Rookie Wright gets night off to regroup

Rookie C James Wright experienced another first in his young career Wednesday when he sat out his first game as a healthy scratch.

The 19-year-old, who was a surprise when he made the team out of training camp, had appeared in every game this season before Wednesday, scoring a pair of goals and adding five points in 36 games. But in the past three games, Wright's ice time has dipped below 10 minutes a night, and he hasn't recorded a point since Nov. 27.

"I think he's flattened out a little bit the past couple of games, and he needs time to be with (assistant coaches) Adam Oates and Wes Walz for some teaching time and to take a step back," Lightning head coach Rick Tocchet said.

Life in the NHL can be a grueling process, with games sometimes every other night for weeks at a time. That's a big difference from juniors, where games are played primarily on weekends.

"It's a different schedule with more games condensed into less time, and so far I think it's going fairly well and physically I feel OK," Wright said. "I know that I can take from this that I know I can play better, so I just have look at this like they are not dissing me in any way, someone has to sit out and (this time) it's me."

Tocchet said it's a matter of reining Wright back as opposed to pushing him to play harder.

"He's actually working so hard that he's got to take a step back," Tocchet said. "But he'll be fine, he'll be back in, he's going to be a good hockey player."

Where's the production?

On the surface, the seven goals scored by Marty St. Louis might mean the former league MVP is having a poor year. But entering Wednesday, the 2004 scoring champion was tied for second in the league with 33 assists.

"He's just always around the puck, and at his size he amazes me with how he comes up with loose pucks," Tocchet said.

But shouldn't St. Louis, a five-time 30-goal scorer, have more than seven goals nearly halfway into the season?

"He's had so many breakaways and prime scoring chances, he's just snake-bitten," Tocchet said.

For the honor

Several nations will announce rosters for February's Winter Games in the next week, and the United States is scheduled to be the final country to name its team Jan. 1.

Tampa Bay has a handful of players under consideration to represent their countries, including Vinny Lecavalier, Steven Stamkos and St. Louis for Canada; Victor Hedman and Mattias Ohlund for Sweden; Antero Nittyymaki for Finland and Ryan Malone for the USA.

While most coaches might prefer players get the two-week rest during the Olympic break, Tocchet said playing for your country is special.

"As a coach, yeah, you'd like to see those guys get rest, but it's such a high honor I hope our guys get picked," he said. "To represent your country in the Olympics, that's pretty amazing."

Nuts and bolts

D Matt Walker missed his second consecutive game with an undisclosed lower-body injury, which could keep him out up to another week, Tocchet said. ... D Ohlund appeared in his 800th career game. ... LW Todd Fedoruk (lower body) and C Jeff Halpern (lower body) left the game in the first period and did not return.

Erik Erlendsson