November 1 Clips
Tampa Bay Times Forum Media Clips Friday, November 01, 2013
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Lightning’s Salo feeling younger than his 39 years – Damian Cristodero (Tampa Bay Times) Bolts hope to build on fast start – Erik Erlendsson (Tampa Tribune) Another bizarre goaltending twist for Hurricanes – Luke DeCock (News & Observer) Canes sign Malhotra to one-year deal – Chip Alexander (News & Observer)
Lightning’s Salo feeling younger than his 39 years Damian Cristodero (Tampa Bay Times)
RALEIGH, N.C. — Sami Salo would like to continue playing hockey after this season. The Lightning defenseman said he still has the passion and the game still is fun. The only question is, at 39 years old, is there still time? "We'll see during the season how things progress and how I feel," Salo said. Right now, though, he said, "I don't feel like I'm 39." For the record, Salo, in his 15th NHL season, is the league's ninth-oldest player. But as coach Jon Cooper said, "I don't look at his age. It's just a number for me. You look at him and say, 'Can the guy play?' And Sami can clearly still play." Salo has a goal and five points and is plus-2 in 11 games. He has blocked 10 shots and, perhaps most impressive, averages 20:26 of ice time, fourth on the team, while taking regular shifts on the power play and penalty kill. The 6-foot-3, 202-pound Finn also has been durable with the Lightning, playing 46 of 48 games last season and missing only this season's opener for an unspecified upper-body injury. That's quite different from his previous 13 seasons, split between the Senators and Canucks, which were marked by significant and frequent injuries. Those injuries — about 40, Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper once reported, including an Achilles rupture, having his nasal and sinus cavities caved in by a shot, and a testicle bruised by a shot — have at times caused Salo to consider retiring. That is when Salo has thought about his father, Toivo, who in 1995 died of stomach cancer at age 52 just before Salo played his first pro game in Finland. "There have been times that's been in my mind: 'Is it really worth it to keep putting yourself out there?' " said Salo, who is in the final year of a two-year, $7.5 million deal. "But that's how I was raised by my dad, who fought cancer and died after three months of battling. That's how I learned to never quit and keep playing until you can't." Watching Salo play makes one appreciate veteran savvy, especially in a league getting so much younger and faster. He hardly ever is flustered with the puck, runs the power play from the blue line (though the Lightning surely would like to see more of his big slap shot) and is efficient in his skating. Older but smarter is how Cooper described it. "Sometimes it takes Sami less energy to do things than it takes other guys because he knows where the puck is going and what's going to happen," Cooper said. "But when we've asked him to play at pace, Sami has played at pace." There might come a time when Cooper cuts back on Salo's minutes just to save the defenseman wear and tear, but that is not the plan tonight against the Hurricanes at PNC Arena. "That he even keeps up with the younger guys, it's something special and unique," said 22-year-old teammate Andrej Sustr. Said Victor Hedman, Salo's 22-year-old defensive partner: "He doesn't look 39, no way. You can see him going on like this for many more years." That is something Salo wouldn't mind at all.
CONNOLLY RECALLED: Right wing Brett Connolly was called up from AHL Syracuse, two days after the Lightning was sluggish and outshot 22-17 in a dreary loss at New Jersey. "We're looking at our forward group not so much to shake things up," general manager Steve Yzerman said. "We just feel Brett can help us out. It gives us a little bit more depth, a little bit more speed, a little bit more size as well." Connolly, 21, the No. 6 overall pick of the 2010 draft, has zero goals and one assist in six games for Syracuse, but he had four goals during training camp to tie Steven Stamkos for the team lead and had 31 goals last season for the Crunch. Lightning at Hurricanes When/where: 7; PNC Arena, Raleigh, N.C. TV/radio: Sun Sports; 970-AM Key stats: The Lightning has won four straight at Carolina, with an 18-6 goals advantage. … Tampa Bay's power play is on a 5 for 17 streak. The Lightning also has killed 25 of its past 26 penalties. … RW Richard Panik entered Thursday leading league rookies with four power-play assists and tied for the lead with four power-play points. … The Hurricanes, losers of three straight, have been outscored 10-4 in first periods.
