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Karsums Shows Steady Progress

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 5, 2009

UNIONDALE, N.Y. - RW Martins Karsums, part of a trade-deadline day swap with the Boston Bruins, was thrilled Friday night when he scored his first career NHL goal late in the third period to send the game into overtime.

"It was an unbelievable feeling for me," he said. "I think it's been like two months since I scored a goal, and to help tie the game up and scoring against Martin Brodeur, that's an even bigger bonus."

In scoring the goal, Karsums continued a slow but steady improvement since he arrived from the Bruins last month. And the manner in which he scored the goal had the coaching staff praising his effort.

Karsums turned his back inside the offensive blue line to protect the puck, hit a trailing Lukas Krajicek across the ice before making a beeline for the front of the net, where he picked up a loose puck and put it into an open net.

"What he did is exactly the plays that I'm looking for out of players. ... That's the stuff we are just craving for on this team and we don't get it very often. That's the exact play that I'm looking for on a consistent basis from our team," Lightning interim coach Rick Tocchet said.

"I've seen the past two or three games, it's not a huge jump, but you can see he's starting to get a little more comfortable. He's starting to do the little things that we need, and this is a big summer for him."

Karsums, who is expected to represent Latvia at the World Championships this month, said he's started to feel his game improve in the past couple of weeks.

"I think maybe the first five or 10 games here I really struggled with the systems and getting to know guys on the ice," he said. "But the last couple of games, I've been playing hard and trying to show the coaching staff what I can do."

REINFORCEMENTS: With D Josef Melichar (lower body) and Richard Petiot (shoulder) along with LW Ryan Craig (lower body) still out, the Lightning called up C Zenon Knopka and D Vladimir Mihalik from AHL Norfolk on Saturday to fill out a healthy 20-man lineup.

Tampa Bay has used a league-high 49 players this season.

RECORD SETTERS: According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 21 defensemen used by Tampa Bay this season is a league record. Based on research by Elias, the 1997-98 Edmonton Oilers have the next highest number of defensemen used in a season at 18.

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