You had to know this was not going to be easy. If you didn’t, you were fooling yourself.
This is a new season and, no matter what kind of team you have, it takes time to build it up again. Once you have achieved what the Tampa Bay Lightning did, you seem to have less to prove. But, in reality, everyone has the same amount to prove. Mainly, that is, because almost nothing from a special 2010-11 season matters.
The only thing that remains is how a team feels about each other. That is one major reason why I can say this about the 1-2-1 start.
Don’t panic.
Marty St. Louis said it best to the local media last night after the game.
“This league is an unforgiving league. You have to earn it every day. You look at [defending Stanley Cup champion] Boston is 1-3. It's the National Hockey League. Every team, whenever the year starts, it starts from scratch. Nobody is going to give you wins; you have to earn it. And we haven't done that.”
Even though the Lightning did not play at their best in the first three games, you can’t really complain about a 1-1-1 start. If not for an ugly turnover with under three minutes left in regulation, they just might have gotten out of Washington with a 5-4 victory.
But Thursday’s game at the Nassau Coliseum showed clearly what was missing.
“We weren’t relentless,” coach Guy Boucher said to the media Friday.
There wasn’t that extra effort we saw last season. The gaps between the defensemen and forwards were too wide, there were too many hope passes and the Islanders won the majority of the puck battles. Turnovers? Way too many. If my math is right from one box I saw, the Islanders were credited with 20 takeaways.
Those who tend to over react will pick on certain players. Through four games, they already have. Each picks their own whipping boy.
No doubt, some could be playing better. But, in my opinion, it’s not about the roster right now. Sure, maybe down the road Steve Yzerman may have to make a trade with all that cap space. But not now. I’ll say this though: those who complain about Mattias Ohlund better look at the 14 goals they have given up the last three games. The Bolts need his presence.
The things that went wrong Thursday can be corrected. It’s not a mystery to the players, either. It’s about finding that rhythm they had last season defensively, and in transition, with that extra fighting spirit. They need to play like they have plenty to prove. When they were at their best last season, there was always support on the ice when something went array or someone winning a race to the puck. Every turnover seems to go in the net this season and most of them the goalie had little chance at stopping.
Starting on the road for five straight is not easy. The players won’t make excuses though.
I’m not the type of writer that is going to take shots at players. I never have been. So if you are looking for me to rip into the team and make up rumors about wacky trades, you won’t get it here.
But I won’t sugarcoat when the team struggles. Aside from the last two periods in Carolina and parts of the Washington game, the Bolts have not played well. I just wonder why fans would over react to three points in four games. Lightning fans saw the Bolts respond to these types of stretches all of last season with mostly the same group.
Sit back, with four home games coming up before the end of the month, relax and enjoy watching them find the answers.
Bolts vs. the Dineens: It is difficult for me to feel ill will for the Florida Panthers anymore. Not that the franchise ever bothered me, but they were a rival that has been a mighty pest the last half decade.
Now that Kevin Dineen is the coach of the Panthers, they have a chance to get back into the playoffs. Peter DeBoer was a good coach. But, knowing Dineen the way I do from my days covering the Hartford Whalers, he will get this new group to play for him and go the extra mile. Hartford Whalers fans used to call Dineen “John Wayne on skates.” Now, I guess you can call him John Wayne with a clipboard. He was blood and guts as a Whaler and loyal to the end. He scored big goals and could fight, too. Ask Mike Milbury. Smelling salts please?
I remember interviewing Dineen after a morning skate at the St. Pete Times Forum back in 1997. My last question was about Paul Coffey, who was whining about wanting a trade from the seemingly lame-duck Whalers at the time -- even though they had a chance at the playoffs. Dineen simply said. “I don’t want to talk about a player that doesn’t want to be on this team.”
Classy player. Will be a classy coach.
Watching the Panthers Tuesday against Pittsburgh I could already see a lot of Dineen in the team. They will be awfully difficult to beat when they build chemistry with 14 new players on the roster.
Mark Pukalo
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