Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Those of us who follow the sport of hockey were musing about the fate of the Tampa Bay Lightning while the team was merely mediocre through December. There were reports in Canada that head coach John Tortorella’s job was in danger, and reports here in Tampa Bay (even of recent) suggested the Lightning roster would be gutted in a salary dump if the team didn’t get it together on ice. Rumors of trades have swirled for months and months.

Those of you who did not take interest in the Bolts until the Buccaneers season ended, well, you’ve only seen one thing: One of the hottest teams in Hockey playing as well as the 2003-04 Stanley Cup Champions that we all knew so well.

The Lightning, in their overtime loss the other night to the Florida Panthers, gained possession of first place in the Southeast division. This is an achievement onto itself as the Lightning was floundering in the standings until early last month. But coupled with a collapse of the Atlanta Thrashers, Vincent Lecavalier (39 goals) and Martin St. Louis (35) becoming scoring dynamos and improved play by the special team units (those guys who kill penalties) the Bolts have simply changed from pretenders to contenders in a matter of weeks.

Keep an eye out on Vincent Lecavalier’s goal tally achievement. While leading the NHL in goals scored, Lecavalier is also just 3 goals shy of tying Brian Bradley for the all-time, single-season goal lead for the franchise (42). All while Martin St. Louis may find himself passing Bradley as well.

And just to note, Bolts fans, Bradley accomplished that feat during the 1992-93 season – the Lightning’s very first. It’s been a long wait for someone to challenge Bradley’s total…

Fortunately for the fans, it hasn’t been quite so long a wait to watch the Lightning play as one of the most thrilling teams in the game.