Bolts Failed To Adapt
December 12th, 2009
By AMANDA HARRIS
JoeBoltsFan.com analyst
Skating at high altitudes sucks. Your throat closes up as you move through the paper-thin air and you struggle to settle into a regular breathing pattern. It’s not the lack of oxygen that kills you but rather your body’s unwillingness to adapt to the existing conditions as quickly as you’d like it to.
Lightning trainer Chuck Lobe likened the phenomenon to trying to travel the same distance with half as much gas in the tank. And it was no different for the Bolts on Friday night as they took to the ice in Colorado only to be felled by the shootout once again in a 2-1 decision favoring the Avalanche.
The Bolts opened the scoring just 12:12 into the first (on a Steve Downie wrister assisted by Vinny Lecavalier and Marty St. Louis) and looked pretty darn good through the first 30 minutes, holding a 17-14 shot advantage and containing Colorado along the wall thanks to a defensively responsible effort from the boys.
And though Rick Tocchet’s regular pre-game round of linemate Go Fish elicited an eye roll or two (or three, in my case), his decision to keep Vinny and Marty together while adding a blue collar guy like Downie to the mix served the Lightning well.
Nearly all of Tampa Bay’s scoring chances came by way of this top-line trio, among them a transaction about six minutes into the second thath saw the captain engaged along the boards in a fight for the puck (that’s no typo, folks). Laboring harder than we’ve seen in a while, Vinny eked out a kick pass to Downie before circling around the back of Colorado’s net and into scoring position where he was eventually bested by an Avs interception.
Another opportunity came in the final minutes of the middle frame when Downie robbed Brett Clark of a shot at the Lightning blueline and fed the saucer up ice to a streaking V4. With the pair virtually unchallenged in Colorado’s zone, the play looked to be a sure thing and was no doubt a must-convert chance.
Not sure there’s much to say about Vinny’s failed attempt other than the fact his confidence level is still clearly not up to par, nor is his vision around the net (thinking you have the low blocker is different than owning it and second guessing yourself is NEVER a good sign). Given the chance to put the thing away (or at least cushion their existing lead), the Bolts really shot themselves in the foot on this one as the goof was a harbinger of things to come in the final 20 minutes.
Call it altitude sickness or just plain ugly. The atrocious debacle that was the third period saw the Lightning winded and on their heels and outshot 18-4.
Careless back-to-back penalties forced a stellar Antero Niittymaki to work his ass off as the boys struggled to clear the puck on the penalty kill and the neutral zone became no-man’s-land with turnovers and various other symptoms of desperation running rampant.
Tapped or not (which they shouldn’t have been given their level of fitness and the short-shift strategy Tocchet employed), the Bolts cannot afford to give up points at this juncture in the season. Like the missed opportunities that were amassed on Friday, those singular digits will likely come back to haunt the boys as March and April roll around.
No doubt it’s better than a regulation loss, but until these guys are able to acclimate themselves to the game being played on the ice (the one actually transpiring out there, not the one they planned for) I’m afraid we’re in for a turbulent ride.
