MacDonald will sit

Guess it as too much to ask of Craig MacDonald after taking a puck in the mouth, losing nine teeth and getting his tongue and lower lip stitched back together to expect him to play. But it wasn't official until today that he would sit out tonight's game against the Hurricanes.

He actually sounds better than you would think. His speech is a little slurred considering the swelling and stitching and lack of teeth. But he was fairly upbeat while talking in the hallway outside the Lightning locker room after the morning skate.

"No Christmas pictures,'' he joked.

MacDonald said getting hit like that was the worst thing he ever has gone through, worse, even, than when someone skated over his hand. He said he remembers the entire thing and knew there was a real problem after he felt around in his mouth and didn't feel anything, as in no teeth. He also said four nerves in his upper gum were exposed.

He said he can still eat as long as the food is chopped up small because he can still chew with his back teeth. But with his tongue a mess, he said transferring the food from the front of his mouth to the back is a bit of a chore.

So, MacDonald sits. But Chris Gratton, who has missed only three games seems as if he'll play. Karri Ramo, too, as if you didn't know.

Comments

[Casper]

I have to agree, weez.
Oddly, we've done well with killer 'B's (Bradley, Bellows, Boyle, etc.) I used to keep bringing up Nick Boynton's name only to hear crickets...

[weezer]

Redden won't come here and he's way too expensive. NOT a fit for Tampa Bay.

[Casper]

I think we are on our way out of the goaltending swoon. Notice it got better with less key taps for the letters D-E-N-I-S? We can help Ramo, Holmer, Boutin, Helenius, etc with a pickup of two defensive monsters. Two guys always circulating in the rumor mill: Wade Redden, and Scott Hannan. (Just a thought---whom can you plug in?) Apply the above mentioned $10.6M here and watch how miraculously wonderful our goaltending gets. With that kind of expertise between the pipes, the confidence seeps forward to the money guys and scoring. (Even without Richie.)

[ajax]

Merry Xmas. Time to hit the hay. Clicked onto Yahoo hockey to see their weekly power ratings. We were as high as 8th when we had our big win streak. Tonight we sit at 28th! ouch. And the comment I thought was pretty good.
"No talk, just action. Trade one of the big 3 for goaltending help." Maybe he was reading our blogs. Maybe Jay should. Need new owners to untie our hands. Go bolts.

[leo]

And yet, Mike Richards would find himself stone-walled against Brodeur, Luongo, Lundquist, Leclaire or any other first-rate GOALTENDER.
That's where it's at.
That's the whole kaboodle.
The net.
Totally agree about your defensive ideas, Casper but if the opposing team scores NO goals, we win.
Once the net is shored up, sky's the limit.
Until that question-mark is adressed once and for all, for my part, I will always worry.
Go Rammo (was gonna write Romo, sorry) Go. But honestly, my eyes are wide open, and Rammo ain't IT.
I don't want to hope. I want to win.
Peace.

[Casper]

Happy Heinekens to all.
I have but one sentence to help our GM start the New Year on his new diet. Before grazing, think this one thought:
"Brad Richards and Marc Denis = $10.6 MILLION."
Sure does wonders for my appetite.
If I start thinking of the vault you'll throw at Boyler, I'm going to look like a resident of the Hanoi Hilton.
Do the right thing dag nabbit! Jettison those three, bring in a D-stud and lock up Lecavalier. How are the numbers? I dunno, let's see, 10.6 +3 +Vinny's 5-6 is 18 1/2 almost 19M. Lock up Vince and get a respectable blueliner (Phaneuf?? yeah right! But close...) and another sniper (Marleau?), then, like the old slogan from McDonald's, "Change back from your dollar."

The Flyers locked up MIKE Richards for 12 years fercrissakes.

[bear]

Tortsie didn't get stupid over night. I just don't think they have the horses to advance the puck any other way. He's making the best of what's in the cupboard.

