Tampa Bay Lightning

By Jeremy Houghtaling

As he waits for his first win behind the Syracuse Crunch bench, Rob Zettler has gone through a range of emotions.

He’s excited and energetic, and comfortable yet anxious. Although his tenure has started with three straight losses, he knows it hasn’t stemmed from a lack of trying.

“These guys all want to win as much as I do,” Zettler said of his team. “I'm not worried about their effort. I'm not worried about how they played. We just have to find a way to get the W."

Bishop making Yzerman look like a genius.

TB-5
CAR-0

Ben Bishop stopped all 45 shots he faced for the shutout after being acquired from Ottawa in exchange for Cory Conacher. That's quite the debut for a goaltender who is the latest to be tasked with trying to close the gaping hole left since Nikolai Khabibulin shuffled off to Chicago many moons ago. I do like the deal Yzerman made. After a red hot first 7 games in the NHL, Conacher had cooled off greatly in the 28 games since and was not having the impact on a shift-to-shift basis some of the other rookies were having. He's not chopped liver, mind you, but he also was probably never going to have higher trade value and Yzerman knew that. Leveraging that asset for a true NHL goaltender is shrewd.

First Period
NO SCORING

Second Period
00:28 TB Purcell (8), (Carle)
15:55 TB Pyatt (8), (Killorn, Brewer)
19:17 TB Aulie (2), (Stamkos, St. Louis)

Third Period
02:24 TB St. Louis (9), (Pouliot, Carle)
07:30 TB Pouliot (7), (Stamkos, St. Louis)

Bishop, Martin St. Louis, and Benoit Pouliot were the game's three stars.

For anyone who thinks Victor Hedman isn't important to this team, look what happened tonight with him out with a lower body injury early. 45 shots against and Bishop really having to bust it to save the Lightning's bacon. Hurry back soon #77. Also, we'll see if Vincent Lecavalier manages to get back into the lineup too after also leaving in his return from the shelf. I did really like Coach Cooper's thought of putting the vet between two potential stars like Connolly and Panik, and I'd love to see them get back to it.

So it's not all roses in a 5-0 win, but good goaltending has a way of making everything look better.

Alex Killorn had a helper and was +2 with 2 shots and 1 blocked shot in 18:33.

Tyler Johnson had 3 hits and 1 blocked shot and was 40% on draws in 10:42.

Richard Panik had 2 shots and 1 hit in 13:28.

Radko Gudas was +1 with 4 penalty minutes, 4 hits, and 1 blocked shot in 20:34.

Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.

TAMPA BAY – The Tampa Bay Lightning have recalled forwards Dana Tyrell and Brett Connolly from the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League, vice president and general manager Steve Yzerman announced today. Additionally the team has reassigned forwards Mike Angelidis and Ondrej Palat, along with defenseman Andrej Sustr and goaltender Cedrick Desjardins to the Crunch.

Tampa Bay Lightning Rookie of the Year candidate and reigning AHL Most Valuable Player Cory Conacher was traded with a fourth round pick to the Ottawa Senators for goaltender Ben Bishop today.

Bishop, 6-foot-7, 214 pounds, has played in 13 games with the Senators this season, posting an 8-5-1 record with a 2.58 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage. He also has one shutout. Bishop’s eight wins are tied for the team lead, while he ranks tied for eighth in the NHL for save percentage among goaltenders with 10 or more games played. He also played in 13 games with the Binghamton Senators of the AHL this season, posting an 8-3-2 record with a 2.59 goals-against average and a .928 save percentage.

I still hate shootouts.

FLA-3
TB-2 (SO)

Mathieu Garon allowed 2 goals on 25 shots and was 1 for 2 in the shootout for the SOL. He got outdueled badly by Markstrom, and Lightning fans have to be cursing the day Lindback got his high ankle sprain.

First Period
08:36 FLA Kopecky (13), (Brennan, Fleischmann)

Second Period
16:41 FLA Rallo (1), (Brennan, Kuba)(PP)

Third Period
05:38 TB Pyatt (7), (Purcell, Carle)
10:32 Killorn (6), (Hedman, Purcell)

Overtime
NO SCORING

Shootout
FLA- Mueller
TB- NONE

The Lightning completely dominated large swaths of this game and deserved better than to only get 1 point out of it. It's damned hard to put together a winning streak when you're surrendering a soft goal or two every game, and the Lightning desperately need a winning streak.

Mike Angelidis was 43% on draws in 7:22.

Alex Killorn had a goal and was +1 with 4 shots in 23:20. He's so money.

Andrej Sustr was +1 with 1 shot in 8:19. Officially 2 giveaways. That'll get your ice time down in single digit minutes as a rookie.

Tyler Johnson had 1 shot, 1 hit, and was 58% on draws in 16:53.

Ondrej Palat was +1 with 2 shots and 3 hits in 11:39.

Radko Gudas had a fight, 2 shots, 1 hit, and 1 blocked shot in 11:55.

Cory Conacher played 14:04 in the game.

Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.