Ranger, Smaby out; Quick up

Lightning coach Rick Tocchet said at today's skate that defenseman Paul Ranger will sit out tonight against the Sharks. Ranger has played three games since missing three with an upper body injury. Though Ranger played great Monday against the Kings, Tocchet said, "There are certain things you can't jeopardize with a kid like that."

Also, Matt Smaby was put on injured reserve with a lower body injury. So, Tampa Bay again will play with five defensemen as Kevin Quick was called up from AHL Norfolk.

Tocchet admitted he didn't know much about Quick, but said assistant coach Wes Walz has advised him he is good moving the puck. "He's quick, pardon the pun," Tocchet said. With yet another rookie on the blue line -- Vladimir Mihalik also is up -- the pressure will fall to Marek Malik, Lukas Krajicek and Andrej Meszaros to fill the gap. They did that extremely well Monday against the Kings, when Ranger played 27:08, Meszaros 28:21, Krajicek 24:09 and Malik 23:11. The stars, though were Ranger and Meszaros, both of whom saved a goal in the game's final minute by falling on and pushing away a puck that was lying in the Lightning crease.

"We knew we were going to have a five D back there. We just kept with our game, a regular game, play hard, play smart," Meszaros said. "It doesn't matter if its five D or six D, we just have to play."

Other stuff from this morning: With the Lightning already 3-1 on this five-game road trip, it is a success. Another point tonight would make it something of which to really be proud. But facing the Sharks, the best team in the league right now, seems daunting, especially with a depleted defense. "There's a lot of statistical stuff that this is an impossible game for us to win," coach Rick Tocchet said. "What I said to the team, "It is impossible, but let's get to work.' It's amazing what you can bring your mind and body to do in situations like this. It's going to be a fun game for us to see where we stand." ... Forward Jussi Jokinen is back in the lineup after sitting out one game. Ryan Craig will be out as Tocchet explores a rotation of players to keep everyone fresh. Tocchet said he is not one to keep lineups the same just because a team is winning if players are not doing the job. Having said that, Tocchet stressed Craig has done nothing wrong. He just didn't want Jokinen sitting out too long, and Tocchet said he could use left wing David Koci on defense if he had to. ... Mike Smith starts in goal again. ... Backup goalie Olie Kolzig (left arm) went through a rigorous practice after the team skated, and said he is about ready to return. "I just need a full team practice and I'm good to go," he said. ... Sharks coach Todd McLellan said this is a different Tampa Bay team than the one that fell 3-0 0to San Jose in October. "Their confidence level is up," he said, "and the work ethic really looks like it's there. If we don't match that we'll be chasing our tails all night." ... As for former Lightning defenseman Dan Boyle, McLellan said he has to be included in the top five defensemen in the league. "There's nothing in his game that surprises us now," McLellan said. "The offensiveness, the vision, the competitiveness. I wasn't sure what we were getting as far as a defensive player, and his expectations there probably exceeded what we thought he would get." ... Tocchet had some nice words for Steven Stamkos, who played Monday after sitting out Friday's game with the Ducks and had an assist against the Kings. "He took a hit on that goal to get the assist," Tocchet said. "He's a work in progress. He's got to get a little more aggressive. Not so much jam, he just has to get a little bit more bite to his game."

Comments

[hockeytalkie]

bill -i'm not going tomorrow, unless my pal terri calls. i'll be there sat night though. see you then.

[Boltflasher]

Goin tomorrow night Coach, but don't know what time I will get there...I'll be one of those of the throng that show up at the 1st intermission....will come by if i'm there by then!

[Coach Bill]

Thanks Patrick and thanks all of you for your thoughts and prayers. Sure is good to be home.

Last Sunday morning, I told my wife I was going to go up to the corner for a coffee. She said OK but first I had to Shovel out my car. I said "What? Oh no!" There was 6 inches of the white stuff blocking me in. I haven't shoveled snow in 32 years. Wearing Florida clothes didn't help either. By the time I got to the diner, I was as miserable as everybody else up there.

See ya tomorrow night. Anybody meeting between the 1st and 2nd?

[Patrick]

Coach,

Good to have you back.

