Grading Along With Brian Lawton
October 14th, 2009
Brian Lawton recently explained in a radio interview how he was going to evaluate the Lightning through the season.
He said he would grade the club with his coaches in five-game intervals, even though it would be extraordinarily difficult to not overanalyze everything on a game-by-game basis.
So if Lawton’s going to take five-game snapshots of the season, Joe’s going to do it, too. So will Amanda Harris, as the Bolts sit atop the Southeast Division (gasp).
@Atlanta, @Carolina, NEW JERSEY, CAROLINA, FLORIDA
Total points: 6
Grade A-
Heck, at this pace, the Bolts will make the playoffs, or at least force some of those “Holy Cow” games Oren Koules craves.
Brian Lawton may actually have slept well before meeting with Rick Tocchet and company on Tuesday.
Outside of coming out completely flat in the opener at Atlanta, it’s hard to carve up the Bolts and find much negativity in their play right now. After spotting Atlanta a 4-0 lead, the Bolts have outscored opponents 15-10. That kind of production will lead to a lot of wins. And Tampa Bay is winning the battle by a wide margin in the third period over the past three games.
Sure the power play has been OK, with a lot of room for improvement. But considering where it’s coming from out of last season, Adam Oates and co. are on the right track. The penalty kill is a weak spot. It seems to Joe the Bolts aren’t seeing a collective effort to be physical on the penalty kill. The intensity isn’t there.
The great production out of the Stamkos-St. Louis-Malone line overshadows the goalless and inconsistent Vinny Lecavalier crew. The fourth line is working miracles and the goalie questions have been answered: Smith is healthy, and Niitymaki looks like a true 1A, if not more.
These next give games will be a tremendous test - Ottawa home and away, in Pittsburgh, and home for San Jose and Buffalo. The Bolts need five points to keep a good report card.
By AMANDA HARRIS
Grade: A-
What’s more difficult, blaming anything but the defense for the Lightning’s opening night loss to Atlanta or scoring on Mike Smith in the shootout?
Tough call, eh?
After a summer retooling the blueline, the Bolts defensive corps looked anything but improved with the haphazard display they put on opening night against the Thrashers. And though Vinny Lecavalier failed to pull any rabbits out of his hat, Marty St. Louis worked his own magic, taking a probable goose egg and making it vanish.
Licking their wounds after the Atlanta debacle, the Bolts next ventured to Carolina with an axe to grind and a winless streak (carried over from the 2008-09 campaign) to overturn. When all was said and done, Tampa Bay exited the eye of the storm with a point and a healthy shot advantage over the Hurricanes.
Back on the friendly home ice, however, the Lightning inexcusably dropped its home opener to the Devils. It was a frustrating tilt, this one. Aside from eking out another point in a game that shouldn’t have ever made it to the dreaded shootout, the Bolts’ soft power-play showing and inability to close out the game was all too reminiscent of last season.
And that brings us to the Lightning’s last two match-ups. Straight up wins they were, where impressive results on the man advantage and consistently hefty shot counts married with solid backstopping to unify a squad emerging from the early growing pains of a new season.
So which is it going to be this go round? Are the Bolts playoff bound or destined for the bottom rungs of the division ladder yet again?
Perhaps all that’s needed to really get this club the respect it deserves is a pot shot or two from Barry Melrose. It certainly worked for Steven Stamkos.
