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Lightning Learning To Hold Leads

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 15, 2008

Updated: 01/14/2008 11:33 pm

BRANDON - Skating from post-to-post with his head bouncing from side-to-side like he was sitting at Centre Court at Wimbledon, Johan Holmqvist was under siege.

The Lightning goaltender did his best to withstand a Florida barrage in the final five minutes Saturday in which a dominating Panthers offense fired seven shots on goal - two of which found the back of the net - and three others that were blocked by Tampa Bay players.

Before that surge, the Lightning had held the Panthers dormant for 35 minutes, limiting them to 10 shots on goal from the start of the second period until the 14:59 mark of the third period - when the Panthers scored their second goal to make it 4-2.

That goal acted like the release of the Tasmanian Devil inside a 4-by-6 glass house for the game's final five minutes. Florida had five of its 11 scoring chances in that span, which nearly led to a total Lightning meltdown as the Panthers made it a one-goal game with 89 seconds left.

For a team that has suffered its share of losses the past month and many of them coming from third-period collapses, just getting out of the game with the two points for the victory in regulation was a successful lesson in trying to remember how to win games instead of trying not to lose.

"There have been some games where when something goes bad, and it's a game of momentum and a game of bounces, but as soon as something would go bad or they score a goal, we would almost go, 'oh, no,' and get that kind of a deer-in-the-headlights look," defenseman Shane O'Brien said.

In two of the past three games, however, Tampa Bay has been able to survive the tense moments to record victories despite the helter-skelter finishes. It's a process for a team with a youthful blue line and a handful of new faces trying to learn to win instead of not lose.

The Lightning's losing ways the past month have dropped them to the bottom of the conference standings, and the team's confidence has chipped down to a point where they Bolts are seemingly behind before the puck drops.

"To me it's a swagger," Lightning coach John Tortorella said. "You go into buildings and feel good about yourself and you can sense it about your team and they have the right kind of swagger as far as going in knowing they are going to win and they are going to compete. We still have, because we have been chipped down because of the inconsistencies this year, have lost that a little bit. I think we are beginning to regain it but we certainly haven't got to the level of where we need to be."

To help regain some of that, Tortorella and associate coach Mike Sullivan have begun to reel in the team's defensemen a bit. By making some adjustments through the neutral zone, where the defensemen are less aggressive through the middle of the ice, the Lightning have drastically cut down on the odd-man rushes against and reduced the number of scoring chances for the opposition.

"We are leaving ourselves between the puck and the net more and making the wingers come through, and that gives us a better opportunity on the defensive side for a longer period of time," defenseman Brad Lukowich said. "The guys are getting more comfortable with it, the coaches are still jamming it down our throats and once we finally get it to the point where we need to be, we'll be able to protect those leads."

The brunt of the blame certainly isn't being placed on a young defense, but simplifying things has allowed the team to regain some form of confidence, even if protecting leads still looks like an adventure in chaos.

"We went out there to win that game Saturday and played that third period to win, not just to try to get through it. Then the last five minutes come, we let in that second goal, and you can see us get a little apprehensive," Tortorella said. "We are getting better at it. I thought we were much better throughout that third period until the final five minutes. Hopefully we can get a few more minutes out of it and try to solve it."

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

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