It starts with Vinny. For a new Lightning owner, it always does.

Eventually, perhaps other things will matter more when Lightning fans judge Vinik. Perhaps he will finally bring stability to the franchise. Perhaps he will finally make the rest of the league think of the Lightning as a smart, calculating franchise. Perhaps he will be hungry enough, passionate enough, wealthy enough to make the Lightning essential once again. Perhaps he’ll even hang around for a few seasons.

For now, however, there is Vinny.

Do you think Vinik can get to him?

Soon, the Lightning will be his. Perhaps by the team’s next game (on March 2), the deal will be complete. (The transaction might have been completed by now, but word is NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has misplaced his rubber stamp again, and owners say they won’t buy him a new one until at least March.)

Still, this feels as if it is all but done. Before long, Vinik will close the deal on the schizophrenia of a team and the apathy of the fans, on the underachieving players and the overpaid ones, on a defense that can allow four goals in the time it takes you to sneeze and on an offense that seems to think the net is currently starring in the final season of Lost.

Click here to read the full article – By Gary Shelton of St. Petersburg Times

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Lightning coach Rick Tocchet said he will be hanged if he doesn’t play goaltender Antero Niittymaki tonight against the Bruins.

Scorching, really, though Niittymaki’s record in his past eight starts doesn’t tell the whole story.

It’s one thing to win. It’s another to carry a team that during a 7-1-1 roll has scored 22 goals, a paltry 2.4 average, though that is plenty when your goalie is in a stretch with a 1.09 goals-against average and .965 save percentage in the seven wins and one shootout loss.

“He’s been amazing,” defenseman Andrej Meszaros said.

Please, Niittymaki said, “It’s not that huge a deal.”

“You’re just relaxed and patient and wait for the puck to come to you,” he said Wednesday at the Ice Sports Forum. “I’m not out there in a zone. You feel good and things are going good. That’s about it.”

Click here to read the full article – By St. Petersburg Times

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It was just as well the puck found its way back to Steven Stamkos after his blazing shot clanked off the post Sunday against the Capitals.

“The most important thing,” he said, “is to hit the net.”

Stamkos picked a top, inside corner, right where he aimed; another display of one of the league’s most devastating shots, a one-time slap shot from the left faceoff circle that consistently finds the short side between goaltender and post.

“He has one of the best shots in the league from that position,” coach Rick Tocchet said.

It is a main reason Stamkos has a team-best 29 goals and entered Monday tied for the league lead with 12 on the power play.

The shot also is one of the best ways to measure how far Stamkos, 2008’s No. 1 overall draft pick, has come in confidence and production.

In the 87 games since Jan. 29, 2009, when he was benched for a third and final time as part of last season’s program to make him a smarter and stronger player, Stamkos has 83 points on 46 goals and 37 assists.

Compare that with six goals and 13 assists in 46 games prior, during which he admitted thinking, “My shot’s not as good. My hands aren’t as good,” and that he might be better off back in juniors.

Click here to read the full article – By St. Petersburg Times

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Veteran D Mattias Ohlund returned to the lineup Monday against Colorado after missing seven games with an ankle/foot injury, and D Mike Lundin was reassigned to AHL Norfolk.

Ohlund missed more games than expected – he said it was difficult watching – but the Lightning had the luxury of not having to rush him back because of their depth on the blue line.

Lundin played well in four games, averaging 16:59 in ice time. But his contract status as a player who didn’t have to clear waivers and two-way salary made him the obvious choice to clear a roster spot.

Tampa Bay still has eight defensemen, although Kurtis Foster also is playing some forward. Besides Ohlund and Foster, suiting up Monday night were Lukas Krajicek, Matt Walker, Andrej Meszaros, David Hale and Victor Hedman. Matt Smaby was a scratch and still hasn’t played this season.

Click here to read the full article – By Tampa Tribune

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After nearly two years and two broken wrists, former Lightning C Brad Richards finally feels comfortable in his new surroundings.

It’s not that Richards didn’t feel welcomed by the Stars’ organization following the February 2008 trade that sent the former Conn Smythe Trophy winner to Dallas in exchange for G Mike Smith, C Jeff Halpern and LW Jussi Jokinen. Richards said it has just taken him some time, and perhaps a coaching change from Dave Tippett to Marc Crawford, for him to feel like he completely fits in.

Judging from his start, entering Saturday tied for the second in the league with 23 assists and tied for fifth with 30 points for a traditionally slow starter, Richards appears to be right at home.

“This is the best start I’ve obviously had personally,” Richards said. “It’s been good to get some confidence going right from Day One. I don’t think when I first got here that they really understood me nor did I clearly understand what they wanted, and that’s normal. They had a really good team when I got traded here, they were used to playing and doing things a certain way. It took awhile for me to fit in.”

Click here to read the full article – By Tampa Tribune

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The thing about scoring a goal into one’s own net is that it is so unexpected.

Players fight and claw and scratch for 60 minutes to keep the puck out of their net, so when a player chalks one up for the opposition, it is as if the equilibrium of the sport has been hip checked.

Such was the case Saturday, when Lightning defenseman Paul Ranger inadvertently shot the puck past goalie Mike Smith to give the Thrashers their first goal of the season en route to a 6-3 victory.

“It happens,” Ranger said. “It still hurts.”

Click here to read the full article – By Damian Cristodero of St. Petersburg Times

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After a series of major changes a summer ago, the Lightning entered last season’s opening game with blind optimism, then proceeded to stumble to the fewest wins in the league and a 29th-place finish.

Following another extreme summer makeover, Tampa Bay prepares to open the 2009-10 season in Atlanta tonight with an optimistic approach resulting from a cautious confidence that has grown during training camp.

But it all stems back to the start of the summer, when General Manager Brian Lawton was appointed by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to serve as the sole voice when it came to hockey personnel decisions while co-owners Oren Koules and Len Barrie determined a way to settle their differences.

While the drafting of 6-foot-6 Swedish defenseman Victor Hedman with the second overall pick served as a big piece of Lawton’s new puzzle, the real work started July 1 when veteran defenseman Mattias Ohlund agreed to a seven-year contract.

Click here to read the full article – By Erik Erlendsson of Tampa Tribune

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If not for a stupendous pad save by Thrashers goaltender Ondrej Pavelec, Lightning left wing Alex Tanguay would not have been having this conversation.

But there he was Thursday at the St. Pete Times Forum being asked if there was concern he played four preseason games without a goal.

“No, not at all,” Tanguay said. “I’ve had my chances. It’s just a matter of getting the puck to the net, and things will come.”

Besides, he said, smiling, “The first (scrimmage) game, I scored three, so if every five games I score three goals, that’s what, 50?”

Click here to read the full article – By Damian Cristodero of St. Petersburg Times

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Lightning coach Rick Tocchet said he likes what he sees from captain Vinny Lecavalier. So much so, he said he sees “a different Vinny.”

“It’s his attention to detail, the way he’s running the team, the room,” Tocchet said Wednesday at the St. Pete Times Forum. “When we have off-ice workouts, he makes sure everybody’s in there.”

Lecavalier also has accepted a strategy of coming back into the defensive zone for the puck to ignite breakouts instead of waiting for the puck to come to him.

“He’s been one of our best players coming down low for the puck,” Tocchet said.

Click here to read the full article – By Damian Cristodero of St. Petersburg Times

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