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Tampa Bay Lightning Toughens Up Roster, Readies for Avalanche Assault

By Angelo Resciniti

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The promotion was announced quietly on Friday, just a little blurb on the Tampa Bay Lightning official home page. “The Tampa Bay Lightning have recalled defenseman Luke Witkowski from the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League today, vice president and general manager Steve Yzerman announced.”

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Fans of the Bolts have been screaming, pleading, begging, and yes, even whining, for the team to get tougher, rougher, and a lot more unpleasant to play against.

The cries reached a crescendo after the Boston Bruins, led by cheap shot giant Zdeno Chara, mauled the Lightning on Tuesday night. The Bruins won the game, too, but what Bolts fanatics most remember is Chara manhandling the gutsy but outgunned Cedric Paquette, the last man willing to stand up to the man-mountain. Manhandling him not once, but twice. And nobody in Lightning blue had Paquette’s back.

The prayers have been answered, and Luke Witkowski will be on the roster for the Bolts on Saturday evening when they host the Colorado Avalanche at the Amalie Arena. The puck will drop just after 7 p.m. The gloves will probably drop not long after.

Why Witkowski?

“Honey, I’m tougher than the rest.”

                          — Bruce Springsteen

“Saturday night’s alright for fighting,
Get a little action in.”

                                              — Elton John

The 24-year-old Witkowski led the Syracuse Crunch in penalty minutes last season with 204. He has already amassed 75 this year. Brenden Morrow leads the Lightning with all of 43 minutes in the box. Witkowski showed the Lightning he was willing to hit anything that moved during preseason action before this campaign.

He thought he earned a spot on the team. He was the last man sent down. Now he’s back. And more than a little ill-humored. He did not take being sent back to the minors real well. He will show the Avs that he intends to stay this time.

And why now?

The Boston Massacre, that’s why. Because bruising defenseman Radko Gudas is finished for the rest of the regular season as he recovers from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. One tough guy down. And because burgeoning star blueliner Victor Hedman was injured against the Philadelphia Flyers, missed the Boston and Edmonton games since, and might be out until after the all-star break (even though he did skate with the team at Friday morning’s practice). Two tough guys down.

Oh, and because Colorado forward and alternate captain Cody McLeod, all 6-feet-2 and 210-pounds of him, is tied for the NHL lead with nine fights this season and tied for second in the league in total penalty minutes with 93 minutes in the sin bin. Morrow’s 43 minutes put him at about 50th in the league.

So in this corner is Luke Witkowski, 6-feet-2 and 200 pounds. Afraid of nothing, just like Paquette. Only now Paquette has company. Finally.

What did Lightning coach Jon Cooper say about Paquette going solo, without benefit of teammate backup, against Mt. Kilimanchara the other night?

“I think we could have responded better…’’ said Coop in the week’s biggest understatement.

And that’s why Witkowski is here for Saturday’s game, and maybe more. Not necessarily to fight, but at least to respond to physical play with some physical play from the good guys.

The Lightning squad is built around speed and skill and persistence and smarts — and all of those talents can be knocked out out whack with opponents smacking the Bolts early and often. The Capitals and Bruins have already made a beat-down part of a winning strategy this season. No reason why the Avalanche won’t try as well.

Colorado comes into Saturday’s game, the first of a home-and-home season series with Tampa Bay, with a 19-7-9 record and 47 points in the tough Central Division of the Western Conference. If the season ended today the Avs would miss the playoffs by the narrowest of margins — 3 points — so they will be playing hard to close the gap.

This is the 4th game of a five-game road trip for the Avs. They lost to Washington and Carolina before beating the Florida Panthers, 4-2, on Thursday night. They head on to St. Louis before returning to the Rocky Mountain State.

Ex-Bolt forward Alex Tanguay leads Colorado in scoring with 13 goals and 18 assists for 31 points. Lightning nemesis Jarome Iginla is next with 30 points. Hockey fans might also remember Lightning-killer (when with Philly and Montreal) Daniel Briere and recognize the early success of teenage phenom Nathan MacKinnon. With captain Gabriel Landeskog, ex-Pen Max Talbot, and defensive all-star Erik Johnson, the Avs are built to go deep. They just have to make the playoffs first. Cody McLeod plans to give them a fighting chance.

Colorado goaltender Semyon Varlamov has an 11-9-5 record so far this season with a 2.71 GAA and .922 save percentage, and three shutouts. He was named the NHL’s “Second Star” last week, mostly due to the 54-save, 2-0 shutout he threw at the Chicago Blackhawks before this current road trip.

Despite the recent soft play and disappointing losses to Philly and Boston earlier this week, the Lightning do go into Saturday’s game off a big come-from behind 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday. The victory marked the first time all season the Bolts won a game when trailing entering the third period.

Tampa Bay remains in the lead in the entire Eastern Conference with a nifty 28-14-4 record and 60 points. Only Nashville and Anaheim in the Western Conference have more points than the Bolts, at 62.

Captain Steven Stamkos is on a lava-hot scoring streak with six goals in the last six games. His 26 goals for the season tie him with fellow snipers Tyler Seguin and Rick Nash for the top spot in the NHL. Tyler Johnson, who surprisingly recovered  sufficiently from his lower body injury to not only skate but set up the tying and winning goals on Thursday, remains 3rd in the NHL in scoring with 48 points. Johnson and The Triplets linemates Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat hold three of the top five plus-minus ratings in the league.

Ben Bishop, who continues to play big in spurts, is 5th among NHL goaltenders with 22 wins in net. He also owns a decent 2.40 GAA and a less-than-stellar .910 save percentage. His defensive corps will again try to keep Colorado’s scorers on the perimeter and try to limit the number of shots Bishop has to face. And with Witkowski in the line-up maybe Bishop will have to worry less about being run over by opposing forwards who have had little to fear in terms of retaliation by the Bolts.

So it’s Saturday night and, according to Elton John,”Saturday night’s alright for fighting, get a little action in.”

Lightning fans may get what they asked for and see a little more toughness from the Bolts.

The Lightning don’t have to live up to Springsteen and be tougher than the rest come playoff time.

But they do have to be tougher than they are right now.

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