The white flag has been raised and the end is nigh. For the Tampa Bay Lightning, the season came to a close at the Olympic Break, when changes in coaching staff and inactivity at the deadline ruined team chemistry and sent the hockey club into a tailspin they could not recover.
With a 5-2 shellacking at the hands of their rivals, the Florida Panthers, the Lightning lost their fifth straight and fell to 2-8-1 since the two week sabbatical and 2-11-1 in their last 14.
During the break, General Manager Brian Lawton fired a popular assistant coach, then failed to secure a puck moving defensemen at the deadline, making only one minor deal for an underachieving winger.
The fissure between Head Coach Rick Tocchet and Lawton widened as Tocchet felt undermined by his General Manager's move on assistant coach Wes Walz.
Tocchet was never consulted on the firing and the players were stunned when the popular coach was replaced. Tocchet felt Walz replacement, Jim Johnson, was a Lawton spy and never trusted him.
The dissention in the coaching room seemed to translate down to the ice, where the Lightning have had a startling fall. At on ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by JC De La Torre
Tampa Bay Lightning’s Post Season Hopes Doomed By Post Olympic Break Swoon
March 22nd, 2010 by JC De La Torre Leave a reply »
Advertisement