When it stretched to five games, we called it a slump. When it went to 11 games, you could see the worry begin to register on the players' and coaches' faces.
The skid the Lightning suffered through during the month of December seemed to befuddle everyone. A team filled with offensive firepower couldn't light the lamp. Defense that had been aggressive and tenacious through the first two months of the season suddenly looked like Swiss cheese.
The goaltenders suddenly became inconsistent—okay, maybe that wasn't new.
For the Bolts, getting just one victory in the last 11 games and dropping from sixth in the Eastern Conference to 14th left the team wondering if the first part of the 2009-10 season was a mirage, and they still had a ways to go before they could call themselves playoff contenders. Guys were benched, meetings were called. The power outage continued as Tampa Bay was shut out twice in the first four games of their six game road trip.
Then the Lightning's trip took them to St. Louis, where they scored six times in route to a 6-3 victory, and followed it up last night with a 4-2 win over the Islanders. Two big wins where the g ...
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Article written by JC De La Torre
Tampa Bay Lightning Hoping End of Road Trip a Good Sign
December 22nd, 2009 by JC De La Torre Leave a reply »
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