[Nan]

Thanks, Ajax. You just expressed in "your rant" what I have been also trying to say. A frustrated Torts called on his top players to put out more because he doesn't know what else to do. The New Year's resolution of the others on this team should be that they need to contribute more. Maybe better passing and more accurate shooting! Torts resolution should be to stop calling out different players!

I will continue to watch this team win or lose. Of course, I am like a broken record on this, it would be more enjoyable to watch if Marty and Vinny are playing together!

Once again, Merry Christmas all!

[ajax]

I have always maintained it was the 6 Dmen more than anything. They don't skate, only rarely do they hold the blue line. The other night I think I am generous when I say they came away with 5 out of 25 battles behind the net. I have this one guy who is almost funny, always yelling "hit someone" It actually breaks the tension. It is a gigantic domino effect when your forwards have to come in so deep to help them out. I don't want to say never, but rarely do you see us transition the puck up the ice with 2/3 crisp passes and everyone going forward. The system of always passing to a stationary forward with his back to the offensive zone. It is safe but it is not winning hockey. Now the offense is being questioned, and I agree it is a joke. You have two of the top ten scorers in the league. Richards and Prospal are top 50. But lately they are right back to zero transition. And it all starts with a group of D that can not hold their own. It is similiar to a zone defense in Bball. Five guys back around the goalie, until that changes and the forwards can trust the D to win a few battles and turn and pass or God forbid turn and move their feet the offense will struggle to press the issue. The simple instruction of just skating forward would make a huge difference. They are always circling backwards, wrapping passes around the boards. Kuba himself had about three icings where he was literally 8 feet from the red line but just couldn't muster the effort to skate 8 more feet before he dumped. Lundin and Lukowich skate zero feet. Watch the game, Lundin very rarely has the puck for more than a second. The big question, and I think I know the answer, are they talented enough and confident enough to make passes and to skate. At the end of the game O'Brien took the puck, put his head down and skated all the way!! I think he was ticked off at this set play garbage they are doing now. How many times did the D seem to have all day to move the puck forward and retreated around the net for the "breakout". I have seen a wrap around pass to Vinny Prospal a million times in the last two years. At very best he passes to MSL or Vinny and the two of them attack. We talk about odd man rushes, we get almost none each and every game. This is the system. Forwards need to be skating forward, not stationary. In the last few weeks have you noticed the other D pinching more and more and more. I think our system is so easy to coach against. For one, we will rarely advance the puck thru the middle of the ice. Press that first wrap around and you have stopped us. Carolina kept us bottled up almost all night long and they are one of the worse D teams in the league. The paper said take away the 6 goal Calgary game and we are scoring 2 goals a game the past 10 games. Million fingers to point but I see a team so out of sync. I have noticed he is playing the big guys less on the penalty kill and guys attacking seems to be working better than tired superstars hanging around. Good for Torts. He is giving more minutes to the other guys. Maybe it is not paying off in the short term but this has to be done. And what is with changing lines 10x a game? Vinny must of palyed with 5 different combinations last night. How do they get to know and trust each other with that stuff going on? You have the highest scoring line in hockey(or close) and you are constantly tinkering. Why not address the other 3 lines with this" send in only two forwards and play D D D. Tell Richards I want you to be more responsible and be even on plus/minus. NJ has been a top team with this "system" for 10-12 years. I think Torts is desperate. He should ask out of his players only what they can give, instead of demanding something they can never achieve. We have 4 players left, BR MST VL DB, from that magical night. This team can not play like that night, so stop coaching a system that can not work. What a rant, so sorry being Xmas and all. I think I am frustrated as much as Torts. New Ownership will help. I look forward to the new year. It is funny no matter how ticked I get, everytime I go to the game I have a renewed hope. Can't say the same 3 hours later though.
Merry Xmas to all. My kids love the game win/lose. That is my New Year's resolution.

