It's time for Stamkos, Lightning to rally

by John Fontana on Mar 24, 2011 4:59 PM EDT in Lightning Team News

A couple of days ago, Steven Stamkos downplayed his goal totals and the Rocket Richard trophy chase in an article for the Tampa Tribune / TBO:

"This year, the team is right in the (playoff) mix and you want to help the team win, and to me that's by producing and scoring goals and creating offensive chances," he said. "If (50 goals) comes, it comes, but at the end of the day I want to be in the playoffs and that's something I haven't experienced yet, so that's the main goal."

Now, let me say that I'm all for team-first thinking and the grand scheme over individual accomplishments. The playoffs are so much more important than a single player repeating a milestone.

But take a look at some numbers: Since Steven Stamkos scoring drought started, using February 8^th as the starting date (as he has 3 goals in 19 games since then), the Lightning have gone 6-7-6. In the 3 games Stamkos has scored in, the Bolts are 2-0-1. When his individual plus / minus from that stretch is totaled up, Stamkos's a minus-14. Averaged out, he's about minus-1 per game during that span.

Which brings me to a point: Last season, after the woeful stretch from mid February until late March, the Bolts rallied around their colleague's goal scoring chase. I hope readers remember that. The Lightning went 6-4-0 in their final 10 games; Stamkos finished the year with 51 goals (the final one scored on an empty net against the Panthers in Sunrise) and was the co-recipient of the 2010 Rocket Richard trophy with Sidney Crosby.

But here's the aspect that really makes this relevant: they, the team, rallied around him. They worked for him. They worked for it. Right now, what is the Lightning working for? Playoff seeding doesn't seem to be motivational, nor does self-respect for that matter with some of the sloppiness that we've seen the past few games.

There are nine contests left in the regular season. Steven Stamkos NHL-leading 43 goals is in jeopardy, as he leads Daniel Sedin and Corey Perry by a scant 3 goals. He's nine points behind Sedin for the NHL lead in points, too.

It's time to rally again. It's time to realize there is urgency in turning things around - or else the team is going to piss away its first playoff berth in four years. It's time for Steven Stamkos to lead offensively again, and for team to support him in order to support themselves.

Tweet Comment 6 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

There’s another article today talking about Stamkos frustrations. One from the beat writers that, you know, actually talk to the players first hand:

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/hockey/lightning/tampa-bay-lightning-tries-to-take-pressure-off-slumping-steven-stamkos/1159434

Typing is an adventure, and reading should be, too!
Raw Charge.

by John Fontana on Mar 24, 2011 6:24 PM EDT reply actions

Regardless of what's causing this scoring slump...

Stamkos has to improve defensively. Even early in the year when he was tearing it up offensively, his +/- was always pretty modest (hovering around +10ish for most of the season IIRC). It’s hard to admit, but this slump has shown that when Stamkos isn’t scoring he’s more of a liability than an asset. Granted, our goal differential as a team is not good and letting in an obscene number of SHG’s isn’t helping either.

Second to seeing the team as a whole succeed, I want to see Stamkos become a more complete player.

(First time posting here. Nice blog!)

by In All Kinds of Weather on Mar 24, 2011 9:46 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Welcome to the site! And yes, Stamkos isn’t exactly the most rounded player out there… It goes a bit further than his defensive game as his face off numbers aren’t that great either (47% face off percentage)

Typing is an adventure, and reading should be, too!
Raw Charge.

by John Fontana on Mar 25, 2011 8:56 AM EDT up reply actions

Another part of his game that he needs to work on are faceoffs. He’s really not very good at them right now. And as a center, that’s a big part of his job – winning faceoffs.

But, you know, he’s still young. The defensive part usually comes to forwards in time. I mean, you can’t judge other players by Vinny – he started out as a defenseman as a kid. If Stamkos has the right teammates and the right coaches, he’ll improve both defensively and with faceoffs in time.

The ways of Jedi Master Yzerman are not the ways of others.
Raw Charge, an SBN Tampa Bay Lightning community. Follow me on Twitter: @dagmar27.

by Cassie McClellan on Mar 25, 2011 9:40 AM EDT up reply actions

You have to compare to Vinny

Forget teh defenseman crap. He’s floated in the past (Vinny). His career in Tampa Bay had him just as horrible at Faceoffs as anyone else. The Lightning brought in Dave Andreychuk and Tim Taylor years ago in part to improve Vinny’s game (Faceoffs, leadership).

While people have stressed that Marty had taken Stamkos under his proverbial wing and taught him things, it’s time for Vincent and Nate Thompson to do the same.

Typing is an adventure, and reading should be, too!
Raw Charge.

by John Fontana on Mar 25, 2011 10:28 AM EDT up reply actions

...

IMO part of Stammer’s problem is that Downie hasn’t been in the lineup….the two have great chemistry. Today i flicked through Stamkos’ goals from this year and quite a few of them were assisted by Downs

by TBL Fat Tony on Mar 25, 2011 2:32 AM EDT reply actions