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Shootouts have been sore spot for punchless Bolts

The Associated Press

Lightning winger Martin St. Louis was stopped on this shootout attempt against the Thrashers.

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By TONY FABRIZIO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 27, 2009

Updated: 10/27/2009 12:34 am

TAMPA - Given that one out of 7.6 NHL games has been decided by shootouts since the tiebreaker was instituted in 2005-06, a team with playoff aspirations had better win some of them.

The Tampa Bay Lightning, once one of the NHL's better shootout teams, lost 10 of 13 last year and sit 0-3 this year. Had they picked up those three extra points this season, they'd be tied for fifth in the Eastern Conference. Instead, they're tied for 10th.

Part of the problem is goalie Mike Smith hasn't held. But in Saturday's 3-2 loss to Buffalo, the Lightning sent six skaters against Sabres goalie Ryan Miller and failed to score. Smith held through five rounds before getting beat by Tyler Myers.

Despite their considerable offensive skill, Lightning skaters are a combined 0-for-10 in shootout attempts this season.

"You wouldn't think with the players we have, that'd be the way it's going," forward Ryan Malone said. "Those points we're losing, they're valuable points. So we know we have to turn that around next time for sure.

"Maybe we need to do something different. Change the order, or put our helmets on backwards on the bench. A little rally cap might work."

The Lightning are 21-17 all-time in shootouts. That includes a team-best 10-2 in 2006-07, when goalies Johan Holmqvist and Marc Denis stopped 47 of 53 shots, and Brad Richards, Vinny Lecavalier and Marty St. Louis combined for 34 shootout goals.

The last season-plus hasn't gone so well. Smith, who came from the Dallas Stars in 2008 with the reputation as a shootout specialist, has gone 2-10 in the tiebreaker and, before the Buffalo game, had allowed four goals in five attempts this year.

Almost equally perplexing, the Lightning aren't scoring in shootouts with the likes of Lecavalier, St. Louis, Malone, Alex Tanguay and Steven Stamkos.

Lecavalier came close against Buffalo.

"Yeah, it hit (Miller's) glove and hit off the crossbar," Lecavalier said. "But I had him beat. It's easy to say after the fact, but maybe I could have kept it a second longer and gone maybe even more around him and put it in."

A shootout shot is a penalty shot and not much different than a breakaway, in which a skater goes one-on-one with the goalie. But assistant coach Adam Oates, a stellar playmaker during his 22-year NHL career, points out that on a breakaway, players don't have time to plan or think.

Oates, while pointing out that he never participated in a shootout and took only one penalty shot in his career, suggests that Tampa Bay players might forego a planned assault in favor of the improvisation often seen in a breakaway.

"What I see most of the guys do - not just on our team but in general - is have a set shot in mind," Oates said. "Like they're going to come in and make this play. And to me, the best breakaway shooter I ever saw was Mario Lemieux.

"He would hold the puck on his forehand, and he would do whatever the goalie gave him. So it wasn't like he came in there with something he was going to do; it was going to be whatever he saw."

Malone, who is 1-for-7 in his career on shootout attempts, said that's the approach he tries to take.

"If I'm going second or third or later in the shootout, I kind of see how the goalie is playing," he said. "If he's coming out far, you're going to try to go around him. If he's staying back in the net, you're going to try to shoot.

"I don't really have a game plan. I just try to look for an open spot, and if not, try to hold onto it and see if he makes the first move. That's all you can do."

Only with all those extra points on the line, Tampa Bay has to start doing it better.

Reporter Tony Fabrizio can be reached at (813) 259-7994.

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