[wiggy]

You beat me to the punch on Boyle, Lisa.

He is the second most valuable player on this team. Our PP is much more potent with him in the lineup. The other blueliners, Ranger and Kuba especially, would be more effective with fewer minutes.

Can't agree about the "holiday slump." Lightning have had one meaningful win streak. Take that out of the equation and they've won 9 of 30 games.

[keith]

Forget the play offs. We will be the East doormat before the end of tghe season. "Something is VERY rotten in Denmark"
Unload, rebuild. If not all we'll get is the same old ****. .

[Lisa]

A few points. I am very impressed with Ramo and hope he continues to play this way. He is a definate improvement on what we had previously. I know it is just 2 games, and we have to hope he will continue to be consistent.

I think we really are missing Boyle. He was great at bringing the puck up ice and often if the offense was sluggish, he would just skate the length of the ice and shoot himself (and often times score). OB and Ranger have done a good job, but they haven't been able to replace that production from Boyle.

Each year, even the year they won the cup, they seem to go through a slump right around the holiday time, and each year to date, they have rebounded and managed to make it into the playoffs. I think that if Ramo keeps playing the way he is, we will have the opportunity to win some more games and get back into it.

Finally, everyone can have a bad night. Marty has been moved all over, playing with Richards, playing with Vinny, and playing many minutes. I am not surprised that sometimes things just don't click. Hopefully, after the 3 day break, they will be ready to come back and play.

[Nan]

Ramo looked pretty good once again. I agree that more games are needed to see if Ramo can keep it coming. I sure like his confidence though.

It seems every year since the Cup year, that these guys don't get their act together until January. They were in a similar spot last year. It starts with the goaltending. Maybe, just maybe that has been resolved. Then the D has to gel before the offense can go scoring. I agree with Ajax that the D are holding that puck behind our net for too long. I would also like to see the D skate the puck up the ice more. It is hard for our top guys to score if they are always back in our own end retrieving the puck from the D instead of getting passes from them!

So I read in the paper this morning, that Torts is now calling out his core players. Well, I guess he has now called out just about everyone on the team now hasn't he? I think that when that happens, he might want to look in the mirror. Hey, Torts, your top guys might score more if 1) you leave the MVP line alone and 2) skate less than 25 minutes a game. The other teams simply wait until the third period knowing our guys are pooped out and wham them! How many games now has this happened?

Merry Christmas everyone!

[Another Joe]

Well I hate to say it but it might be time for a coaching change. Reading Torts post game comments convinced me this team needs a new outlook. Sullivan is a good coach who can probably relate a little more to the players. Torts was the right coach and the right time but now its time for a change.

[Rudy]

And one more thing maybe we have to setup lines not by coach emotions, like they stating all the times, but by other criteria’s like everybody else does, and don’t mix them up all the time in critical game. That we have practice for.

[Rudy]

So now you people see exactly what I’m talking about for a while. I keep pointing that this situation is not goalies problem – Holmer and now Ramo. Denis is out for me. It’s team coordination’s. You place good quality players on a team, and SOMEBODY is in charge to make them play to WIN.
All we was hearing from Torts: “We need somebody between pipes to give us a chance to win . That is all we need”. Well goalie is not winning or losing a game. To win we have to score, and that is not what we doing. For while. You don’t score, you not win. Simple. You have bad “SYSTEM”, you getting goals, defense must now what to do. We playing street hockey against not better skills but better organized, managed or whatever you want cal it, teams. Now even Damminian is not blaming goalie anymore, I was kind thinking he will start calling for Denis, because of his spectacular performance in that one win. So now is it again one bad penalty of Hlavac, and Prospal is all of sudden part of CORE players, he is newer included , and we need him score more.
How come we hear only from AJAX very good points, like:” Attention coach: this is not how to play hockey.” “It is impossible for him to shoot from there. Any hockey players out there that know what I am talking about?”
By the way pardon my English, I’m originally from Europe.

