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From Camp Torturella To Melrose Place

by Lonnie Herman

September 17, 2008 @ 2:35 PM ET

The new Tampa Bay Lightning training camp is open, and this is truly a case of needing a scorecard - but not just to tell the players. Even veteran beat writers and other long-time team watchers puzzled as to exactly who each new coach and front-office executive was.

The team, with new owners, a new coaching staff and only a handful of returning players seems as out of place as the location of their camp, the St. Pete Times Forum, where the Lightning regularly play their season. Previous camps have all been held at a nearby skating rink.

If the first two days are any indication, the coaches and the players appear to be having more fun than they deserve - but why not? Gone are the trademarks of the previous administrations training regiment - the three mile run followed by the high-speed 18 lap skates, culminating in the almost mandatory vomit, that marked the essence of what was known as "Camp Torture-Ella" (named after former coach John Tortorella).

Instead, the players, separated into two groups, enjoyed a high spirited 90 minutes on ice, marked by a variety of drills and punctuated with plenty of breaks for hydration.

When it was over, coach Barry Melrose hollered down the corridor from his office, to know one in particular, "That was a great day!"

Vinny Watch: Returning from off-season shoulder surgery, it appears that Lecavalier's rehab may still have some work. he notably flinched in discomfort when changing sweaters for different drills, and had to have the assistance of an equipment man.

Game 2: The Morning Skate

by Michelle Kenneth

October 05, 2008 @ 5:40 AM ET

NEW YORK RANGERS

Mike Pelino and Benoit Allaire worked with Patrick Rissmiller, Dan Fritsche, Fredrik Sjostrom, and Miika Wiikman during Sunday morning's game day skate. Lauri Korpikoski skated for the first fifteen minutes and then left.

As indicated in my piece from last night's game, Rissmiller's skating was less than par. Pelino decided that the three skaters would run skating drills for most of the morning.

Sjostrom had a very good practice today, but considering the morning was spent on basic drills to quicken their pace, it's very likely they will all be cut from tonight's roster.

Last night's stars of the game: 3 - Henrik Lundqvist (with 18 saves); 2 - Markus Naslund (with his first goal of the game, which also marked his first as a Blueshirt and the first goal of the season); 1 - Brandon Dubinsky (for his game winning goal).

Little Fact About the King

On March 18, 2008, in a game versus the Pittsburgh Penguins, Henrik Lundqvist recorded his 100th career win in 187 appearances, breaking the record originally held by Mike Richter (198 games) as the fastest goalie to reach that mark.

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

In last night's game, three players made their NHL debut: Steven Stamkos (C) logged 8:25 of ice time, had two shots, two hits and won three of six draws taken (Coach Barry Melrose commented last night that the reason for Stamkos' lack of time on the ice was a direct result of the amount of penalties they had to kill - 7 total); Janne Niskala (D) played 16:23 with a shot on goal and a blocked shot; Vladimir Mihalik (D) logged 11:54 of ice time with one shot on goal and was tied for the team lead with three hits.

Three players on the TBL are from the Czech Republic: Vaclav Prospal, Radim Vrbata and David Koci. David Koci was scratched from last night's game, which reporters and the broadcasters lamented his non-appearance as "being a shame." I saw Koci during Saturday morning's game day skate, but he appeared on the ice with only five minutes left in practice. He looked like he was running late.

Martin St. Louis' goal in the third period last night was his first ever in a season opening game.

Mike Smith made 39 saves on the Rangers 41 shots on goal last night.

Tampa Bay canceled their morning skate for Sunday.

Olaf Kolzig will be in goal tonight.

Game time is at 12 p.m. EST and will be airing on Versus.

A Weekend Abroad with the NHL

by Patrick Hoffman

October 09, 2008 @ 11:37 PM ET

Welcome back hockey fans! It’s great that the National Hockey League is finally underway and we can all get back to eating, sleeping and breathing hockey. As many of you hockey fanatics here on Inside Hockey already know, the NHL kicked off its regular season this past weekend overseas. The Pittsburgh Penguins, Ottawa Senators, New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning played in Stockholm, Sweden and Prague, Czech Republic, respectively.

The league showed off its stars such as Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza, Daniel Alfredsson, Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, Markus Naslund and Henrik Lundqvist. The aforementioned stars all put in terrific performances (well, Spezza is questionable with his costly giveaway on Saturday that led to a Penguins’ OT goal) and showed why the NHL is the top hockey league in the world.

With that being said, I wanted to point out what I thought were the most interesting things to takeaway from this weekend with regards to the games played, as they were all close games and had many different storylines.

Without further adieu:

Tampa Bay Lightning Defense: Are they really this weak?

If it wasn’t for goaltenders Mike Smith and Olaf Kolzig and the Rangers inability to finish, the Lightning would have been blown out of the water in their two games this past weekend. The Rangers fired 80 shots on net and scored just four goals as they made Smith and Kolzig look like Patrick Roy and Dominik Hasek.

The Lightning let the Blueshirts to skate freely with the puck in their own zone and fire away on their netminders. The Bolts defensemen constantly allowed the Rangers to put bodies in front of Smith and Kolzig to create screens, pounce on rebounds and as Saturday showed, hurt their goaltenders as Smith was injured on a Dan Girardi shot from the point that he never saw.

Lightning head coach Barry Melrose clearly didn’t like what he saw and forced team management not only ripping into his hockey club, but also forcing them to make a deal. This past week, they sent defenseman Shane O’Brien and right wing Michel Ouellet to the Vancouver Canucks for defenseman Lukas Krajicek and minor league forward Juraj Simek. At 25, Krajicek is already considered a veteran and can play a lot of minutes on a weak defensive team.

If this team continues to allow shots in bunches, their goaltenders may call it quits! Look out folks. It could be a long year for the Bolts.

Dany Heatley: The Complete Hockey Player?

Ever since he came into the league seven years ago, Sens’ forward Dany Heatley has been a goal-scoring factory. He’s scored 224 goals in 427 career games and already has three goals this season but has added one more element to his game: leadership.

Prior to opening the season, new Senators’ head coach Craig Hartsburg named Heatley one of the team’s assistant captains. Heatley felt that at the age of 27, he was ready to take on more responsibility and be a leader of this hockey club.

Well, he certainly led his hockey this weekend by scoring when the team needed him and even sacrificing his body to block shots. If he can do this all year, and there is no reason why he won’t, the Sens’ will definitely be a better team than last season.

Goaltending Controversy in Ottawa? Say It Ain’t So!

It wouldn’t be hockey season if there wasn’t a goaltending controversy in Ottawa.
Martin Gerber and Alex Auld split the opening series against the Penguins this weekend with Auld coming out on top by winning yesterday and allowing one goal on 31 shots. Saturday afternoon was a much different story as Gerber started and allowed four goals on 30 shots, including one on his first shot when Penguins’ forward Tyler Kennedy beat him from a bad angle.

We’ll see how things pan out but I’m willing to bet that Auld ends up taking the starter’s role sooner than people think.

Let’s Play Hockey!

I hope you folks enjoyed the hockey this weekend and opening night as much as I did. I look forward to seeing how these three storylines play out over the course of the season and I hope that you’re all ready for a great season!

Photo Gallery: Lightning at Bruins

by Peter Keeling

December 08, 2008 @ 11:59 PM ET

The Bruins handed the Tampa Bay Lightning yet another loss as the B's went on to win 5-3 at the TD Banknorth Garden on December 8th, 2008. P.J. Alexsson netted his first goal of the season with an open netter to finish the game in the 3rd.

Inside Hockey Photographer Peter Keeling was in the building to capture the action...