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Lightning Are Planning To Ride Red Hot Holmqvist

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By CARTER GADDIS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 22, 2008

Updated: 01/22/2008 12:12 am

BRANDON - There might come a day in the not-so-distant future when the Lightning's ongoing evaluation of Karri Ramo's potential to become a No. 1 goalie in the NHL will begin to mean more than the team's position in the Southeast Division standings.

But that day is not today.

This day still belongs to Johan Holmqvist, whose back-to-back shutouts Friday and Saturday against the Penguins and Senators earned him the league's No. 2 star of the week, as well as a third consecutive start tonight against the Edmonton Oilers at the St. Pete Times Forum.

It also earned Holmqvist, who began the season as the Lightning's undisputed starter, a chance to prove that the three weeks he spent backing up Ramo was time well spent.

"I like to play. I like to play all the time," Holmqvist said after practice Monday at the Ice Sports Forum. "But Karri came in here and played real well. The only thing I could do there was just try to get back. I had some rough games before that, so I knew I had to get back. Maybe it was a good thing for me to not play every night. I felt good when I got the chance to play again."

Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella confirmed Monday that Ramo still will get the chance to play, regardless of in which direction the Lightning's playoff chase goes in the coming weeks.

"But when you have a goaltender that - even before the last two games, you can see Homer's confidence start coming back a little bit - I'm certainly not going to take him out of the net for evaluation of Ramo," Tortorella said. "We're an organization that's kind of in-between there, as far as evaluating what we have, what we're going to do. But also, the way the league has become, you're still in the hunt."

The Lightning remain last out of 15 teams in the Eastern Conference, but with nine points in their past seven games, they believe they have played their way back into the race after a dismal December and early January.

One reason for what could be the start of a significant turnaround has been Tortorella's decision to place a stronger emphasis on defending the neutral zone. Not a trap, he's quick to point out, but less "pinching" into the opposing zone by defensemen and a greater commitment to limiting odd-man rushes the other way.

While the original reason for the defensive adjustment was to help protect a young defense corps playing without injured puck-mover Dan Boyle, the goalies have benefited, as well.

"I think it's a team thing," Tortorella said. "I do not want to disregard how Holmqvist has played, either, but our team has played pretty well in front of him. And it all works off one another. You play off your goalie. And if there's one organization that understands that, it's us and some of the things we've gone through here over the past few years. One hand washes the other. But I think it's helped our team, not just our goaltending, but a young 'D,' in just simplifying things in the neutral zone."

Holmqvist was 13-12-3 with a 3.02 goals-against average and a .888 save percentage when Ramo essentially took over as the starter on Dec. 20. It was about that time the team's defensive adjustment was made.

But Holmqvist played only twice from Dec. 20-Jan. 11. During that time, he worked a lot with goaltending coach Jeff Reese on fundamentals and tried to regain his focus.

"A lot of small details," Holmqvist said. "Make sure you're square, working on positioning. All kinds of things like that we were working on, everything from skating to puck handling, everything. When you play a lot, you don't really have enough time to practice the small things."

He got the chance to put those "small" things to practical use on Jan. 12 against the Panthers, when he stopped 27 of 30 shots and earned his first victory in five weeks. That was an indication to Tortorella that Holmqvist's confidence was on the rebound.

Another, more emphatic indication came Friday and Saturday, when Holmqvist stopped all 52 shots he saw against Pittsburgh and Ottawa - including a number of tough saves, such as the one Saturday on a shot by Senators defenseman Chris Phillips on a two-on-one, short-handed breakaway early in the second period with the Lightning leading, 1-0.

For now, then, the job is once again Holmqvist's to lose. The way the Lightning figure it, the longer Ramo's evaluation takes a back seat to making a playoff push, the better.

"So, I'm not selling out here, either," Tortorella said. "We're making decisions on winning hockey games."

Reporter Carter Gaddis can be reached at (813) 259-8291 or igaddis@tampatrib.com.

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