Lack of scoring becomes major problem for Bolts

Generally by the time December rolls around in the NHL, team identities are clearly defined. It's also the time of season when teams that fall back in the standings often get left behind.

For the Lightning, they have become a team that has problems scoring goals. Should that trend continue as they enter tonight's game against the Blackhawks having won once in eight games, the playoffs could be out of the question before Christmas.

"I think our team this year, we've been pretty inconsistent," defenseman Mattias Ohlund said. "You obviously have to be aware of the fact that we can't afford two more weeks of losing, and everybody needs to realize that. Once you put yourself four or six points behind the playoff race it's awful hard to catch back up, especially at the end of the year when every point is so big. So you have to be in position to be right up there, so I think you don't want to be scared but you have to be aware of the situation."

The perfect remedy to the team's ailments would be to find a way to score more goals.

Tampa Bay enters tonight's game ranked 26th in the league with an average of 2.45 goals per game. It is even worse on the road, as the Lightning average 2.13 goals per game, 29th in the league and only better than Carolina, which entered Saturday's game in Ottawa averaging 1.81 goals on the road.

And of the 31 games Tampa Bay has played this season, the team has scored two or fewer goals 16 times, compiling a record of 1-9-6. In the past seven games, the Lightning have scored more than two goals once, that coming in a 4-0 victory against the New York Islanders on Dec. 5.

For a team loaded with offensive talent up front, doesn't the lack of scoring seem bizarre?

"I don't know if bizarre is the right word, we're just not doing it," captain Vinny Lecavalier said. "We have to get goals. Two or fewer goals isn't what's going to make you win a hockey game. Sometimes it might happen where you score two goals and your goalie plays unbelievable, but you have to score three goals a night in this league to be successful and win some games."

Coach Rick Tocchet might be pulling his hair out at this point, if he had any to pull.

"You wouldn't think (scoring would be a problem), but you know it's becoming clear now that we're becoming ... and it's my job, you talk to people and the scouting report on us is we are a perimeter hockey club, and it drives me nuts," Tocchet said. "So it's on me. I have to get these guys to drive to the net, go to the net. We're really not getting that, on the road especially."

Getting into those dirty areas has been a mantra of Tocchet's all season. If the message isn't getting through 31 games into the season, does the delivery change?

"I can only say from my end that I have to keep pounding it," he said. "When you are struggling, to work on your game in practice, work on those second and third chances. And that's the alarming fact for me, too, is that we don't get those second and third chances around the net, those second and third rebounds, we aren't digging at the puck. It's like we're one and done."

If they keep up the current scoring pace the Lightning will be done, too.