TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Bolts Beat: Black Cloud Has Hovered Over Lightning All Season

ADVERTISEMENT

By ERIK ERLENDSSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 11, 2008

TAMPA - Have you ever experienced one of those days when it just seems like nothing can go right and a black cloud appears to be following you around?

It might start when you climb into your car, and five minutes into the commute, coffee spills onto your pants right as you hit that morning rush-hour traffic. That leads to being late to the office and missing that 9 a.m. meeting. You might walk in, trying to hide your head, then as you sit down, you hear a riiiiiiiiip coming from the general direction of the seam in your pants.

Lunchtime might mean mustard on your tie followed by an off-the-cuff comment to a colleague in which you realize you just stuck your foot in your mouth. The drive home finds an accident blocking two lanes on the highway, resulting in a missed dinner with the family at the table. By this time a pain begins to develop in your forehead that gradually engulfs your brain and keeps you up well past midnight.

Now imagine that lasted in some form or another for five months (and counting).

That could about sum up the 2007-08 Lightning season. Nothing just seems to go right and there certainly has been something hanging around the team that has resulted in bad karma.

It's been all downhill since the August announcement of a purchase agreement to sell the franchise to Absolute Hockey. Here's a quick recap since the initial news conference announcement:

September - A skate falls off its hook and lands on the left wrist of defenseman Dan Boyle, severing three tendons in his wrist leading to surgery and knocking a key part of the team out of action for an extended period of time.

October - Team starts 5-0-1 on home ice, but that is countered by an 0-5 road record where the Lightning were outscored 28-10.

November - Boyle returns only to be shut down after four games when an MRI reveals only one of his tendons healed properly. A second surgery was performed that would keep Boyle out until the All-Star break. ... A bombshell is dropped on the proposed sale of the team when a lawsuit is filed by Absolute against Oren Koules and OK Hockey for breach-of-contract issues.

December - The league has to step in when Commissioner Gary Bettman arbitrates a settlement between the two ownership groups that leads to a buyout of Absolute by Koules, paving the way for Koules to negotiate a deal. ... On the ice, the team closes out the month on a 2-8-1 stretch that drops Tampa Bay to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.

January - Tampa Bay turned its fortunes around on the road with a 4-1-2 record, but home ice turned tumultuous with just two wins in six games, keeping the team at the bottom of the conference standings.

February - In the ever-turning saga of the ownership situation, the bank that was to finance Koules' bid pulls out of the sports lending business following a trading scandal that cost the bank more than $7 billion. This came just as a purchase agreement was set to be announced. ... Despite a six-game road winning streak that vaulted the Lightning back into the playoff picture, the team remains in last place in the conference and is just one point ahead of Los Angeles for last place in the league.

It's been that kind of year for the Lightning and it started before the season even began. Don't get me wrong, I would trade this season for the Cup season any day of the week and twice on Monday. I think just about anybody would.

But it doesn't make this year easy to handle. That's why it's time to just say "uncle" on the season. I know, they are only seven points out of the division lead, but that climb is a lot higher than it seems with 26 games left in the season. To get to 92 points - the final number the eight seed has earned the past two seasons - Tampa Bay needs to earn 40 out of the possible 52 points still available. And even though division leader Washington is on pace to earn only 85 points, with so many division games remaining, that point pace will increase as everybody in the Southeast plays each other.

It's nice that there remains a carrot to grab for, despite how badly things have gone this season. Yet, it's time to be realistic and move forward while hoping there are no more stumbling blocks on the road to next season.

THE LIGHTNING REPORT: This week's report debuts tonight on Sun Sports at 6:30 and re-airs at midnight and Tuesday morning at 11. Highlights include a feature on locker room characters and what they mean to a team; a look back at Ken Dryden's Conn Smythe performance as a rookie with Montreal; a feature on a youth team that represented the Lightning in Atlanta at the All-Star Game; and an update on Tampa Bay's minor-league affiliates.

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

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT