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"When you’re facing (Ryan) Miller, (Martin) Brodeur, these type of guys, if you think you’re going to go through a game and get that one shot and score a goal, you might as well not even go on the ice. You've got to go on mentally where you’re going to throw the puck on net, go to the net, wraparounds, quick shots. Don’t take a big slap shot.

"These guys thrive on teams that try to pick spots. The best goalie in the world will tell you, the quicker the shot, the more garbage around the net, the harder for them to play; people in front of their faces. When you think you're going to go down the wing all night and and take that one big slap shot and go top shelf on these guys, you’ll be waiting all night with that. You've got to go out there and throw everything at them, whether it’s a wrist shot, slap shot, a quick shot, wrap shot, everything has to go out there with a flurry of people in front of them. That’s the only way you can consistently beat these guys."

"We're eighth … we're right on that (playoff) line," Tocchet said. "You lose a couple and we're in 13th place. The urgency is not now — it's yesterday."

"Not finishing checks, cheating a little bit, the little things that I will not let…It’s unacceptable," Tocchet said. "That’s the one thing I came into this year, if I see your game slipping – if you’re not scoring, I can live with it – but if you’re turning away from checks, and not battling down low defensively, if you’re constantly on the ice and teams are getting chances against you, videos don’t lie. This is something we’re going to correct the next day, it’s not going to be corrected next week. We’ve got to attack it."

At 6:15pm, the Lightning confidently conclude a meeting with coach Rick Tocchet, their final preparations for tonight's battle with the Pens

"I think everybody looks good, looking at the guys with their shirts off, it looks like they all put in their work. I don’t see any fat guys out here . . . except maybe in the media.’’

"I asked him to come for a couple of weeks of training camp....I love his philosophy on the power play, and he has a great mind. He said he'd love to come in for a couple of weeks and relay some points. I think he can really help the guys."

Apparently, Tocc’s signing as head coach is imminent, though the arsenal of stall tactics Brian Lawton has employed to delay this "formality" rival those used by the writers of 24. Kinda makes you wonder if Lawton’s going to drag this one out through the second round of Stanley Cup playoffs just to see who else might be available for the job.

"I could have helped Rick out without the interim tag, but I didn't want him to face a lot of pressure when he started,"