Melrose: Time for stars to step up

I wrote about this earlier in the week but you have to like a coach who at least puts his stars on notice that they aren't playing as well as they should. I don't know what he can do about it if they keep underachieving. It's not like Tampa Bay is so deep he can start benching a lot of people, right? But at least he's making the effort.

So, from today's morning skate:

"I'm going to give our skill guys a chance to get going, but it's time for them to start doing the things we hoped they would do. ... It's time for some guys in our lineup to start going. They've played four games now. If you're a goal scorer and not scoring, what else are you giving our team? They have to decide. If you're not scoring and everybody goes into a slump, you've got to help the team in other ways. It's time for some of our stars to put the puck in the net and start helping us out all over the rink."

Nice, right?

Thing is, we saw what happens when Tampa Bay players decide they're going to really play and get to the net and work for position and the puck: three goals in a third period against the Islanders to salavage a point it appeared they wouldn't get.

"In today's game, you have to go to the traffic areas to score," Melrose said. "You have to get to near the front of the net and you have to shoot the puck and score rebounds and tip-ins. Pretty goals are tough to come by in today's NHL with everybody coming down and protecting the front of the net."

Melrose didn't name names, but it's not hard to tell to whom he was referring. Marty St. Louis with four shots on goal, Radim Vrbata with zero points and demoted for tonight's game against the Wild to Chrs Gratton's line; Ryan Malone, though he scored the other night, has seven shots on goal.

What do you think of Vrbata's response?

"It's a team game," he said. "Obviously, the goal scorers are here to score goals, and we scored some goals. But we still made some mistakes defensively, and we're taking to many penalties. I think those penalties are the worst thing, since training camp, because the goal scorers are sitting on the bench and out of the play. When you're sitting on the bench for four minutes if you take two penalties in a row, it's tough to get back into it."

So, as we discussed in the paper the other day, when things are tough, the goal scorers have to come to the rescue. They did it Thursday against the Islanders. The team needs much more of the same. It needs what Melrose said Vinny Prospal brought against New York.

"Vinny was the one guy who wouldn't quit," Melrose said. "Vinny was out there winning battles and going to the front of the net and honding the puck, and then all of a sudden another line starts doing it and another line starts doing it. I thought he was awesome."

Other stuff from this morning: Mike Smith will start in goal. ... Defenseman Marek Malik will not dress as Melrose said his conditioning is not where it needs to be. Not surprising, really. It's tough to push yourself when skating alone, as he had been doing in the Czech Republic. Tuesday against the Thrashers is still a possibility. ... Melrose called Minnesota's Mikko Koivu "one of the five best young players in the game." ... Center Ryan Craig (groin) skated with the team, and Melrose said he is "close" to being ready to play. Craig called it "a positive step forward." ... David Koci and Jason Ward are scratched again, as is defenseman Jamie Heward.

Comments

[Mike13]

Wow, you really got me there Steve-O. Great post. Probably the best of the day. Not.

Well, Stamkos got almost 14 minutes of ice-time. Still no twine. Same for the other guys I called out. Still no win.

Good call by Melrose on sitting Vrbata. Radim needs to decide if he wants to play for this team or not. He stunk throughout the preseason and has done nothing so far in the regular season.

I liked the level of play tonight. Great game by Smitty.

[McGz]

looks like koci's in and vrbata's out. Not sure if that's the right call. But boogaard is a heavy weight. I think Roberts should have sit. Vrbata needs to play to score. What has Roberts done? Go bolts!

[Don in St. Pete]

Excellent point by the Turtle who spoke wisely as always. Why isn't Melrose saying "We need to go to the net"? Good post Steve-O. I still question why Vrbata, who had 3 shorthanded goals last year isn't even tried on the PK. For Herb, Prospal is no faster than Malone. If speed is all they cared about, then put Vrbata up there, but balance and defensive responsibility are also factors. The guys are still finding they're way. By the end of the 1st period if not sooner, Vrbata will be back with Stamkos and Malone.

[Steve-O]

Well since you say those guys need to find the twine, period, I bet it will happen. It might help Stamkos find the twine if he could actually get on the ice, but that's just a technicality cause I have seen his videos and bet he could score from the second row. If we aren't on a PK for 1/3 of the game we might get some shots on goal. Perhaps the coach can ask the boys nicely not to commit penalties that way no one will get their feelings hurt.

[Mike13]

What are the line combos for tonight? Here's my forecast:

Prospal - Lecavalier - St. Louis
Malone - Stamkos - Recchi
Artyukhin - Jokinen - Hall
Roberts - Gratton - Vrbata

Meszaros - Ranger
Carle - Niskala
Krajicek - Lundin

Smith

[Mike13]

Marty, Radim, Jussi, and Steven need to start finding the twine. Tonight. Period.

[Boltflasher]

Well, the indirect silver lining in that move of moving Prospal was that Prospal played a lot better when moving back to the MVP line...now leave that line alone...

[Herb]

I don't need to give him any kind I chance. I thought his hiring in the first place was wrong. I have an opinion and I am entitled to it. The MVP line produced some good numbers last season, only to be split up by Melrose this year. The line put up some points against the Isles, when they were put back together and proves my point. A slow Ryan Malone had no place playing on a line with Vinny and Marty. That was a Melrose decision, wasn't it??? It failed miserably.

[Thunderstruck]

So many nasty comments about Melrose. I wonder when they're going to let you get behind the bench if you think you're better? Give the guy a break...way too early to blame this mess on the coach. With the circumstances he walked into this year, he deserves at least the season to show what he can do to mold a team.

[Boltflasher]

At tonight's game I will watching Roberts to see what he is contributing. Its time for him to contribute something to this team...

[Herb]

Not to mention Smelrose's decision to take Prospal off of the MVP line. That was a totally ignorant move on his part.

[ottrock]

Lets see Filip Kuba leading NHL D in scoring and playing rock solid..check

Young D Picard earning 18-20 minutes a game hammering people in front of Gerber. check

Here is video of great goal he scored last week

http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8470678

Were looking forward to the 1st round pick you threw in.
check

[Ruthe Robertson]

Same old rhetoric! Goodness, don't these players know what they have to do. Do you really need a coach to tell you to get in front of the net, go in the traffic areas, shoot the puck, etc. Just tell them to go out and play like they are capable of and everything else will fall into place.

[Voice of the Turtle]

Barry:

You know the old hockey adage that starts with "You can't fire all the players, so..."

You need to light a fire under these guys. A former Lightning coach found out that you do NOT achieve that end by crying to the media and pointing fingers at your players. It seems, while pontificating at ESPN, you took a dim view of that when it was done by others.

We see that you have a slick wardrobe, a Hollywood do, and comfortable glibness when a mike is put in front of your yap. But, YOUR job is no longer giving commentary. It is now COACHING.

In the Melrose quote cited by DC, the words "they" and "them" were used several times. If and when the Lightning start performing well, perhaps the coach will THEN start employing the first person pleural when talking about his team.