Tampa Bay Lightning

It's been almost two months. The AHL regular season waned and ended for the Syracuse Crunch and seven playoff games are now in the can. Over that time span, Cedrick Desjardins has become not just the starter for the Syracuse Crunch but the workhorse and last resort. While he has Pat Nagle backing him up in net, Nagle has not seen much playing time at all - 97 minutes during the regular season, posting a 3.70 GAA and a .875 save percentage. Indeed, it's been almost two months... But news started spreading Monday and then continued Tuesday that goalie Riku Helenius should be making his North American return in the immediate future. Helenius, 25, has been playing his first season in North America since 2009-10. His stats have mirrored the sub-par efforts by goalies in the Tampa Bay Lightning organization in general this season (a 2.52 GAA and .900 save percentage), but Riku has been distracted (to say the least) by personal matters back in his native Finland. Before his departure from Syracuse on April 6th, Helenius had previously left the Crunch in mid December, likely to spend the holidays with his ailing mother. What kind of difference will Helenius' presence make for the Crunch in the playoffs? That's unknown. Perhaps it will just be a morale boost for the Crunch to have their teammate back with them? That's a powerful motivator. It really depends on Helenius' shape on his return and how he performs in practice. I expect Cedrick Desjardins to remain between the pipes for the Crunch regardless of Helenius' status... But Riku could end up serving as Desjardins backup again if he's in shape and shows that he is ready to return to playing. The Crunch finds out Wednesday night who they will face in the AHL's Eastern Conference Finals; the Providence Bruins face the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the decisive game 7.

By Jeremy Houghtaling For a 30-goal scorer, Brett Connolly is essentially flying below the radar. Overshadowed by the success of the Syracuse Crunch's top line, Connolly has quietly continued his nearly one point per game pace in the Calder Cup Playoffs. He has five points in seven postseason games, having already notched 31 goals and 32 assists in 71 games in the regular season. read more

It's a common story, maybe an annual story at that - the Tampa Bay Times talking about the Super Bowl and the local group placing a bid to host the big game each year. In this instance, Tuesday morning, the Times highlighted the fact Tampa Bay wasn't even invited to submit a bid for Super Bowl L and LI. The Super Bowl brings with it a large amount of attention nationally and internationally; a day wasted by broadcasters who seek to rival the game and a day where citizenry uninterested in the game can't escape it. Tampa Bay making a pitch to host the grand finale of the NFL season is a pitch for tourist dollars more than for the glory of the teams playing in the game. The focus is on football, though. How about the other sports in town? You don't hear about deliberate, focused pitches by power brokers here in the area/region (big shots in government and private industry) trying to secure baseball's mid-summer night classic, the All-Star Game. Of course, there are local politics and Major League Baseball politics that are preventing that. Bud Selig and MLB despise Tropicana Field (and the lack of fan support) and want a publicly financed replacement stadium constructed before such a grand event will be awarded to the Tampa/St. Petersburg market. You know that (a new stadium) is a non-starter; the Rays have a lease at Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster has no intention of allowing the Rays to break it in any way, shape or form. So the MLB All-Star Game and the events tied to it are not a possibility any time soon. Then there's the NCAA men's and women's basketball Final Four. Tampa Bay has hosted early rounds of action before with mixed results, it's also hosted the women's Final Four event at Times Palace in 2008. In 1998, fresh on the heels of renovating Tropicana Field for the Rays first season (...and on the tail end of the meteorological event known as El Niño), Tampa Bay hosted what was largely regarded as a disastrous men's Final Four at the Trop, where floors flooded in the building and visiting fans were made aware just how spread out the Tampa Bay region is. Tampa Bay will likely continue to make bids for college basketball events like these in the future. College pride is part of what's behind it, tourism dollars as well, and the politics of the locals... And then there's hockey... You don't hear about these grand proposals so often, nor do they make the newspaper outside the sports section. Sometimes you read little asides in team beat reporting that the Lightning franchise has placed a bid to host All-Star Game, or the NHL Draft; two marquee events that draw in an International audience and tourists to boot. You don't hear about a specific committee devoted to landing those events. You don't hear about local hoteliers embracing the idea of hosting such grand events (and the visitors they bring). It's hockey. It's an afterthought in the good-ole-boy network. I'm not saying it doesn't happen; it's easier for me to suggest that than to shed light on the movers and shakers (after the Tampa Bay Lightning franchise itself) behind pitches for the NHL's league-wide events. It just feels like there isn't a coordinated push locally to land either event. There had been a larger push to land the NCAA men's Frozen Four event held at Times Palace in 2012. I haven't seen talk of a pitch for a future Frozen Four yet, but with the last event having just happened, that's not unexpected. Back to the NHL all-star game and / or draft: Last week, Michael Yormark (President of the Florida Panthers) went to the Broward County Commission to plead for a handout for a new scoreboard at BB&T Center arena in Sunrise. The Panthers had been promised an All-Star Game or a Draft if they upgraded their obsolete scoreboard at center ice. After the county commission shamed Yormark, they voted in favor of the handout. The promise of future events weren't on docket, but the influence of the promise likely was

