Good teams win on the road. Period.

By that definition, the Tampa Bay Lightning still have a long way to go, no matter what kind of positive spin you put on the first 12 games of the 2009-10 season.

Make no mistake. At 4-4-4 there are positives and there were even a few in last night’s ugly 6-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.

But the glaring negative aspects, in both last night’s game and in what’s been played of this season so far as a whole, are starting to become a major cause for concern.

The Good
Stammer Scores Again

That it came with his club already down 3-0 on a gift of a defensive zone giveaway by Flyers defenseman Danny Syvret is really no matter. Steven Stamkos’ 11th goal of the season cements the start to his sophomore year as just about as good as it gets. You really can’t look at 11 goals in 12 games any other way.

Only Alexander Ovechkin has put more pucks in the net this season than Stamkos, who didn’t notch 11 as a rookie until late February.

I’ve said it frequently of late but it bears repeating: The kid’s a star. Right now.

Secondary Scoring

Though it was too little, too late for last night’s end result, it was nice to see Jeff Halpern connect for his first goal of the year late in the third. Much has been made of the scoring woes for the likes of Vincent Lecavalier and Alex Tanguay in Tampa Bay but Halpern’s a guy who’s good for 10-20 goals of his own and a guy that is looked upon to be a significant part of the Lightning’s secondary scoring.

Halpern’s goal leaves Zenon Konopka, Drew Miller and Stephane Veilleux as the three remaining Lightning forwards without a marker on the year, but Halpern is now one of five with just one tally to this point.

You have to have production, on some level, from up and down your forward ranks. When players like Lecavalier and Tanguay aren’t carrying their weight, it has to come from somewhere else. To this point, that hasn’t happened nearly enough and is a big part of the club’s struggles.

Niittymaki Steadies the Ship

Has Antero Niittymaki been everything the Lightning could have hoped for or what?

He won’t get enough credit for his mop-up duty last night but, even in a lost cause, he was a stabilizing force for his team. Last night was a microcosm of exactly what Niitty has been for the Bolts early this season.

As the rough waters have surfaced, Niittymaki has steadied the Lightning ship. Things are awfully choppy right now and he should definitely get the call in Toronto.

You can’t pin last night’s loss on Mike Smith – not with such a passive defense in front of him – but the Lightning need to turn to Niitty once again tonight. (And then?)

The Bad
First Period Follies

For the second consecutive game, the Lightning had an absolutely anemic shot total in the first period. Against New Jersey on Saturday, the Bolts only managed to fire three shots at Martin Brodeur. Last night, Ray Emery only had to ward off five Lightning shots in the opening frame.

Early starts that alter pregame preparation schedules or not, you just can’t sleepwalk through first periods like that. Niittymaki is the only reason the Lightning still had life against the Devils after opening the game as they did. In Philly last night, they weren’t as fortunate and were dead and buried early in the second.

Standing Around

Forget about a penalty kill that was far too passive all night. (They only allowed two goals anyway and the problem is far less complex than breaking down PK strategies.)

Five of the six Flyers goals came from directly in front of the Lightning net where the physical presence in defending the cage was almost non-existent.

This isn’t a new problem for the Tampa Bay defense, though it’s never been as glaring an issue as it was last night. Simply stated, the Lightning defenders (and that includes backchecking forwards, of course) need to get more physical.

Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a single instance where a defending Lightning player hammered the opposition in front of the net to thwart a scoring chance. (I’m sure it’s happened a time or two but, as closely as I pay attention to these games, if I can’t think of a one solitary example, it’s a problem.)

Far too soft in front … But it doesn’t end there …

Push Back!

I’m a steadfast believer in the idea that successful teams embody the personality of their coach. With Rick Tocchet at the helm, and with a roster seemingly full of the type of players who would embrace his style, I look at this team and think, “Above all else, this is going to be a group that will be physically difficult to play against.”

But that has to be a proactive attitude; a conscious mindset. If you haven’t firmly decided that your opponent will not be pushing you around, you are going to get pushed around. And, when the Lightning are off their game, that’s exactly what happens.

That’s exactly what happened last night.

Physically, they lost battles all over the rink. Mentally, they got behind and, with little exception, sulked, hung their heads and waited out the time that was left on the clock. They weren’t tough in either department.

