Looking Back at The 2011-12 Bolts

      You could see the disappointment on the faces of the players as they met one more time Monday before the early offseason began. Nate Thompson said it will get worse when they begin to watch playoff games.

       Such is life for a team that came within one victory over the Stanley Cup finals in 2010-11 and missed the playoffs by eight points this season.

       None of the players, coaches or management are making excuses or blaming anyone else. They are just trying to find definitive answers on why things just didn’t click as well this time around.

      As I have said many times this season, it was not one problem. The Lightning did not deal with the obstacles put in front of them as well in 2011-12 on the ice, whether it was a tough road stretch or injuries. They battled and Norfolk call ups were outstanding, but they did not play well enough on the road, they were last in the league in goals-against and their special teams went from the top third of the league to the bottom fifth. 

      “It’s easy to be here and say coulda, shoulda, woulda,” Martin St. Louis said. “The bottom line is we didn’t get the job done.”

      There were several times during the season you thought maybe the Bolts were back on track, but they were not consistent enough in almost all areas of their game to keep it going.

       I think the biggest period of the season was just as 2012 started. The Bolts were 5-1-1 to finish the 2011 portion of the schedule and were six points behind a three-way tie for sixth in the East.

       Instead of continuing the good run, the Lightning gave up 42 shots and seven goals in Toronto. Two days later, they outshot Ottawa 27-15 the first two periods and trailed 2-0 en route to a 4-1 loss.

       Just think, if the Bolts go 2-2 against Ottawa and 1-2-1 vs. Toronto (they were 0-7-1 overall against the two), they could be playing the Rangers tonight.

       Ok. Shoulda, coulda, woulda.

       The Lightning finished ninth in the league in goals per game, despite a below-average power play. They just seemed to give up goals too easily some nights and it wasn’t all goaltending.

       Dwayne Roloson was the biggest reason why the Lightning reached the Eastern Conference finals a year ago, but I was concerned at the beginning of the season that the workload he had gone through would wear on him. No matter how much of a warrior and a pro he is, father time is unrelenting. But you can’t blame GM Steve Yzerman for trying to squeeze one more year out of him, especially with the lack of real options out there.

      Still, Roloson was 5-4-1 in mid November with two shutouts and two games in which he allowed one goal. The Lightning was one point out of first place in the Southeast Division at the time.

      It was then that problems with goals-against and the man advantage became more prominent.

      The Bolts were 11-9-2 just after Thanksgiving, coming off a sweep of Florida, but lost seven of the next eight while giving up 32 goals and going 3 for 26 on the power play.

      In the 0-6-1 slump to start 2012, they allowed 33 goals and went 2 for 20 with the man advantage.

      From that low point -- on my birthday Jan. 15 -- the Lightning went 21-13-4.

      The critical numbers are these. Just one team (Columbus) had less than Tampa Bay’s 13 road victories. The Lightning was sixth on the power play in 2010-11 at 20.5 and third in the playoffs (25.4). This season, they were 25^th at 15.2 -- 13.9 on the road (22^nd). They were also second in the league in shorthanded goals against (12).

      Why the problems on the power play? Captain Vincent Lecavalier shook his head when asked about it. It was hard for him to put his finger on the main reason. It just never took off.

     In my opinion, it was mostly about their entries into the zone. They lacked assertiveness in setting up and retrieving the puck. Drop passes near the blue line were too often telegraphed. There were just too many fancy passes which ended up in easy clears. When they set up, they have as dangerous a power play as there is in the league.

     The penalty-killing numbers don’t concern me. Here’s a look at the goaltenders for the top 11 penalty-killing teams in the league – Brodeur, Price, Fleury, Quick, Lundqvist, Luongo, Halak/Elliott, Smith, Kiprusoff, Rinne and Thomas. Improve in the net and your penalty-killing percentage goes up.

     Like St. Louis said, it was a season where they never truly could feel good about themselves. Even after they went 6-0-1 in late January and early February they were merely battling back to .500. When they crept within two points in eighth place in early March, they were battling with four teams within three points for one spot.

     “Last year, we were on a run where everything fell into place,” Steven Stamkos said. “This year, it seemed like we were always losing or missing a piece of the puzzle that was glued in the year before.”

       Enough with the bad news.

       In my opinion, the good news is that with a few key moves the Lightning can jump right back into the mix with the top teams in the conference. There were lessons learned this season, from players to coaches to management. Everyone said it Monday and I agree. They are not far away.

      When healthy, they have a solid group of top-six forwards who all scored 20 goals or more in Stamkos, St. Louis, Lecavalier, Teddy Purcell and Ryan Malone. The question is whether J.T. Brown, Brett Connolly, Alex Killorn, Cory Conacher, Richard Panik or a veteran via trade or free agency will become the sixth in that mix.

      There are plenty of outstanding role players under contract to call on as well, led by Thompson and Tom Pyatt.

      Defenseman Victor Hedman also raised his game in his third season. There were some nights when he was dominant. The big Swede just needs to keep working to refine his game, stay healthy, and he'll be traveling to the all-star game with Stamkos every year.

      There is no secret where improvements need to be made. Even with the potential of Keith Aulie, Brian Lee’s solid last 20 games and the possible return of Mattias Ohlund, they could use a top-four defenseman. Even though Dustin Tokarski is improving, they need a No. 1 goalie.

       GM Steve Yzerman may have to be more creative than he has ever been.

       But his work at the deadline has put the organization in a better position to attack the roster’s few deficiencies. The pain of this season may be forgotten very soon. I certainly will write more about this as time goes on. The second half of June should be mighty interesting.

       One thing that you can be sure of when 2012-13 begins – hopefully on time – is they will be hungry.

       “To see the guys and remember how it felt to be a part of [the playoffs],” Thompson said. “That should be motivation for everybody to never let this happen again.”

       

      Mark Pukalo