So my brothers last post might not have been too accurate, I think the Bolts may want to make the playoffs. In the last two games the Bolts have scored 10 goals. Now I’m not going to attribute this success to the trade made for Teddy Purcell, but his impact is already visible. In last nights game against the Atlanta Trashers, Teddy had a goal and an assist. From the beginning of the game, Teddy made it apparent that he wanted to score. On a line with Ryan Malone, and Vinny Lecavalier, that might be a real thing for Teddy on a nightly basis. He had a few breakaway chances, and on one of them he was awarded a penalty shot because of the trip from the Nik Antropov. He buried a back handed top shelfer on Hedberg which helped up keep our two goal lead. We came out scoring and never gave up the lead. 6 – 2 final score.
Now on to an WE knew it note, Steven “40 and beyond” Stamkos score his 39th and 40th goals of the season last night. On his first it was the patented Stammer Power play goal from the left circle over the right shoulder of the goalie. Coaches should make goalies watch some tape on that move or something. If he is on the ice, he is going to shoot that shot. Beware! His second goal was a thing of beauty that I was laughing at before he even scored. Stammers beats Shubert into the zone and then has his way with Hedberg.
Other notes:
1. Watch those highlights, nice goals from Vinny, Marty, and SCZCZCCZZHERUra who was in for Zenon who was scratched on the night.
2. Don’t mess with our team. After Downie smashed someone in front of the net and Marty was blindsided, all hell broke loose. Stammers was the first in there to get some action, followed by Matty Walker, and Downie who went absolutely psychotic and tried to fight everyone, including the Refs.
3. Antero Niittymaki is now 17-0-0 all time against the Thrashers
4. We might have 2 legit scoring lines now
5. Barry Melrose can go kick rocks. Cut your damn hair.
The Bolts lost last night 5-4 to the Washington Capitals at the Verizon Center. With the loss the Bolts move 3 points out of the 8th playoff spot, with 19 games remaining.
The game was very chippy, due to the last meeting between the two teams at the St Pete Times Forum, but surprisingly didn’t feature any fighting majors.
In the first period, Eric Fehr for the Caps and Steve Downie both scored their 16th goals of the season. Downie extended his point streak to 9 games, second only to Steven Stamkos on the team. It looked like the game was going to slip away in the 2nd with two early goals by Mike Knuble to make the score 3 to 1. Shortly after Knuble’s second goal though, Vincent Lecavalier buried one in top left corner of the net to make the game 3 to 2.
The third period was an exciting one with 4 goals in the last 10 minutes of the game. Unfortunately for the Bolts, two of those were by the Caps. New acquisition Scott Walker scored on a backhander by starter Mike Smith. Vinny then proceeded to get a great breakaway pas from Teddy Purcell, the Bolts newest acquisition to make the score 4 to 3. Steven Stamkos scored 1 minute later to tie the game on his 38th goal of the year, but not even 30 seconds later, Mike Smith allowed an awful goal by Scott Walker (2nd of the night) to make the score 5-4. The Bolts had a few good chances with 1 minute left and Mike Smith off the ice, but we couldn’t put one between the pipes.
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Smitty started for the first time since February 14th.
Stammers extended his point streak to 15 games, during which he has 26 points, 13 of them for goals.
Kurtis Foster’s 23rd assist put him at 25th in scoring in the NHL amongst defenseman. Him and Downie are two of the feel good stories of the season for the Bolts.
Teddy Purcell played on line 2 with Vincent Lecavalier and Ryan Malone.
I hate Barry Melrose and Alex Tanguay, just wanted to mention that.
After trading Jeff Halpern yesterday, I took a look at the NHL stats for Teddy Purcell, and they seemed to be quite modest at best. After reading a few more articles and pieces on Purcell, it became clear that he had way more upside then his limited stat total in LA seemed to indicate. THN.com loved the move for the Bolts. Hockeysfuture gives him a prospect grade of a 7 which they define as: Second line forward / No. 3-4 defenseman / journeyman No. 1 goaltender — players not quite good enough to play on the top line or pairing on a regular basis, but still possessing enough talent to contribute offensively, defend with some authority, or competently play the goaltender’s position for long stretches. Think Andrew Cassels, Jason Arnott, Darryl Sydor, Keith Carney, Dwayne Roloson, Jeff Hackett.