In his tenure, Tocchet has continually preached of a desire for players who compete. No doubt, he had a hard time finding anyone of that ilk after last night. And, while the onus for all that should be on the players, ultimately, it will fall on him.

The Ugly
What Next?

You never want to make too much of an issue out of a game here or a game there but, quickly, I’m sensing some serious problems here in Tampa with the Bolts.

12 games in and we’ve already had a lambasting from the GM, as Brian Lawton laid into his players after a poor effort in Pittsburgh against the Penguins and now, last night, we can add the alarming players only meeting to the measures of self-discipline the Lightning have taken thus far.

So, what happens next? On top of Lawton’s tongue-lashing (and various verbal “reminders” from Tocchet, we can only assume) and the player pow-wow, there has long been a standing Lawton/Tocchet-initiated mantra of, “If you don’t compete, changes will be made.”

As any effective leader/manager/disciplinarian can attest, you can’t play your trump card too early and, if you say actions A, B and C will lead to consequences D, E and F, you had better follow through.

So, I wonder: Do the Lightning players take their leadership group seriously? Tonight’s effort in Toronto should tell us a lot in that regard.

Tocchet’s followed through on promises to cut ice time for individuals not carrying their weight. (The captain, for starters, now knows this all too well.)

But if tonight’s response in Toronto isn’t satisfactory, is it already time to shake things up? And, if that is indeed the case, will Lawton see the message through?

Clearly, Lightning management has proven to be anything but gun-shy when it comes to making a transaction or seven, but have they really rattled the room with a move to change the makeup of the club?

They may not need to, of course, but something about efforts like last night (especially on the heels of Saturday afternoon’s la-dee-da) screams of a problem.

Captain Crunch Time

In times of trouble, a team needs to be able to rely on its leaders. More than anyone, a captain is looked upon to throw a club on his back from time-to-time and weather a storm. In the midst of a single game that is snowballing out of control or a streak doing the same on a larger level, that’s your guy that has to do something to change the momentum.

Problem is, Vinny Lecavalier just can’t do that right now, it seems.

Were he able to, surely, he would have targeted a Flyer for an energy-swaying body check last night.

Were it in him right now, he would have tussled with a Philly adversary.

Were this sort of innate quality alive and well inside of the Lightning captain, he would have taken over the play at some point, no matter the deficit, and willed his way to the net for a tide-shifting scoring chance that would have sent a message.

Instead, since he is the designated leader of this group of players, we can only assume that he had a heavy hand in calling last night’s meeting and, thus, he’s played that card. (If not – if he had no part in arranging the group sit-down – then, well … I won’t go there.)

You can only talk so much.

Now, with all that as well as the past 12 games behind him and his club, it’s time for Vincent Lecavalier to lead by example, break out of his personal slump and lead his team to its first road win of the season.

This opportunity simply can’t fly by.

Missing the Message?

Obviously, the Lightning are off to a poor start away from home. (There’s no other way to look at an 0-4-1 start.) But the most disconcerting facet of Monday night’s performance is that it followed a similarly unacceptable effort on Saturday.

In many ways, it was worse.

Tocchet has spoken of the need for attitude from his club and has looked at the opportunity to hit the road for a while as a good time to develop that.

Sure looked last night like his players didn’t get that message.

I spent some time last week taking shots at a Fanhouse article by Kevin Schultz that targeted Tocchet as #1 on a list of coaches who might be in trouble. I didn’t see the article as having any real foundation and, in my time around the team, I haven’t had that alarm go off in the least.

But, when a club follows up a performance like Saturday’s with, well, one like Monday’s, at a minimum, you have to wonder …

I said earlier that successful teams adopt the personality and style of their coach and I’ve long thought aloud that this club has the makeup and moxy to emulate Rick Tocchet the player.

But when they’re bad, they just don’t have that at all.

It’s on Tocch to make sure his message gets through and it’s on the players to deliver on the ice.

The Lightning might not necessarily need a win tonight in Toronto but they most definitely need a well-rounded effort; the polar opposite of what they put forth in their last two games.

If they don’t get at least that – and I still don’t think this is reality – maybe the Schultz piece was on to something.

I sure hope not.

JJ

***On second thought, I’ll save News from Norfolk for tomorrow and include last the single game from last week with a few others. You’ve heard enough from me for one day.

jon.jordan@hockeybuzz.com

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