The Tampa Bay Times Forum removed its ice today, which is always a disappointing sight to see, especially at this time of the year. It means that the Lightning didn't make the playoffs and there won't be hockey back in Tampa Bay until September when NHL training camps begin. Always a sad day when the ice comes out @tbtimesforum. #TBLightning twitter.com/BBreseman/stat… — Brian Breseman (@BBreseman) May 20, 2013 It is starting to get hot and humid outside and while the NHL playoffs are in full swing, the end of the playoff season still draws near. The stifling, dog days of summer are just upon us and that means the hockey-less months that all fans despise are closer as well. Enjoy hockey while it is still on, even though you might not be a fan of the teams still alive in the playoffs. Hockey is hockey and we all know how it feels when there isn't any to watch. We might be able catch up on our shows and our days at the beach, but there is always something missing from summer...

Need to Know - The Crunch are 7-0 to begin the Calder Cup Playoffs with sweeps of Portland (3-0) and Springfield (4-0). - Ondrej Palat is tied for the AHL's postseason lead with 15 points; Tyler Johnson is second with 14 points. - Syracuse face...

The Syracuse Crunch waits to find out who their opposition will be in the AHL's Eastern Conference Finals (game 6 of the semifinal series between Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Providence is tonight, Providence leads 3-2). One thing they found out while idle is that defenseman Brian Lee is done for the season. Lindsay Kramer reported that Lee is done for the playoffs, with an injury suffered on Friday night. It hasn't been disclosed just what the injury is or how it was sustained, but Lee is done. The contest for who steps into the spot held by Lee begins immediately, and likely will be determined by how well the players perform in practice. Brendan Mikkelson, another defenseman that had been carried on the Lightning roster at the onset of the season, has been the guy stepping in lately when other defensemen can't go (Dimitry Korobov, for example, was out on Friday; Mikkelson replaced him in the lineup). The big complication with that is the fact Mikkelson is not a right-handed shot; Brian Lee is. If Syracuse coach Rob Zettler wants another right handed shot in the lineup to replace Lee, he may give Luke Witkowski a look-see, though there are other defensemen likely in front of Luke on the depth chart. Witkowski, who signed his entry level contract and joined the Crunch late in the season, has only played 3 games with Syracuse without registering a point. Likely it'll be Korobov and Mikkelson, though. Lee has played a total of 18 games with Syracuse since his demotion (including the playoffs). He was -3 in 11 regular season games with the club, recording one assist over that time. He had played in all 7 Crunch playoff games without recording a point. Lee has a year left on his contract with the Lightning.

