Bolts Report (Erlendsson)

Before signing off for a couple of days, I wanted to just throw a couple of things out there following tonight’s 4-1 win in Atlanta....

* Mike Smith is the man.

* Vinny Lecavalier played a season-low 16:13 of ice time.

* Vinny Prospal played…

I was sitting here, late in the period thinking that I hadn’t been seeing much happen. Kind of a boring period, to be honest, as I checked in over at the score in the football game that’s going on. Then Vinny Lecavalier finds Marty St. Louis for an easy redirect as…

That was an efficient period. Not good - not a ton of offensive pressure, with a couple of exceptions. Not bad - they didn’t give up a whole lot in their own end.

So not bad. Wound up outshooting the Thrashers 13-7.

Steve Eminger has the only…

ATLANTA - There was no morning skate today with the quick turnaround. But it looks like Lukas Krajicek and Andrej Meszaros will be in the lineup. Rick Tocchet said both will skate warmups and see how they feel, but he expects that both will play.

Sounds like Jussi Jokinen…

Before heading up to Atlanta, I wanted to pass along a couple of injury updates.

Defenseman Andrej Meszaros took 64 stitches just above his upper lip. A team spokesman described it as a Craig MacDonald wound, minus the lost teeth. I saw Meszaros on his way to the plane,…

According to the team, defenseman Andrej Meszaros is receiving stitches down in the medical room and once that process is complete, he will return to the ice with a full face shield. He has yet to make his way back.

Playing defense for the Lightning these days is liken to being in a hazardous situation. Andrej Meszaros is the latest to be hit - literally - when a deflected puck hit him on the side of his face. Fortunately for Meszaros, he was able to turn his head at the last…

That was a good 10 minutes, which means they were half as good as they were in the first period against Washington, since they didn’t play much at all in 20 minutes Thursday. But the second 10 minutes, Tampa Bay looked like they did against the Capitals.

Strong start…

Bit of a surprise here, but Jussi Jokinen appears to be a healthy scratch. There was no indication of a change from this morning in terms of the lineup and Jokinen did not appear on any injury report in the past couple of days.

I know yesterday interim coach…

While there was some talk earlier in the day that the Lighting might be looking to bring Mike Lundin back up, and exposing him to re-call waivers based on his singing bonus, it looks like - based on the lineup for Norfolk tonight - Tampa Bay will go in a different…

TAMPA - Just walking around the hallways near the Lightning locker room had to be considered a major accomplishment for Lightning defenseman Jamie Heward after experiencing a frightening scene on the ice of the Verizon Center Thursday night.

Heward was put on a flat board and carried off the…

Here is an update on the status of Jaime Heward from a team release:

“Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Jamie Heward has been released from a Washington D.C. hospital and is traveling back to Tampa today. Heward suffered a concussion during the third period of last night’s game against the…

The news on Jamie Heward is much better than it looked. While Rick Tocchet said Heward was unconscious for about 90 seconds, he has full feeling and movement in all his extremities, which is very good news. While a diagnosed concussion is not ideal, it’s pretty obvious the situation could have…

It’s a very eerie silence going on inside the Verizon Center right now as Jamie Heward is lying face down on the ice along the near corner boards. The Washington team doctor is attending to Heward right now along with Lightning trainers Tom Mulligan and Mike Poirer. They just rolled Heward…

Well, shows you what I know. I figured Karri Ramo was coming in because there didn’t look like there was anyway Tampa Bay was coming back in this game, and if not for a mental gaffe by Marek Malik, this game would be tied (or an Adam Hall penalty shot conversion).…

Leave it to the Lightning to give up a first career goal to somebody, seems they are good for a few of those a year, and this game is no exception as Sean Collins got one past Mike Smith on what was just an absolutely bad goal, and I haven’t said…

WASHINGTON - Lightning defenseman Paul Ranger will not play tonight against the Capitals.

Ranger, who has been logging a ton of minutes lately, skated this morning but had his gear bag packed up and out in the hallway after he came off the ice. Interim coach Rick Tocchet indicated…

First off, I want to wish everybody a happy new year, but more importantly, a safe new year. We all need some glimmer of hope in these difficult economic times, and hopefully the turning of a new year will provide that.

For the second consecutive year, the Lightning will…

Not quite as entertaining in that period, and Tampa Bay better stay out of the penalty box. I know Montreal’s power play hasn’t been as stellar as prior seasons, but spending that much time in the box is going to eventually bite the team in the backside. Was just told that…

You can say this about the Lightning right now, they can be an entertaining team to watch. They are hitting, Artyukhin is fighting and they are skating. And what I’ve really noticed about this team in the last few games is that guys look like they are sticking up for each…