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TAMPA — While the Maple Leafs went out in the sun and 20 C temperatures to escape their problems for a day, the Lightning spent Wednesday crowded in a windowless room getting lots of grief from coach Rick Tocchet.
A scheduled 20-minute re-hash of their 8-2 loss to the Rangers the night before and some prep work for Thursday’s home game against Toronto turned into more than an hour’s worth of bull session and a prickly film review conducted by Tocchet.
“We were looking for 60 minutes of attention in the game,” said Tocchet dryly in explaining why he sequestered the team to watch a repeat of their horror show. “As a coach, you are always looking for ways to push buttons. Quite frankly (Tuesday’s loss) is not what you expect from a team. The film wasn’t that nice ... we didn’t even get to the third period.”
Tocchet has many of the same complaints as Toronto counterpart Ron Wilson, though his team was just four points out of a playoff spot in the East after Tuesday’s games while Toronto was nine.
The Lightning tease Tocchet with big wins against Eastern powerhouses such as Pittsburgh and Washington and then loses three of four to teams they’re trying to overcome in the playoff race.
“I don’t know if we can’t hold prosperity. New York scored two quick goals, (Henrik) Lundqvist makes four or five good stops, the building’s loud, they start pressing and we get out of our element, doing stuff so uncharacteristic of individuals who are supposed to be good players. It just snowballs to the guys below them.
“We can’t take Toronto lightly. We have good games against them. They always play well on the road and it will be a tough game.”
Vince Lecavalier said the players did not direct their frustrations at Tocchet or each other during the meeting.
“It’s not about yelling or screaming,” Lecavalier said. “We saw in the video. It’s all thinking out there. It’s a five-man unit and if one is out of position it’s not going to work. When you look at it on video, you see it more clearly.
“We have brought in good veteran guys. We have to find a way to put it together.”
Of all the Ontario-based members of the Lightning, perhaps Steven Stamkos looks forward to games against the Leafs the most.
Markham born and a huge fan as a kid, the first overall pick of 2008 knows he’ll either get a big family audience in the stands at St. Petes Times Forum or a huge crowd watching at home on TV. But first and foremost, it’s two points to keep the Leafs behind them.
“This is crossing the bridge for our season right now,” Stamkos said. “I’ve been around for a year and half and played every team, in about every arena, so that wide-eyed young guy is gone. You have to be the player you know you can be and for me that’s creating offence for this team (a team-high 25 goals).”