The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 at the Tampa Bay Times Forum Tuesday night.

Games days are becoming busier than usual at 401 Channelside Drive. Saturday, prior to the Lightning's win over the Washington Capitals, the anticipated trade of defenseman Pavel Kubina was completed. Things around the Forum were quiet for a couple of days after that as the team was off. Then today, a small flurry of personnel moves preceded the game against the Anaheim Ducks, including the departure of forward Steve Downie and an update on forward and team captain Vincent Lecavalier (check the notes below the game recap for details).

"It was a tough day for a lot of us, you know? To come to the rink and find that out. Downs has been a warrior for this team. He's gonna be missed because he's got a great personality. He's always in the mix. Always a lot of laughs with Downs. He's a heck of a hockey player. He always played with a lot of heart." - Martin St. Louis

"It's the business of hockey sometimes. It's not always pretty and we don't have control of it. He was a great friend and a great teammate and just wish him the best of luck and move on the best we can. I think we were able to do that with a big win tonight." - Steven Stamkos

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The Tampa Bay Lightning edged the Washington Capitals 2-1 in front of 19,204 at the Tampa Bay Times Forum Saturday night.

If the Lightning are not still in it to win it this season, it's awfully hard to tell from the effort put forth in their last two games.

"I always felt and still feel that that’s our trademark: fight, fight, fight; character. I feel that whenever you can dream it, you can do it. We just wanted to continue improving. Our motto keeps on being ‘get better today.’ So what it does is keeps our focus very narrow on the things we control and tonight that result isolated it for the team. Nothing before, nothing after, just one game against Washington." - head coach Guy Boucher

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The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the San Jose Sharks 6-5 in overtime at the Tampa Bay Times Forum.

On a day when talk focused on who was going where, it was widely seen as the beginning of the end of the pursuit of fortune and glory in the 2011-12 season for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Except nobody told the guys who are still here.

"At the end of the day, we're still gonna fight, regardless of what's going on around us. There's 26 games left. That's like a third of the season. So there's a lot of time left. If we start winning games, you never know. But if we throw in the towel because of what's going on around us, it's going to be a pretty miserable two months." - Martin St. Louis

The day began with speculation (confirmed by general manager Steve Yzerman) that steps were being taken to move defenseman Pavel Kubina. Later, just prior to the start of the game, forward Dominic Moore was traded to the San Jose Sharks, the Lightning' opponent tonight (Moore didn't play for either side). The day ended with a hockey game that saw six lead changes.

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The Ottawa Senators beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-0 at the Tampa Bay Times Forum on Tueasday.

You know, sometimes the puck just will not go in the net.

"For that game to be one-nothing for so long it just seems like it's right there. Their goalie made some really good saves and really kept them in there but it was right there the whole time. We just couldn't bury one." - Vincent Lecavalier

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The Tampa Bay Lightning lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2.

Steve Downie scored the only two goals for the Lightning. They were in the first period and 11 seconds apart, breaking a club record. The previous record for the fastest time for one player scoring two goals had been 16 seconds, and that was Jason Wiemer versus the New Jersey Devils in 1997.

So...good for Downie - and for Teddy Purcell, who assisted on both of those goals. However, the rest of the team wasn't able to keep up. This looked exactly like a team that had played its third road game in four nights. They started the game well enough, but weren't able to finish it at that pace. To put it bluntly, they looked tired - both mentally and physically.

Incidentally, Steven Stamkos - who had played over 25 mintues the night before against Buffalo - played slightly less time than his season average of 21:23. He was on the ice for 18:03. Not bad, but he only had one shot on goal and one hit for the night.

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The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Buffalo Sabres by a score of 2-1.

There were a grand total of four penalties in this game. The Sabres had three, while the Lightning had one. And the lone Lightning penalty wasn't called until 15:27 of the third period. This was a very cleanly played game for Tampa Bay.

It was also very much a coast-to-coast kind of game as well. There weren't many breaks in play, and there was a whole lot of skating. The Lightning carried the play for most of the first and second periods, and it was more evenly played in the third between the two teams. Still, at times it was like watching a tennis match.

Steven Stamkos had the game-winning goal and an assist on Steve Downie's goal - both scored in the second period. Stamkos, however, had only 30 seconds less ice time than Victor Hedman. While it's not unusual for a top defenseman to play almost half a game in ice time, it is unusual for a forward to do so. And letting him do that in the first game of back-to-back road games is a bit odd.

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The Tampa Bay Lightning lost to the New York Rangers in overtime 4-3.

Shooting the puck seemed to have been a problem in this game. In the first period, the Lightning had four shots, and two of those were by Vincent Lecavalier - plus a post. (Posts don't count in shots on goal.) In the second it was better with ten shots, but then they had three shots in the third, and none in overtime.

Out of the total 17 shots on goal the Lightning had for the game, Lecavalier had five, Steven Stamkos had three, while Martin St. Louis didn't have any.

No shots in overtime? Really? How can you score a goal when you're not shooting?

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The Los Angeles Kings beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-1 at the Tampa Bay Times Forum Tuesday night, marking the end of a seven-game stretch in which the Lightning had earned at least a point.

The good news is that this was a non-Conference game, and the consequences in regards to the Bolts' slim playoff chances are minimal. The bad news is that it was a flashback to the same style of hockey that the Lightning's seven-game point streak made seem like a thing of the past.

A slow start in the first period, an early goal on a defensive breakdown, and a quick goal by the Kings after a Bolts goal all punctuated a poor effort that was painfully reminiscent of the team's struggles in November and December. Struggles that put the playoffs so out of reach to begin with.

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