It looked worse than it is

Right wing Marty St. Louis sustained what looked to be a serious cut on his forehead and nose in the last minute of Saturday's game against the Senators.

St. Louis was inadvertantly kicked by the skate of a linesman but he needed only eight stitches to close the bloody wound.

Coach Rick Tocchet held out hope St. Louis could play Thursday against the Avalanche.

Comments

[leo]

Hey Chic,
What's your name on my blog?
P.

[PD]

Ajax no doubt you will hear exactly that come Feb. when they do go on a meaningless run to 14th.

[ajax]

Yes PD, by law, your paranoia, pessimisstic, and constant psychoanalysis is allowed, just not permitted. If the Lightning won 5 games in a row you would blog: What idiots, they are blowing the 1st round pick. No better yet, the league is out to get the Cowboys so they "let" them win to screw us out of the 1st pick. I think from now I will refer to you as 3P (see above) Hey if the shoe fits.

[PD]

save your breath weeder , those that are left are flat out chugging the koules aid.

[skp]

that skate to the face looked horrendous, i was queasy for a while after that replay, and was picturing the kind of permanent disfigurement that would make the "Saw" franchise proud, especially after boyler's severed tendons....thankfully the cut doesn't sound too deep and his vision is ok

[Tackleberry]

I am responding on this post, after playing catch-up from the weekend.

"Flasher,Dick,Keith,Brit, Patrick, NCF, see my post on the last article " Lundin clears..." at 10:25 AM. Tell me what you think.

Posted by: Coach Bill | December 14, 2008 at 10:57 AM"

The thought of V4 and/or MSL being traded is scary. The thought of what we would get in return may turn out to be a total dud. If one or both are traded, fans/bloggers would start to holler "Koules and Berrie are playing fantasy hockey again".

On the other hand, something drastic needs to be done about the team (not just short term). V4 'is' the franchise like Brittany said. To trade him this year would economically hurt the Bolts (as far as attendance). Next year's attendance would drop to 9-12k per game. The domino effect would be TB in the spotlight to be moved. I would rather see the team fold (completely) than to be a second Toronto team. In this economy, I just dont see them trading their cash cow.

Come next summer, we will likely get a high draft pick. What is the nucleus of the team right now and for the next few years? Some say get rid of all players and start over. Ownership almost did that, this is what we have.
When will TB try to stay the course? All of these trades, people up and down from Norfolk, not good for gellin. It will take years to rebuild this team.

Your da#@ed if you do, your da#@ed if you dont!

What to do about the "C" on V4. Do you keep it on V4? yes/no? To give it to another player would cause V4 to lose a lot of confidence in himself. Maybe? Maybe it would take the burden off his shoulders and just play hockey?? Dont know if he would voluntarily give it up or not?

There seems to be nothing done about the $ saved from Vrbata going away. I am assuming TB may pick someone up in Jan. I am guessing that Jussi will be leaving in Jan if he doesn't pick up his game.

Glad that MSL is OK.

[Hockey Chic]

Morning Fellow Posters,

Back from a full weekend of hockey. Man that sure will give you an attitude check. I was out side of ft myers all weekend and although the hotel said it had the game they did not. So we relied on the ole lap top. Needless to say after two games that day did not hear about the cut to msl's head until the next morning while watching espn at breakfast.

First question is was it the same ref that MSL hit with the puck? lol Second question did anyone see the replay? The dude looked like he was doing a figure skating move?

Glad MSL is OK. I think I saw him on the TV at the Christmas Party the Bolts did for kids with cancer. Man with all the cuts and stitches he is going to start looking like an ole time hockey player.

The tourney went better this time no shut outs and we had some pretty rough games. Played in Germain arena which was in kin on a small scale to SPT. It was sweet ice. Chic gave what she got and cannot imagine what the other girls looked like after the weekend. Needless to say they know who I am... lol

PD I am so glad I can come back afte a nice long weekend end of kickin a$s to your negatvity. I say once again stuff a sock in it and go back to the canadiens blog.

Go Bolts!!! Lets go Lightning....

[Patrick]

PD,

I'm stunned that someone of your class would stoop to personal insults.