[Nils]

Great, just great. Fourteenth place. A game in hand against only one team in the Conference and they are 8 points ahead of us in the standings. The highest paid player buries 8.5 percent of his shots. The coach knows only one way to play no matter what the personnel dictates. An ownership that won't spend and lies to the media and public. A GM that is working the Crazy Buffet more than the phones. Fans are really disgusted.

[leo]

Fair enough.
My point is that 2 games, for a fresh face eager to make his mark, will be the Trailer.
20 games will be the Movie.
Let's wait and see before hopping on the next bandwagon.
Peace.

[leanmean43]

Leo, Ramo's minor league stats this season didn't reflect his ability because the first game back from injury he got tired in the third and let in 4 goals for Norfolk. But if you take the stats from the 4 games after that bad one he was 2.12 with a 92 sv% or something like that.

[leo]

Hey.
Game. Two.
Ramo played a very good game. A very good game.
Game. Two.
Playing against a lesser goalie than Ward (this night, anyway) he would have won easily. Fast. Followed the puck. Very solid. Funny how his minor average did not reflect his performance, isn't it?
Game. Two.
Thrill me, K-dog.
Peace.

[Not The Marlboro Man]

This team plays one night and stumbles or quits the next. I'll be hard pressed to buy any tickets next year unless they fix all this stupity. I'm like any other fan I'll pull for them win or lose but I pull for them more when they win. The sad thing is I think all this could have been avoided if the owner and GM and president were all on the same sheet of music and weren't trying to hornswoggle the fans into thinking that this team was the best they could put together. This troll of an owner should have tried to sell the team before the season ever began. Now it looks like it will take a miracle for them to make the play-offs. And Brad Richards looks like he has given up on ever scoring on a five on five again. I still say this team needs an enema. With all that, I'm heading to the Bar to try to forget this crap again. Good luck next game, because they look like they will need it.

[bear]

Merry x mas right back Ajax and to all'

So right about a RH shot down low. If not the whole 4 man d box can cheat to the other side and they do.

[Bear]

Worst part is that Atl and Florida got points tonight, as well as the Canes and Washington.

[ajax]

I fell asleep at the game so I thought I might stay up a couople of hours.
Ramo did look good. He challenges the shooters, he helps his team by playing the puck. It is only two games but his technique is so much better than Homer. Time will tell. The boys looked ready for Xmas break. At times I wonder if they can ever get the puck up ice. What is it with the this system that the D has to bring the puck behind the net and wait for everyone. It sure helps the other D get in position. Can any of these D men help their team out by just good ole fashion skating? Kuba must of had the puck twenty times and he just refuses to advance the puck himself. Every single part of the Lightning game would improve if they just could transition the puck from defense to offense a little bit better. For weeks now they simply have a tough time getting the puck out of the zone and usually just use the 50ft bankaroo to a stationary forward. Attention coach: this is not how to play hockey.
Last beef, we have a 5 on 3 and he plays Prospel(a left handed shooter) down low. In all my years on the planet I have never seen this done. When Prospal gets the puck he holds it and lets the D set back up. You have to, HAVE TO, put a right handed player down their. It is impossible for him to shoot from there. Any hockey players out there that know what I am talking about? When he gets a pass from RIchards he simply can not shoot from there. This only helps the D to get back into position. I am at a loss. Anyone also notice how Carolina pretty much assigns a guy to Vinny and says someone else will have to beat us. Hope somebody steps up.
Merry Xmas to all, bright side is maybe we do have a goalie, I like his aggressiveness. Merry Xmas once again.

