy, who was with the team in 2004 and was claimed on re-entry waivers from Pittsburgh last season, the maturation of Nick Tarnasky, the reacquiring of Chris Gratton and the trade acquisitions of Shane O'Brien and Jason Ward have helped fine tune what it means to be a tough team to play against. All are players who can contribute in their role and will give their full effort whenever their number is called upon.

'The word Tortorella uses a lot when he talks to us is compete, to be tough to play against by winning the battles,' O'Brien said.

And just because somebody may not be physically imposing or has an intimidating personality doesn't mean they can't play tough.

'I look at Andreas Karlsson, somebody you might not think about when talking about toughness, but he has developed himself in that's how he knows he has to play, the only way he is going to be in the lineup is being more aggressive in certain areas and playing hard on the puck,' Tortorella said. 'Our top guys have it, O'Brien on the blue line, Brad Lukowich on the blue line as somebody who will hack and whack. So I think you group all that together and I think everybody feels more comfortable on the ice because they are going go have some backing.

'So that's what we are trying to get to, more of a North American game.'

Reporter Erik Erlendsson can be reached at (813) 259-7835 or eerlendsson@tampatrib.com.

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