[MANAVIS]

Say what you want about Tocchet...IMO if he is witnessing bad hockey then he needs to shut his pie hole and do something about it , then prove he's not just another management puppet. This team, this league needs to come to terms, that if they don't improve the product pretty soon, they won't be able to give away any tickets. I for one am sick of the ticky tacky B/S sissy calls these refs are making on a nightly basis through-out the league. The rules were suppose to inhance the teams ability to score more often. All that has been accomplished is we now have a watered down non-enjoyable game. Back during the old rules teams had to become more inovative to score. Now all you have to do is teach your team to instigate and then dive when they retaliate and you have a championship formula. The rules have not helped bring in any more fans, and if anything the league is losing fans faster than they are gaining them. Now that the economy is crash diving into the sewer, I would venture to say that an NHL ticket would be one of the first luxuries to go. Gary Bettman ought to have used the first year of inhanced rules as an experiment, better yet he should have seen that the rules have changed the game for the worst and are driving fans away from the game and not gaining any new ones. I plan to cancel my NHL ticket because frankly I'm sick of watching crap instead of hockey. On one last note, college hockey has become more intertaining and has more integrity than the NHL has.

[PD]

That would be Len Barrie and Vincent LeCavalier VOTT but there isn't a controlling force to pull it off anymore.

The franchise will just continue to drift until iyt shortly hits the rocks and becomes someone elses problem, but it won't be in Tbay.

Keep and eye on the 5th and 19th next couple of months..payroll days.

[The Voice of the Turtle]

Say what you will about Coach Tocchet and his role in the Lightning malaise, but he certainly is straightforward and honest in reporting his feelings about the game played by his team, "that was garbage hockey!"

It would appear that Rick would not have chosen to begin his head coaching in Tampa if he had it to do all over again. Frankly, who would blame him because the owners and management have left everyone involved with this dysfunctional organization disoriented, despondent, and discouraged.

If the road to hell is paved with "good" intentions, the place probably look likes a party given the type of intentions we have come to observe from comments by guys like Barry Melrose and Len Barrie.

It seems evident that the Lightning needs some very invasive surgery in the office and on the ice. And, most of the loyal fans are NOT going to like it.

I believe that what I expect will soon start to become apparent to all of us.

[PD]

For sure Bingo, that one sold no one.

[PD]

Heh patrick you little wuss, I said last week I'd be off a few days.
go cry in your porridge.

[bingo]

and the loser is? Hockey, Bettman, Ref's, Owners and ESPN. OOPS that's right they have the cigar man in the chair for his 10 second updates starting 1/1/xxxx pick a decade.

Snooze alarm had more excitement than this game. Tochet said it perfectly - Zero effort, Zero Intensity and not a soul could be found in a scoring slot all night.

[Patrick]

PD,

The fact I sounded like you for a game means I can actually call things for how they are - They played a horrible game.

I like how you praised Leo for doing what you could not - showing his face after the lightning had a brief success. But don't develop the character to do so in future for my sake. If you want to do something for my sake, just disappear.

[Joe]

I feel bad for Smith he plays another great game and gets the loss.

[PD]

Some news tidbits published today:
RING THE BELL

The Lightning may be a truly woeful team, but Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier always seem to light it up when they return to their home and native province.

St. Louis, who was raised in the Montreal suburb of Laval, had a pair of goals in Thursday's 3-1 win over the Habs, giving him 10 goals and 16 points in 15 games in his hometown. Lecavalier, who hails from Ile Bizard, had a goal and an assist at the Bell Centre, giving him eight goals and nine assists in 19 games in Montreal.

[PD]

Well thanks Amanda its nice to be missed, McGx your tacking skills are off .

You’re right, been travellin..you CIA Flasher?

Dick Weed nails it , what’s with DC lead about Marty when the story really is are they even worse than they look? SP Times is in bed with the Bolts to the tune of 2.7 mill per year sponsorship money, (x 8years) so they have a large moral obligation to not turn away fans.

