It wasn’t pretty but the Tampa Bay Lightning have finally picked up a win on the road.

Ryan Malone’s overtime goal sealed the deal for the Bolts, spoiling Phil Kessel’s Toronto Maple Leafs debut and giving Tampa Bay a chance to breathe for a moment, knowing that first road win is finally out of the way.

The Good
Score One for the Captain

Vincent Lecavalier opened the scoring for the Lightning with his second of the season. Thus, all is now right with the world. Well, not really, but the captain will take them any way they come at the moment.

So, it wasn’t an end-to-end rush or the type of will-your-way-to-the-net-and-find-a-way-to-bury-the-puck-no-matter-what goal to singlehandedly sway your team’s fortunes that I spoke of yesterday. So what? Lecavalier scoring in any fashion right now simply has to go a long way for his overall game. That Leafs goaltender Jonas Gustavsson should have earned a secondary assist on the play is no matter. At this point, Vinny will take goals off his nose, I’m sure.

As more and more of the media takes notice of Lecavalier’s early season woes, the gorilla on his back was only going to get heavier with each passing scoreless game. (That the Lightning are in Canada for a three-game stint, no doubt, only worsens things, in that respect.)

Was it a dominant performance? Hardly. But perhaps that will come. For starters, he was noticeable last night, on the ice and on the scoresheet.

We’ll take it (and so will he).

Ohlund Rollin’

Nothing like a bone-jarring hit to spark a club that’s been on autopilot for the better part of the past two games.

Midway through the first period, that’s exactly what the Lightning got from defenseman Mattias Ohlund, who honed in on a bobbing and weaving Kessel at the Tampa Bay blueline and absolutely rocked the former Boston Bruin in his first game as a Leaf.

As is the case with most solid hits these days (clean, dirty or otherwise) Toronto took exception to the blast and a minor scrum ensued, as Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke and the home faithful held their collective breath, while Kessel headed off to the locker room.

The hit certainly made an impact on Kessel (who called it the hardest shot he’d ever taken in the NHL but was otherwise no worse for wear) and it may or may not have had a similar long-term effect on the game itself but it did seem to elevate the intensity at least somewhat at the time.

(Stay tuned.)

Ohlund, true to form, called it, “No big deal.”

“Killer” … Krajicek?

It wasn’t exactly Probert/McSorley but, continuing the feistiness that started with the Ohlund hit was none other than … Wait for it … Lukas Krajicek?

You got it.

Krajicek took an interference minor when he appeared to cross-check Toronto’s Niklas Hagman into the Lightning net and Hagman, no heavyweight himself, was incensed, dropping his gloves immediately for a tête-à-tête with the Tampa Bay defenseman, who didn’t hesitate to oblige.

It was Krajicek’s first fight in the NHL and he held his own against the Toronto forward, who braved the world of NHL fisticuffs for the first time as well.

The minor penalty aside, kudos to Krajicek for not backing down and for showing some aggression that Lightning brass had to notice. For a guy who has had a hard time cracking the lineup (and whose exile from Tampa Bay has been labeled an eventuality by many), that has to be looked at as a positive.

Niitty Strengthens His Case

By all accounts, the Lightning net was supposed to belong, this season, to incumbent starting goaltender Mike Smith.

But, while Smith hasn’t been awful by any means, Antero Niittymaki has been spectacular.

Such was the case once again for Niittymaki Tuesday night, as he stopped 40 Toronto shots en route to the Lightning victory.

I’ve steered clear, to this point, of outright calling for Niitty to overtake Smitty for the number one role but now, with a team that’s taken a big positive step with its first road win, with a lot of that to do with Niittymaki’s play, it is time, at the very least, to let the “backup” take the ball and run for awhile.

In fact, if you’re Mike Smith, you’ll have no choice but to have to understand such a decision. Even if you’ve been good, as Smith has been at times, Niittymaki’s been better. And, if he’s putting points on the board consistently, as Niitty has with 7 points for the Lightning out of ten possible in his 5 starts, it’s a no-brainer.

Did I mention his 1.95 goals-against average and .940 save percentage, good for fourth and first in the league, respectively?

Niittymaki deserves the start in Ottawa. Perhaps thereafter as well …

The Bad
A Win is a Win but …

I won’t nitpick – not with the two points so valuable for the Lightning at present – but, against the 1-6-5 Leafs, admittedly, I hoped for a more convincing victory.

Still, with Kessel’s return, a packed house and the continued search for their first home win of the season, Toronto had motivation from all angles last night as well, so I guess the fight that they did put up was to be expected.

And they almost emerged victorious …

Of several near-misses in the contest, Kessel nearly capped off his Toronto debut in fine fashion with an OT winner of his own, but his rebound chance off of a John Mitchell shot rang the crossbar shortly before Malone’s decisive marker.

And should that goal have actually counted?

Probably, but …

Stand me up in front of the firing squad for this one because, although I’m certainly not complaining about the eventual call, it sure looked to me like the OT winner crossed the goalline with the net already off its moorings. Sure, Gustavsson himself displaced the Toronto cage and all but …

Juuuust sayin’ …

Close call …

Shakeup Time?

With the win, it’s likely that the active Lightning roster won’t change between now and tomorrow night’s tilt in Ottawa but whispers of a shakeup have begun in local circles. Even if a move or two is made, I wouldn’t expect anything earth-shattering any time soon, if ever.

Instead, perhaps a player down/player up move, to and from Norfolk of the AHL might occur to change the chemistry among the bottom-six forwards.

On defense, one would have to think Matt Smaby gets a look eventually, assuming he’s recovered from an upper body injury suffered during his conditioning stint in Norfolk. (Next time “Killer” Krajicek’s out of the lineup perhaps?)

Smaby would add some more grit to the back line and, with Paul Ranger remaining out for personal reasons and the need for Kurtis Foster to play a more well-rounded game, apparently, maybe his turn in this rotation is coming up next.

The Ugly
Penalty Parade

Complain all you want about the officiating (I won’t, but you can) – nine minor penalties are far too many for any team to take, especially on the road.

The penalty killers deserve a nice steak dinner after that display last night, paid for by any and all who were sent off for hooks and holds, trips and interference calls, in particular.

Like I always say, coaches can take the odd roughing call or anything else spawned from a player being overly aggressive. But the obstruction calls, often brought on by lazy or careless play, or by simply being out of position, drive bench bosses berserk.

Tentative Tanguay

He notched an assist on Malone’s game-winner and he managed a plus-2 for the game but I’m still seeing a lot of tentativeness in the play of Alex Tanguay.

He’s passing up clear shots and looking to do too much far too often. I understand he’s more of a playmaker than anything else but, sometimes, you just have to fire the puck on net.

A shot of a frustrated Tanguay on the bench, after what should have been a scoring chance turned into his passing the puck to, well, no one, summed it up pretty well. He’s in one of those ruts where nothing’s really seeming to click.

Bear down, simplify things, [insert additional coaching cliché here].

And shoot the puck.

***

Tomorrow night’s return engagement against the Senators – with whom each of the two contests so far this season have been rather feisty – should be fun. The Lightning can’t afford a letdown after the positive (baby?) steps in Toronto and the Sens, of course, will be looking to avenge last week’s 5-2 pasting in Tampa.

These two clubs don’t appear to like each other much, which always makes things that much more fun for the rest of us.

JJ

jon.jordan@hockeybuzz.com

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