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Scoring Woes Magnify Errors

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 5, 2008

TAMPA - Mistake-free hockey is a concept only devised in theory.

But offensively-challenged times almost make it feel like it has to be practiced.

The Lightning played a near-perfect game against one of the top teams in the league on Thursday, only to again come out on the wrong end of the scoreboard against the Bruins.

Tampa Bay's anemic offense struck quickly 81 seconds into the game, but the Lightning failed to generate any more goals, as they have done all season averaging just over two goals a game. When that happens, mistakes that often occur throughout a game find a way to be costly.

"We had no margin for error, it's like we've got to play so perfect and obviously in this game you can't play perfect to win," Lightning interim coach Rick Tocchet said.

A poor clearing attempt by Steve Eminger led to Vinny Lecavalier leaving the zone too soon and allowed Phil Kessel to find a wide-open slot for a tying goal. And Mark Recchi's turnover just inside the offensive blue line while on the power play led to David Krejci's shorthanded goal at 8:17 of the third to stand as the game-winner.

Certainly, there were other mistakes made through the course of the game by both teams, but when a team is in a season-long scoring slump, the microscope tends to find those small details that lead to losses.

"When you lose, those things are magnified, for sure," said Lecavalier, who had a game-high seven shots on goal and became the franchise leader in assists with 340.

BACK IN FRONT: Barry Melrose, who was fired as Lightning coach on Nov. 14, will return to ESPN as an analyst beginning Jan. 1. He will join current hockey analyst Matthew Barnaby, who was brought in to replace Melrose.

"I am very, very excited about coming back home to ESPN, where I have had so many great years," Melrose said in a statement. "I look forward to analyzing people being fired rather than being the guy fired."

FREQUENT FLIER: D Matt Smaby made his season debut with the Lightning on Thursday after being recalled from AHL Norfolk earlier in the day. It's the second time in a week that Smaby has been called up to the team, and he has logged plenty of miles in between.

Smaby was called up on Thanksgiving Day and flew from Norfolk, Va., to Tampa just in time to jump on the Lightning charter flight to Minneapolis. After being a healthy scratch, Smaby flew from Minnesota back to Norfolk to join the Admirals.

After busing to Albany, N.Y., where the Admirals played on Wednesday, Smaby jumped on a plane that night to fly to Tampa after being recalled. His reward when he arrived Wednesday night? His luggage was still in Atlanta and didn't arrive until just before Thursday's morning skate ended.

NUTS AND BOLTS: D Mike Lundin was a healthy scratch. ... The Lightning's two prospects - D Kevin Quick and C Chris Lawrence - who were playing with the team's ECHL affiliate in Augusta, Ga., before the franchise halted operations this week, have been reassigned to AHL Norfolk. ... RW Radim Vrbata was scratched for the second consecutive game, although Tocchet said Vrbata has a slight groin issue. ... LW Evgeny Artyukhin was a healthy scratch. ... According to Nielsen reports, Tampa Bay's television ratings this season are up 25 percent, the eighth-largest increase in the league. ... Tampa Bay fell to 0-1-3 this season when tied after the second period. ... Boston is 6-1-2 this season when allowing the first goal.

Erik Erlendsson

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