Brittany good call on the staches. Flipping between the two HNIC games in Montreal and Ottawa. Don Cherry showed a clip of the Caps coming into the Bell Centre all dressed in suits and ties looking like a winner then showed the Bolts coming into Scotia place looking like the bums that they are from Barrie on Down

Leo , class brother you showed up after the debacle with no excuses despite half your line up being out. Great great line by you on the St Jean Kindergartners
I do see that the disappearing “artiste” is back

Stevr..the Varlamov kid looked rock solid in net, what a score. Caps actually got 4 of their key guys back last week. The Bolts have a chance to catch them ,only in the bizarre Ajax world.

Ajax..”they played a nice game” howler.
Glad you like Meszaros over Kuba Ajax even though Kuba has twice the points. Kinda funny Picard is one of the three stars yet again and LMAO, scores the winner. That 1st round pick that Lawton threw into that deal looks surreal now doesn’t it?

Patrick you are coming around!

Brendan Lawton is rated the worst free agent signing of all time. Here are the 5 worst. Stamkos is starting to look a lot like #4 on the list:
1. Brian Lawton (Minnesota North Stars in 1983)
Maybe what makes this pick even more significant is that the North Stars passed up on drafting Steve Yzerman, Cam Neely, Tom Barrasso, and Pat LaFontaine.
Lawton was a huge disappointment to say the least. His career best was 44 points in 12 NHL seasons, and he only played over 66 games once in his career.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/37242-nhl-the-five-worst-no-1-draft-picks-of-all-time

Flasher here’s another new Bolt theme song to go with ZZ top Bad Nationwide
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7VsoxT_FUY
George Thorgood Bad to the Bone

[Marv]

Glad you were not more seriously hurt Marty. Sure wish you guys would wear visors. We need you more than you can imagine.

While I realize the game was with a Canadian team, even a southern U.S. team shouldn't be screwed this bad by the officials! They were a joke! Hey Bettman, where do you get these guys?
Marv

[Brittany]

I think I almost fell asleep during the first period. I was bored out of my mind. You could tell that it was two teams that just haven't been able to get it together playing each other. I know that I said that the officiating was terrible, and I think we can all agree that it was, but I wasn't trying to use that or the ice as an excuse for us losing. We didn't deserve to win that game (well Smitty and Szczechura did, but the rest of the team didn't show up). And could we please figure out what the heck we are supposed to do on the powerplay, because we just stink. I think not having Malone in the lineup really hurts us there.

Good to see that Marty is okay. When they showed the replay of what happened, it looked pretty bad and I was worried about his eye.

[Patrick]

Keith,

I completly agree with you about the quality of that game. I consider it a small achievement of mine in perserverance that I was able to finish it, but one that was completely unrewarding in any sense. Thanks for that one bolts! If we have another one like that, just nuke the roster and start from scratch.

[Jim- NJ]

Good thing he's short or it couldve been his neck!

[NCF Bolts Fan]

Dear Santa,For Christmas I would like an actual hockey team that plays the game of hockey. Not just a group of guys skating with sticks. Also if you can find any officals that really know how to call a game. I'm not sure which was more discusting last night the Lightning or the Officals.

[keith]

That was about the worst hockey game I have seen in years, from both teams.
No wonder the NHL is worried about the games popularity. Watching grass grow would have been more entertaining and that even after I turned it off after the end of the second.
What the heck is going on?
I think I am going to start watching synchronized swimming....at least it wont be so disappointing might after night.

[Boltflasher]

It is apparent, rookies excluded, that all but about 3 guys on this team just don't give a ..... and are just collecting a paycheck that they don't deserve. This must change if they want fannies in the seats...

[Boltflasher]

New theme song for the Bolts...ZZTop "I'm bad, I'm bad, I'm nationwide..."

[Boltflasher]

I am disgusted by what I witnessed on nearly all aspects of that so-called
"NHL" game on display in the Canadian capital...both teams were bad, ice was bad, and officiating was bad...glad Marty not injured badly but the game WAS certainly as bad as it looked!

[Thunderbug]

Glad Marty is ok. Heal fast Little Big Man! We can't afford anyone to be down. Maybe DC should retitle this blog, "It is worse than it looks"? I know the guys have to be real low after the big Habs win. I know I am starting to lose the faith. After Caps ran the Sens around last night I had hoped this TBL team would be aggressive on the puck more than 5 minutes out of the game. Officiating sucked, but the Bolts sucked more.

go bolts.