[ryan callahan]

OUCH. that sounds painful. hopefully he gets better soon. and i really like what i see from ramo. only 3 goals allowed in 2 games, and its a shame that we couldnt get more goals for him tonite so that we could get him the win. but public enemy number 2 cam ward was in net for the canes tonite. (if you are wondering who public enemy 1 is... its martin broduer)

[Sol]

Are we in last place yet? Another bad loss. The new golie is good, but the rest of the team looked weak. Marty St.Sissy seems to have forgotten how to dump and rush not to mention check. Marty used to be pretty tough for a little guy, but not any more. He doesn't want any contact at all. Is he injured?

[Nan]

Well, I am glad that they are sitting Mac out. He needs to rest from that one! I agree with other posters, put your feet up Mac!

I hope that Ramo has another good start. I think this kid is just so cocky, he might just pull off another win! If the D can just play like they did the other night and the Vinny line can get a few pucks in the net at the other end, hey who knows!

Go Bolts!

[Niki]

One word: OUCH! Get well soon Mac.

Merry Christmas everyone.

[Rudy]

You guys correct, Ramo is and will be very good goalie, and hopefully he going to have god carrier. Hope they not going to screw him up like they did with all other goalies we ever have here – confidence. He not supposed to be backup , because setting is not going to be good for him. He is not that type. He has to play.I think Holmer is willing to be his backup, and good one. But I still thing, Holmer is #1. He is best we got. He has great experience – internationally, not in NHL, which is same, because in NHL is more European players then Americans anyway. The key players.
Don’t forget that in Toronto we played extremely well compare to previous games. If we keep playing like that, none of our goalies have a problem. I mean Holmer or Ramo. The other one I don’t count. But if we going to get to “our system” no defense and no offence, just make sure you pass puck somebody else so you don’t get in trouble or maybe somebody will hit you, then Ramo wil be in the same hole like Holmer . Only he going to have beter backup. And we going to se high score again. Not from us. Like I set already million times it’s a team sport, and somebody has to stear that tem to play and win. That is all we ned. All of us working hard to make some money, so we can spend it for entertaining our self to watch a hockey, so we deserve to get what we paying for.

[Jonathan]

Macdonald - Get better soon, take those horse tranquilizers. Wash down with booze. (Just not before a game.)

Gratton - Cant wait to see you back in front of the net. There have been a lot of people on the anti-Gratton bandwagon lately but he and Kuba were working well down low on the PP together. Led to some goals by other Bolts players, even though he doesnt get the credit.

Ramo - I wasnt impressed last year coming in relief of the other 2, but I am never a big fan of judging someone in that position. He played well the other night, he seemed to know when to glove the puck to slow down Toronto's momentum. He challenged players by coming out of the crease and I think he is very vocal with the defencemen, so they arent constantly screening him. He is going to let in some soft goals here and there and he is going to lose some games. I am hopeful that he is given the reigns at this point and will win more then he loses and instill some confidence in the 5 players in front of him.
I dont think a lot of bloggers here are looking for a miracle from him, just a solid effort. We have the players in front of him that can pick it up from there.

[Another Joe]

Of course he will have bad games. But i think you can tell this kid has alot more ability then the others we have. I doubt he will have very many games in his career where he lets in 6 goals.

Go Bolts and go Ramo!

[Bolt32]

In all honesty i thought he played his position extremly well, he made saves through traffic which i still dont know how he could of seen the puck. He was cutting off angles well before a player could get a shot off.

I dont want to seem like I'm hyping the kid up to be the next brick wall. What made Roy so good was not that he made awesome saves time and time again, actually from what i remember he dident make many of them. He just positioned him self so he didn't have to. If the last game against toronto was any indication then Ramo has the same type playstyle, and personally I'm lovin it.

[leanmean43]

Guys, don't give up on Ramo if his start tonight isn't as good, he's only 20. I know you guys are gonna be all over him if he stinks tonight. He still needs to work on his positioning a bit, (he was a little deep in his net against Toronto) and his rebound control, but his mental toughness is the most important thing, because technique can be refined but mental toughness cannot be taught. Holmer and Denis seem to have problems with their confidence and I think that's why they are inconsistent.