It's hard to believe that the Tampa Bay Lightning can do worse
than last season when they posted 18 wins. But as they reached
the half-way point in 1998-99, the Lightning are five points
behind last year's pace.
It does not matter what players take the ice for the Lightning,
the results are usually the same - a loss.
Coach Jacques Demers is beginning to run out of reasons for his
club's play. He is also running out of bodies to trade. The
latest player to fall into the doghouse is veteran center, Craig
Janney, the team's assist leader with 18. After meeting with
Janney on Monday, the 11-year veteran was told to stay home
and await a trade or a demotion to Cleveland of the IHL.
This move comes one week after Demers sent Karl Dykhuis to the
Philadelphia Flyers for Petr Svoboda. Janney has recently been
criticized for his lackluster play, something which has plagued
him throughout his career.
The Lightning, winners of only three of their last 26 games, are
a team without a leader, and are going nowhere fast. Following a
5-4 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on January 4, a game
that the Lightning controlled for 50 minutes, Demers said that
his team keeps finding new ways to lose games.
In their next three games, all on the road, the Lightning only
managed to score four goals while surrendering 14. "We deserved
to lose those games," said Demers. "Our team did not show up to
play."
Upon returning home for a rematch against the Leafs, Tampa played
one of their best games of the season, only to lose 4-3. "I
thought we played a pretty solid game - for 50 minutes," said
forward Sandy McCarthy who netted his fourth goal of the season
in the first period. "It was the 10 minutes that we did not play
well that killed us."
"I don't know why we lost that game tonight," said Demers. "We
did everything we were supposed to. Our team deserved to win.
"There are certain parts of our game we have to correct, and we
will. It could be this season or in the off-season, but we will
correct them."
Demers would not elaborate what needs to be corrected. Where
would he start? A good choice would be in goal. Bill Ranford is
far from the player he was with the Edmonton Oilers, a team which
he backstopped to the 1990 Stanley Cup Championship. His
partner, Daren Puppa, has missed the majority of the last three
seasons due to injury, and management has run out of patience.
The defense is young and inexperienced, however, Demers is
confident that Pavel Kubina, Mike McBain, and Jason Cullimore
will develop into solid players.
Up front, Wendel Clark has been the one bright spot for the
Lightning. Recently named to the 1999 All-Star team, Clark leads
the team in scoring with 18 goals.
"In my opinion of the first half of the season, we should have
five or six more wins, 10 or 12 more points," said Demers. "Then
we would have a shot at the playoffs. This is a learning
experience. It just kills you to lose."