Purcell is a tall, lanky forward who is blessed with great hands. While he is better known as a playmaker, Purcell has also demonstrated that he can be a terrific goal scorer as well. He is very deft in his stick-work and has the ability to make things happen every time he is on the ice. Purcell is smart, creative, opportunistic, and has a knack for scoring timely goals. He has good speed and moves quite well with the puck. He can also maneuver his way through traffic pretty well too. Purcell possesses tremendous hockey sense and has great poise and patience with the puck. He has a great shot with a very quick release. While Purcell is not an overly physical player, he won’t shy away from delivering a check when necessary. Two areas where he showed continual improvement were in his acceleration and willingness to shoot the puck more, both of which greatly benefited his Maine Black Bears team. Purcell’s most glaring weakness his is lack of size and strength, which should increase with continued development.
Future
Purcell already has top six forward skills but needs to skate with a bit more confidence to establish himself as a an NHL forward.
Just got an update that the Bolts have moved Jeff Halpern to the Los Angeles Kings for forward Teddy Purcell and a 3rd round pick.
Let’s hope that Mike Smith turns into our goaltender of the future because the trade that sent Brad Richards to the Stars and landed us Jussi Jokinen (who we inexplicably put on waivers last year), Jeff Halpern and Mike Smith doesn’t look so good now. Smith and a 3rd round pick are all we have to show for that trade, and Richards is in the top 10 in the league in scoring.
Purcell hasn’t produced much at the NHL level, netting only 25 points in 91 games played. He has played in 41 games this season and totaled 6 points and a -1.
The Bolts lost last night to the Philadelphia Flyers 7-2 in a game that I would have considered a must win for the Bolts. Only 2 of our remaining 20 games are against Western Conference opponents, and out of those 18 games, 9 are against teams that we are fighting for playoff spots against, and that doesn’t count last nights ass kicking. With 9 teams within 12 points of each other (from 6th to 14th in the East) every game is a must win, but those games against teams that are we are fighting with are even more important.
“I don’t think the score is an indication of the way the game went,” Lightning forward Martin St. Louissaid. “Undisciplined in terms of taking penalties. A couple I thought were borderline, but that’s the way the game is. Sometimes they go against you.”
The game was a good tilt until the refs decided in the third period that they would dictate the outcome of the game. A goalie interference call against Vincent Lecavalier at the 6:16 mark of the third period was the call that really irked the fans, and started the final onslaught for the Flyers. Vinny was cross checked into the goalie, and instead of making the right call against the Flyers, the refs tagged Vinny with a minor. The Flyers then proceeded to score 3 goals in the next 8 minutes.
Antero Niittymaki was pulled after the 6th goal, leading the way for Mike Smith who proceeded to allow a great shorthanded goal by Jeff Carter. I would think that we will probably see Mike Smith for the remaining 20 games of the season. We rode out Niitty’s hot streak, but its clearly over, as he has been the starter for all four straight losses the Lightning have suffered. The Bolts need to get an idea of what we have for the future in Mike Smith. We’re still not really sure if he is our goaltender of the future and with Niitty’s hot streak over, it’s time to find out.
I have three positives from last night. One, Stammer’s is a beast, two, Steve Downie is a joy to watch. Stammer’s had 8 shots and 2 goals to bring his season total to 37. Our preseason prediction of 40 is going to be easily attained by Stammers. Steve Downie has points in 8 straight games, and provided Stammers with a gorgeous pass on his 2nd goal. Downie plays his ass off, is becoming more and more effective offensively and leads the team in +/-. Finally, it’s about time Tocchet put Ryan Malone on Vinny’s line. The team needs two stable lines, and with Bugs, Vinny and Halp on one line, and Downie, Marty and Stammers on the 2nd, we now have two potent lines.