The IIHF Men's World Championships ended yesterday as the Swedes trounced Switzerland 5-1 to take the gold medal. Until Sunday, it had been 27 years since the host country had taken the gold medal. Granted, that has as much to do with the fact that the World Championships are frequently held in places where the host team are less than hockey powerhouses, but nonetheless, it's a nice feeling to win in front of the home crowd. On the other hand, it had been 60 years since Switzerland had won a medal of any kind in the World Championships. They've never won a gold medal, and this loss gave them another silver. Still, the Swiss were unquestionably a dominant team in this tournament, and they certainly earned the opportunity to play for the gold medal. It will be interesting to see if the Swiss national hockey program has really grown into a perennial contender or if this was simply a case of the stars aligning for them. Even this tournament only moved them up two spots on the IIHF's world ranking. The United States squeaked by Finland in a shootout to capture the bronze medal. I will never understand allowing an elimination game to be decided by the shootout, much less a medal game, but there you are. It happened and we'll all just have to live with it. Lightning players Matt Carle and Nate Thompson went pointless in the match and each had two shots on goal. Ben Bishop did not play. Canada was eliminated from medal contention on Thursday, also after a shootout, which really makes you wonder what kind of alternate universes have opened up over there this week. Lightning Players Stats Team GP Pts +/- SOG SH% PIM Matt Carle USA 10 0-2-2 0 12 0.0 0 Steven Stamkos CAN 8 7-5-12 +6 31 22.58 6 Nate Thompson USA 10 1-2-3 +1 11 9.09 8 Team GP SV% GAA SOs W-L Ben Bishop USA 5 .876 2.83 0 3-2 Jaroslav Janus SVK 2 .875 3.00 0 0-2 Final Standings Final Power Ranking IIHF World Men's Hockey Rankings for 2013

Lightning captain Vinny Lecavalier was off to one of his best starts in a while (four goals, 11 points in his first seven games) when his left foot was hit by a slap shot from teammate Sami Salo in the final second of a Feb. 2 game with the Rangers.

I hope you'll forgive me that this is a few days later than it might have been otherwise, but I've been busy savoring the moment and gathering my thoughts. You see, in the nine years I've been a Crunch fan, the team has never made it this far. In fact, in the 19 years the Crunch has existed, they've only made it this far one other time. Having a silly grin on my face has pretty much been my job description the last 48-hours. The Syracuse Crunch swept Eastern Conference semifinal rival Springfield in four games to advance to the third round of the 2013 Calder Cup Playoffs Friday night, giving the 2012-2013 Crunch squad seven playoff victories in a row and securing their place in Crunch history. The sweep was the Crunch's first-ever four-game sweep in franchise history, and marked only the 10th time in AHL history that a team has swept both the first and second round. Just in case you're curious, out of those 10 teams who have swept both the first and second round, seven of them went on to win the Cup. And for the sake of noting for Tampa fans, this was the fourth consecutive playoff series sweep for a Lightning AHL affiliate, dating back to last year's Calder Cup playoffs, when the Norfolk Admirals swept the final two rounds on their way to winning the 2012 Calder Cup. During the Crunch's sweep of the Northeast Division champion Falcons, Syracuse outscored Springfield 18-7. That total was helped by a game-three shutout by Crunch goalie Cedrick Desjardins. It was also helped by a game-two hat trick from forward Tyler Johnson, the first hat trick in Syracuse Crunch playoff history. Johnson had 5 total goals in the series, bringing his playoff total to 7. Johnson is only surpassed in that category by Oklahoma City's Mark Arcobello (9 goals). During the course of the series, the Crunch also saw goals from defensemen Mark Barberio and Matt Taormina. Forwards Richard Panik, J.T. Brown, J.T. Wyman, Brett Connolly, Dan Sexton, Ondrej Palat, and Mike Angelidis all added their tallies as well. Palat is currently tied with Arcobello from OKC in league playoff points. Each player has 15. The Crunch does not yet know their round three opponent; the Crunch (seeded 3rd) will face either the Providence Bruins (1st) or the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (5th) in the Eastern Conference Finals. Syracuse will have home ice against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, but will not have it against Providence.The Bruins currently lead that series 3-2, with game 6 scheduled for Monday night at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The Crunch had home ice advantage against round-one opponent Portland and swept the Pirates in three games. They did not have it against Springfield and still took it to the Falcons. The Crunch's domination on the road that was evident during the regular season has continued. During the regular AHL season, the Crunch was 24-9-2-2 away from the Onondaga County War Memorial. That record has clearly given this group the confidence that they can play in any building, no matter how far away from home. In addition to their confidence inside and outside of Syracuse, special teams have also been a huge asset to the Crunch. The power play has played a part in 8 goals out of the 30 total goals the Crunch has scored through two playoff rounds. Surprisingly, the penalty kill has also scored 4 of those 30 goals, which makes 12 goals out of 30 a result of special teams. The Crunch has not allowed a short handed goal in the playoffs thus far. When Tampa Bay relocated last year's Calder Cup champions to Syracuse, Crunch fans pretty much knew this group wasn't going to be a hard group to fall in love with. What I don't think we dared to hope for, however, was how awesome all of this has truly been. Syracuse has never had such a special group like this, where there's so much passion, effort, and accountability. It's been an absolutely amazing ride so far, and I can't wait to see what's next!

