Bolts by the Bay
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Tampa Bay Lightning Seeks To Maintain Focus, Avoid Traps

By Angelo Resciniti

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We’re caught in a trap
I can’t walk out
Because I love you too much baby

We can’t go on together
With suspicious minds
And we can’t build our dreams
On suspicious minds

— Elvis Presley

Tampa Bay Lightning‘s players and coaches, understandably, have a lot on their minds as the calendar turns to March, marking not only the start of the final full month of the NHL playoff chase but also counting down — two, one… — to the annual bloodletting ritual known as the trade deadline.

And so the Bolts take to the ice in Sunrise at sunset on Sunday against the Florida Panthers with potential distractions aplenty. The puck drops at 5 p.m. as the Tampa Bay Lightning tries to focus on the “Stinkin’ Panthers,” who have already worked some trade deadline magic of their own, instead of sweating which teammates will be wearing sweaters of a different color by late Monday evening.

The latest edition of this long-time intra-state rivalry will be shown on Sun Sports and radiocast on 970/WFLA. And fans better have a pencil with eraser handy for the roster changes that occur with such gut-wrenching regularity every season at this point.

The Panthers, only four points behind the Boston Bruins for he eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, pulled off two trades over the last few days, adding proven but aging offensive stars to a defensive-oriented squad that has ridden the coat-tails of goaltender Roberto Luongo into playoff contention.

Florida added five-time NHL scoring champ Jaromir Jagr on Thursday and two-time 100-point scorer Dany Heatley on Saturday, hoping the two geriatric skaters — 43 and 34, respectively — have a little life left in their sticks. Both should be in the line-up against the Bolts.

Tampa Bay, on the other hand, has been quiet in the days leading up to Monday’s deadline. Even with top-four defensemen Radko Gudas and Matt Carle out for the last many weeks with major injuries and the young replacements struggling at times, general manager Steve Yzerman has pooh-poohed the need for a trade and coach Jon Cooper has stated repeatedly that he is happy to go to war with the players currently on the roster.

The players even made a statement of solidarity of their own on Saturday night, shutting out the powerful Chicago Blackhawks, 4-0, with a smothering defense, an opportunistic offense, a lights-out goaltender, and a spirited and energetic team attitude. It’s almost as if the player themselves were saying to their bosses, “we’re good just like we are. Don’t mess with our line-up.”

No doubt Yzerman and Cooper took note of the entreaty. And certainly bubble players like Brett Connolly and J.T. Brown, both of whom have had big moments on the ice this year, appreciate the vote of confidence from their peers.

The Bolts players may need to continue their lobbying efforts by throwing off the distractions and making another strong statement against the stubborn Panthers, who need this win as much or more than do the Bolts and will no doubt come out hard from the start.

Florida owns a 27-22-13 record with 67 points, fifth best on the Atlantic Division and ninth best in the Eastern Conference. Eighth-place Boston, with 71 points, is squarely in the sights of the Panthers. The seventh best team, Washington, has 76 points and might already be out of Florida’s reach. So Boston it is. And the two points at stake against the Lightning means everything to the Panthers.

Aside from the impending trade deadline and the upgrades on Florida’s roster, Tampa Bay has to come down to earth after the excitement of blanking the mighty Blackhawks and also has to rally around a young goaltender who has been shaky of late. This game has trap written all over it, and suspicious minds are hoping the Bolts remember to keep their collective eyes on the dream.

The Lightning have a marvelous 38-19-6 record after 63 games, but even with the win over Chicago the Bolts have fallen into a third-place tie in the Eastern Conference with 82 points, same as the New York Rangers and behind the Montreal Canadiens (85) and the New York Islanders (84).

Detroit is again only one point behind Tampa Bay and the dangerous Pittsburgh Penguins are only three back. Tampa Bay cannot afford to dull the buzz generated against the Blackhawks. Any slump this time of year can be a season-killer. And since the Bolts have won only five of their last 10 games, push time is now.

The Bolts continue to lead the NHL in goals with 207 (the Islanders have 205) and are tied for 2nd in the league with a +40 goal differential (the Rangers have +42).

Captain Steven Stamkos has resurrected his scoring touch the last couple of games and has moved back into third place in the Rocket Richard race with 34 goals. Only Alex Ovechkin (39) and Rick Nash (37) have scored more. Second-year star Tyler Johnson‘s 60 points places him 8th in the league and he is tied for 10th in assists (37). The Triplets — Johnson, Nikita Kucherov, and Ondrej Palat — continue to dominate the NHL’s plus-minus rankings, holding three of the top five spots.

Teammates Anton Stralman and Jason Garrison remain in the top ten plus-minus standings among defensemen. Ben Bishop‘s 31 wins is 4th best among the league’s goaltenders. Bishop, who took a puck in the neck during Saturday’s practice in Brandon but skated it off, has won four straight starts, giving up two goals or less in each win, as he rounds into playoff focus.

But Andrei Vasilevskiy is expected to get the start Sunday in Sunrise, and the recently wobbly rookie hopes to get back on track. He allowed all five goals in last week’s loss to Colorado and then took a quick side trip to play an AHL game with Syracuse and gave up four more in another loss. Vasilevskiy’s once startling stats have fallen off to mere mortal levels, so a big game would bolster his spirits, the team defense, and the message to the front office to let it be, let it be.

But that’s another band for another day. To stay on message, the Bolts need to look no further than Elvis.

Next: Steven Stamkos: 'There's No Easy Hockey Games Here

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