[Coach Bill]

Calm down,Hv. He's just trying to ease the pain a bit so they don't get too crushed.After all, they're really not a seasoned group, but rather a team of young kids, many of them just up from the AHL where they really belong for a while. They're way over their head and coach is just telling them that it's not their fault. When you're outnumbered in a fight, throwing a suckershot is not always the best idea.

[hyjyljyj]

Wait! I take it back.

I get it--REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY, right? Absolute genius! Before the next game you'll tell them, "Listen, guys...you are pure rotting garbage. You and I know it, the whole coaching staff knows it, every hockey fan around the world knows it. You guys are nothing, you've always been nothing, and that's all you'll ever be. I could fricken put ice skates on Barack Obama, throw him out there and get better defense than this. You're a bunch of zeroes, I can't believe I'm stuck coaching a bunch of cellar-dwelling losers like you, and every day I cross off on the calendar brings us that much closer to flushing this wretched losing season down the toilet. Now, tonight's game is impossible to win. We all know that. But let's try to keep them in single digits if you can! C'mon! Who's WITH me!!?!?" And they'll rise up to the challenge.

Brilliant tactic, bravo

[hyjyljyj]

"There's a lot of statistical stuff that this is an impossible game for us to win," coach Rick Tocchet said. "What I said to the team, "It is impossible, but let's get to work.'"

Uh....coach....you're the pro and all, and you certainly were RIGHT, of course, which is important, but..unless there's a chapter in Coaching for Dummies or The Complete Idiot's Guide to Coaching that says it's smart to tell your players IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO WIN...you might want to, you know, cram that crap way up deep where the sun don't shine.

Just sayin'

[ajax]

This game shows you what a huge difference between Ranger and Emminger at 25 minutes each versus Malik and Krijicek at 25. Lawton needs to find something/somewhere. Completely write off this game. You had minor league guys and lots of them playing on D for 20 minutes against the best team in hockey. The game says alot more about hte big picture. Have only 3.5 Dmen in the entire organization. Krijicek you would think would be playing like an animal as a RFA and making peanuts (for hockey that is) He needs to be a healthy scratch again but instead played #3 minutes last night. Ranger with all of his mistakes does lots right and helps sooooo much in the transition game. I hope he is a Lightning for a long time and we find away to clone him (x2)

[Coach Bill]

2 A.M. and I'm home.Back from the freezing snow in Rhode Island. Never realized how much we all must mean to each other. I really missed you all. Saw Don from St. Pete has surfaced. That's good. The V4 thing is very bitter sweet. I love Vinny but really see him going nowhere here. I've said this right along. Move him and adress our needs. His ticket could give us the components we need to rebuild this mess. I'd really love to see him fly again with the Canadiens. I used to be a Montreal fan. He definitely fits. I've alluded to the fact that he could be the next Beliveau. He's that great and classy. His trade could put us back into having a real NHL team again. I'm skepticle, however, of our mgmt. being knowledgeable enough to address this with the right mindset to make it work for us. Let's hope.

[2WayCenter]

Not a pretty game. Except for the first 8 mins of the 2nd period. If Vinney hits that feed from Pettinger in the slot to tie it at 2, might have been a different game.

Not sure the old Flyers physical style will win a cup given the touch penalties that are called in the game today. But they gave it a try tonight.

[Geografer]

And with that goal Ramo just dropped below .800 in save percentage - .781 to be exact. This is why they didn't play Smitty but I do feel for Ramo. No points for Boyle but he is a +3 tonight plus he was also out for two of the PP goals and has more points then all but Marty and Vinny (not that long ago he actually had more than both of them).

This result is not unexpected but is a bad end to what (other than Phoenix) has been a great road trip for the team. Let's just hope they can forget this and take out Philly (who just had their 7 game home win streak come to an end tonight).

[hockeytalkie]

c'mon guys

say no to the snowman! sad watching them scrap that whole 1st half of the period against a superior opponent, only to be undone by (mostly) stupid penalties in the second half of period.

guess we'll have to wait a few more nights before we pass the leaves

[Max Hunter]

ummmm...Even if we are losing.

:(

[Max Hunter]

I don't care what anyone says...

This is not the same team as the team at the beginning.

I'm not sure who'll win tonight - but it's not the same team as when we started.