If there’s one part of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s game that rarely gets criticized, it’s the scoring. And that’s not going to surprise anyone, considering the Bolts boasted this year’s first and second ranked scorers league-wide (I say this with apologies to Sidney Crosby fans). Tampa Bay scored 148 goals this season, far and away the most by any non-playoff team, and yet their goal differential was -2 (also the best of non-playoff teams, it should be pointed out). In my last batch of report cards (grading the role players), I touched on the idea that Tampa Bay’s problems can’t be pinned completely on the defense/goaltending. It’s easy to think about hockey in compartments – scorers score, defenders defend, goaltenders tend goal. But it’s not that simple. I would submit to you the argument that the #1 problem for Tampa Bay, the granddaddy of all problems, a veritable Bowser of problems that waits at the end of a long string of Goombas and Koopas if you will, is a lack of defensively responsible forwards. Such thinking makes me wonder if the Bolts don’t have their eye on Sasha Barkov in the upcoming draft. While either Jonathan Drouin or Nate MacKinnon would make a sexier pick, Barkov, just 18, already has a reputation for being defensively aware. But the problem isn’t so simple. The weird fact that haunts the Tampa Bay Lightning is they have a slew of forwards that want to be defensively responsible. April 4, 2013; Raleigh, NC, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning center Steven Stamkos (91) carries the puck against the Carolina Hurricanes at the PNC center. The Lightning defeat the Hurricanes 5-0. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports Let’s use Steven Stamkos as an example. Stamkos has stated that he has a goal to be one of the best two-way forwards in the league. And let me tell you, there’s no lack of will. There’s no laziness in Stamkos’s defensive game. Nor, obviously, is there any lack of talent. And yet time after time he finds himself in slightly the wrong place at slightly the wrong time, and a puck goes into the wrong net. Stamkos, despite scoring more goals than anyone in the league over the last few years, still struggles to break a 0 plus/minus rating. There’s a certain point where these things can’t be chalked up to coincidence. What Stamkos lacks is simple knowledge. He’s a smart guy – it’s going to come over time, but he’s going to need someone, or several someones, to show him the way. I bring this up because it’s going to be a common thread through this examination of Tampa Bay’s scoring forwards. Martin St. Louis led the league in scoring, but he couldn’t break a 0 plus/minus rating. Vincent Lecavalier: -5. Meanwhile, the ratings of the bottom six forwards aren’t that bad when you consider how few goals those lines score (which is in line with their expectations). Bearing all that in mind, let’s have a look at the Lightning scorers. If you’re wondering why I’ve deemed these specific six players scorers, please refer to my article on Role Players for an explanation. The Scorers (Listed numerically…) #4 Vincent Lecavalier (GP) 39 (G) 10 (A)22 (PTS) 32 (+/-)-5 (PIM) 10 (ATOI)17:52 If you’ve read my articles throughout the year, you’ve probably noticed Lecavalier is my favorite whipping boy. And you’ve probably noticed how stellar I thought he played at the first of the season (I maintain that he was Tampa Bay’s best player up until his initial foot injury). What Lecavalier did through those first ten games or so was show us the kind of player he can be. The Bolts need a premiere two-way player, and a big-time physical forward, and for a while Lecavalier was both. There are a lot of theories out there saying Lecavalier’s play dropped off because of a number of injuries he accumulated through the season, ultimate