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Trouble Finds Carle

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 12, 2008

TAMPA - Matt Carle was the victim of bad circumstance on Saturday.

The defenseman logged just over 30 minutes of ice time, but he was beaten to a loose puck on the winning goal in overtime and was in the penalty box for the first two Carolina power-play goals, including the first with 8.7 seconds left in the second period.

"I saw the loose puck and I just tried to jump on it," Carle said of the play in overtime. "I need to get to it and make sure to get it in deep."

Tampa Bay coach Barry Melrose didn't place blame on Carle for how things transpired, particularly on the game-winner.

"Matt was trying to make a play, he was trying to do something," Melrose said. "For most of the third period, nobody wanted the puck, at least he was trying to do something, so there's a lot more blame to throw around than just on Matty Carle."

LOW TURNOUT: The announced crowd of 18,552 was the lowest attendance for a home opener since Oct. 4, 1998, when 11,753 showed up for a loss to the New York Islanders, a game that was started by G Darren Puppa.

Co-owner Oren Koules said there wasn't any concern over a less-than-sellout crowd.

"The Tampa Bay Rays are in the playoffs," Koules said. "The crowd was great."

KRAJICEK'S JOURNEY: New Lightning D Lukas Krajicek arrived in Tampa on Saturday afternoon after flying all day from Vancouver, where he was stuck for three days while awaiting immigration issues to be cleared up.

The 25-year-old jumped right in and played 15 minutes, 26 seconds, including 1:32 on the power play.

"For a guy that flew all day coming from Vancouver, I thought he was fine," Melrose said. "You can see he's a good skater and has poise with the puck, and hopefully he's a guy who can help us on the power play."

ROTATION SET: With the Lightning encountering a light schedule of games in October, Melrose said he expects to get plenty of time for both goaltenders, Mike Smith and Olie Kolzig. Smith started Saturday, but there's a good chance Kolzig will start Thursday against the New York Islanders.

"It's hard to get one guy going two games in a row and then the other guys sits for two weeks, so that's not conducive to anybody," Melrose said.

Erik Erlendsson

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