[Geografer]

I think the San Jose announcers have hit this whole Vinny trade thing on the head. The names being said to come this way in the trade are a joke and if Lawton were to take them he should be shot. If there were a trade it better involve some names like Andrei AND Sergi Kostitsyn AND Andre Markov – I don’t know if I agree with the Carey Price idea they are suggesting but throw in some picks, the brothers and a decent d-man (Markov) it at least wouldn’t be as big a screw-up as the Boyle/Lukowich trade. And they are right - you would have to back up the moving trucks if you were to trade the face of this franchise as you would totally alienate the fans. The fact is there will be no trust and no support if this trade were to happen. I really think this is all Lawton and Barrie (I also think he had personal issues with Boyle which is really why he was traded). That said can we trade with San Jose again? How about Vinny for Thornton and Boyle?

AK - I have it on Center Ice - no pixelation issues but the sound is breaking up occasionally.

I do want to give Ramo some due - he actually played a pretty ok 1st. 2 on 17 isn't as bad as I thought it might be.

[AK]

Anyone watching on Center Ice having reception problems, pixelation issues?

[mike p]

Ramo in net, very weak D...we've literally thrown this game to the sharks. (Pun intended)

[hockeytalkie]

icebergs ahead! with the D they're playing tonight. w/sjs O, maybe didn't want an L hung on smitty for no reason.

[Geografer]

Maybe they don't want to screw up Smitty's numbers. Let's see they already have one goal on 5 shots.

[Josh G]

Ramo is in net tonight, any reason for the last minute change?

[bingo]

Tonight is the night and we win...... of course it is which team does the winning.

The play in the last 12 games has been much better. They are about 5/6 weeks behind the growth that we hoped for from the team. With 41 games left the only chance is to win 30 of those games to have any chance and i don't think the fat lady will sing that often for us. I would be happy with 24 - 26 wins in the second half as a step in the right direction. Time will tell.

[Geografer]

hmm - let's see - the Sharks have yet to lose in regulation this season at home and have only twice and both were in shootouts. Plus you have Boyle who you know is going to be on a serious tear and now only 5 D and none are that good anyway. All I can do is hope that Smitty's numbers don't get to screwed up tonight.

[hockeytalkie]

thanks marosh and bingo for the links.

[AK]

Definitely seems to be a different injury for Ranger. During the scrum in front of the net w/less than a minute left in the game, Ranger, leaving his stick behind, left the ice clutching his left arm/wrist. The surgically repaired shoulder was the right so hopefully the injury last night wasn't too serious.

[bingo]

marosh it is on at 10:30 both at the atdhe.net and here is another link
http://www.justin.tv/dman2077

this is a site for the sharks and there games along with many others are always broadcast.

Enjoy and go Bolts.

[marosh_svk]

AS I have been watching our games lately, I see the big improvement, we have goalies, not as bad D as it was before, some young players was called up, coaches have been doing their job well, we have the strong penalty killers, best hitting forward in this league,

OK Ranger Meszaros are the top D here, Eminger can play, and if we have Smaby, Krajicek, or lundin, malik as our 5th or 6th, I will have no problem with this team anymore.

Just get another D to play as 3 or 4th, it doesnt sound like impossible thing.

AND keep vinne, trade him only if they offer komisarek, higgins, and subban, Latendresse, and 1st round draft pick. :)))

[marosh_svk]

hockeytalkie,

Are you sure?? I think we can watch that game, lets see, maybe it may work,

http://atdhe.net/

[Boltflasher]

Down to 2 and 1/2 (D)men again...

[hockeytalkie]

Quick, Mihalik, Malik and Krajicek? along with Meszaros. well here comes a loss unless mez plays 40 min. glad it's late and untelevised.

here's hoping we avoid the snowman. maybe they should put Ramo in just to get him some work as well.

[Ben bolt fan]

Ranger hurt again? This is a probelm for a blue liner that is not use to being a banger. This is why trading away OBrien has hurt this team. Toughness comes in different styles. Hitting poeple thourghout a game is being tough and your body holding up to the hitting is toughness. I would use Kocci as an extra d man. He will be the freshes of them all seeing how he played 30 seconds last night.
Even I am not a big Meszaros fan, he can log some minutes. With Sully as caoch, he has shown a lot of improvement on defense. I was at the 3-0 shut out by the Sharks. I am not expecting anything different tonight. Over all a good road trip if they only win there home games.