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Lightning Look For Greater Net Presence

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Lightning coach Rick Tocchet is hoping his offensive stars like Vinny Lecavalier can get more goals by staying close to the net.

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By TONY FABRIZIO

afabrizio@tampatrib.com

Published: December 6, 2008

Updated: 12/06/2008 02:15 am

TAMPA - Former Lightning captain Dave Andreychuk figures that 80 percent of his 683 goals during 24 years came from being in front of the net when opportunity availed itself.

"I think I have, like, maybe two slap-shot goals in my life," he said with a chuckle Friday.

"Most of them were small little rebounds, a pass from behind the net, deflections. Definitely, a majority of my goals were from there."

There isn't a statistical column in the NHL for net presence, but it's something Tampa Bay interim coach Rick Tocchet has categorized as he tries to get his goal-starved team to start lighting the lamp more often.

Despite an abundance of talent, the Lightning rank last in the NHL in scoring at 2.24 goals per game entering tonight's home game vs. Buffalo.

Tocchet has preached net presence since taking over for Barry Melrose on Nov. 16, and he's paying close attention to it on video study. He has vowed to bench players who aren't going to the net.

"I don't want a perimeter hockey club ...," he said recently. "Teams are coming into our building, and they're getting in front of our goalie's face a lot. I don't see the same desperation from us on a consistent basis."

Players have been receptive, with several acknowledging the need to be around the net - but no one directly attributed the lack of net presence to, say, the team's 29th-ranked home power play.

"You score goals by going to the net," said Marty St. Louis, who was in the right spot to score Tampa Bay's lone goal in a 3-1 loss to Boston on Thursday. "You've got to go where the puck's going, and usually it's going to the net. It's got to be a state of mind."

Right wing Mark Recchi said the mind-set should be to drive to the net and stay there.

"Get there and create traffic, and if you don't score, at least you're creating something," he said. "You're creating some havoc, bothering the goalie, whatever. That's where you score the ugly goals that are going to become much more important as the year goes on, because it gets harder to score."

Center Vinny Prospal is quick to name Andreychuk as the prime example of a player "just being able to stand in front of the net and hang around for rebounds." He suggests that's how Andreychuk was able to play so long.

Andreychuk agrees.

"I worked on it a lot, too," he said. "First, you have to decide that you're going to go to the front of net, because it's not always pretty, and second, it's right positioning, non-stop. I worked with my defensemen on tipping pucks and getting used to each guy that was shooting. There's obviously some luck involved when the puck bounces to you, but at other times, you're in the right spot and you have good positioning with the defensemen up front."

Tocchet was a physical player who amassed almost 3,000 penalty minutes during his 18-year NHL career. He notes that players who camped in front of the net in his day paid a price because of the cross checking and other punishment defenders were allowed to exact on attackers.

With today's anti-obstruction rules, he says, players should want to crash the net.

"Like when you watch the defending champion Detroit Red Wings," he said. "You see four players around the perimeter of the net. We don't want to see one lightning bolt, we want to see three at least."

Said Andreychuk, "We can talk about having to get to the net, but first and foremost you have to have the puck in the other team's zone. Then you have to make the effort to try to get to the front of the net.

"It's obvious there are a lot of goals that are up for grabs right there. And if you're not there, you're not going to get those goals."

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