"We are not as mature a team as I thought."
Those were the words of Lightning head coach Guy Boucher after his team fell to the last place Ottawa Senators Friday night. So many words could be used to describe the effort put forth in the first half of this game. But the ones he used fit.
The Lightning, coming off a huge win against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Blackhawks on Wednesday night, took to the ice against the Senators Friday night hoping to build on that game. The only thing that was built after the 2-1 loss was frustration and questions.
“When we come out against a team like that, they are working hard and playing the spoiler role,” Lightning forward Steven Stamkos said. “We have a big win against Chicago and we come out in the first period like that and it cost us the game. Its 1-0, its one goal and we lost by a goal. It’s unacceptable.”
This is not the first time the Lightning has gone down the road of playing down to an opponent. It has happened numerous times this year. It’s also a point that has not been lost on Lightning defenseman Mike Lundin.
“We know where we are at and we want to be at the top. But we are not right now. I really don’t know what it is, but we have struggled with this all year and it is getting old.”
The Lightning, as you can imagine, got off to a slow start in this one. The first period saw the Bolts get out-shot 10-6 and outscored 1-0 on a Jason Spezza tap in. For Spezza, it was his 13th goal of the year.
The second was not much better for the Lightning. While they did out-shoot the Senators 9-8, the Sens added a second goal when Bobby Butler slipped behind the Lightning defense for a partial breakaway to beat goaltender Dwayne Roloson.
The Lightning came to life in the third period, out-shooting the Senators 20-4, but most of the shots were easy saves for “former” Lightning goaltender Curtis McElhinney. The Lightning were able to ruin the shutout when Marty St. Louis tapped home a puck that was on the goal line early in the third to get the Bolts to within one, but that’s as close as they would get.
Boucher talked afterward about how it was not the players’ legs running out of gas, rather it was the lack of will, desire and competition that cost them the game.
“I’m disappointed. Very disappointed,” Boucher said. “At this stage of the season, it has to come from that room. If it has to come everyday from the coaching staff, we’re not where we are supposed to be.”
The Lightning will try to get back to where they are supposed to be quickly tonight when they travel to southern Florida to take on the Panthers. The Lightning’s struggles there are well documented, as well as their struggles against below-average teams. It will be interesting to see how they respond after the effort tonight. Faceoff is at 7 pm.
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This article appears in Mar 10-16, 2011.