Bolts hope to build on fast start Erik Erlendsson (Tampa Tribune)
RALEIGH, N.C. — One month and 12 games into the season, the Tampa Bay Lightning have exceeded expectations. With eight wins and 16 points, Tampa Bay is tied for third in the Eastern Conference. But that doesn’t mean the Lightning are one of the top teams in the league. After all, through seven games last season, Tampa Bay was 6-1 and looked like one of the top teams in the league before it all unraveled and the team finished 28th in the league standings, making a coaching change along the way. “It’s not like we are sitting here thinking we are the best team in the league,” center Steven Stamkos said. “We want to be, but we have a lot of work to be that. “We are not satisfied. We are sitting (near) the top of the standings, but it’s not like we are sitting here having that feeling that we are the best team. We have to earn that by being consistent, and it’s done by playing like that for the full year. We know what happened last year and the way we started, so we have to make sure that doesn’t happen again.” One of the challenges to finding consistency is avoiding those dips during the season that can lead to losing streaks. Heading into today’s game at Carolina, Tampa Bay has not lost consecutive games. Coming off Tuesday’s loss in New Jersey, the Lightning hope to continue that early-season trend. “That’s the mindset that we have going to the game that we never lose two in a row,” defenseman Victor Hedman said. “That’s a pretty great mindset to have that after we lose a game, we never lose two in a row, so we are going to keep that up going into (today) against Carolina. We want to make this an excellent road trip, and to do that, we need to win the next one and it’s going to be huge for us.”
Though it’s early in the season and the schedule has yet to kick into high gear, one of the strengths of the Lightning appears to be a resilient attitude and a strong penchant for responding well to adversity. Whether the team has blown third-period leads, suffered a last-minute loss, fallen behind by two goals in a game or just flat-out lost, the Lightning have put it behind them and moved forward. “I think part of what has gone on is the guys don’t like to lose, so you like to have that inside,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “They’ve just responded and recognize what went wrong, why did we take a step back and then we take two steps forward. “I think, as a group, what we’ve just talked about is we need to keep munching points. And this group, they’ve responded to every challenge.” Cooper hopes to kick-start that process by getting back to playing a game that utilizes the team’s speed, something it failed to do in the loss to New Jersey. “If we don’t do that consistently with the potential players that we have, it is frustrating,” right wing Teddy Purcell said. “It is early (in the season), but it does stink to have two days off to kind of sit here and think about (Tuesday’s) loss. But we had a good practice and want to get back to that speed game, that quick game. “Hopefully we can apply that to (today’s game).” CALLED UP: The Lightning recalled RW Brett Connolly from Syracuse of the American Hockey League on Thursday, and he is expected to join the team for today’s game at Carolina. Connolly, who tied for the team lead with four goals during the preseason, started the season in the AHL, but was called up for one game earlier this season. In six games with Syracuse, he has one assist, but general manager Steve Yzerman noted Connolly has played well “even without putting up numbers.” WHERE/WHEN: PNC Arena, Raleigh, N.C.; 7 p.m. TV/RADIO: Sun Sports/970-AM INJURIES: Lightning - D Brian Lee (knee), C Tom Pyatt (broken collarbone), out. Hurricanes - G Cam Ward (lower body), G Anton Khudobin (lower body), D Joni Pitkanen (broken heel), C Jeff Skinner (upper body), RW Kevin Westgarth (upper body), LW Radek Dvorak (lower body), out; D Brett Bellemore (lower body), probable. NEED TO KNOW: This is the first of three meetings between the former Southeast Division foes. ... Tampa Bay has won four consecutive games at PNC Arena and seven of the past nine, outscoring Carolina a combined 39-21. ... The Lightning have killed 25 of the past 26 power plays in seven games. ... C Steven Stamkos has four goals and eight points during a four-game scoring streak. ... The Hurricanes have been outscored 10-4 in the first period. ... RW Alexander Semin has one goal and four assists during a four-game scoring streak. ... Carolina is 11-for-16 on the penalty kill in the past four games. ... The Hurricanes have scored three or fewer goals in 11 of 12 games.
Another bizarre goaltending twist for Hurricanes Luke DeCock (News & Observer)
RALEIGH — In one of those strange twists of goaltending fate that so often seem to plague the Carolina Hurricanes, their season may be heading the wrong direction because of a seventh-round draft pick.
Long before they lost both Cam Ward and Anton Khudobin to injuries in the space of 10 days, the Hurricanes lost Frederik Andersen to a contract squabble. They had taken the Dane with the 187th pick of the 2010 draft, and he looked like one of those rare late-round picks who might actually pan out. But Andersen refused to sign, telling the Hurricanes they had too much goaltending depth with Ward and Brian Boucher, and went back into the 2012 draft, where he was taken by the Anaheim Ducks, an organization with more goaltending depth than the Hurricanes. Carolina general manager Jim Rutherford took the rare step of issuing a press release criticizing both the player and his new agent, Ritch Winter. “We tried to sign Frederik to a contract, and made him aware that we felt there was an opportunity here for him to earn one of our two NHL spots during training camp,” Rutherford’s statement read. “We are very disappointed that he chose not to join our organization. Prior to him changing his agent, we had every indication that he was very interested in being a part of the Carolina Hurricanes.” By now, given Boucher’s sudden departure and Ward’s frequent injuries, Andersen probably would have played in as many as 40 NHL games for the Hurricanes during the past two seasons. Instead, he has played three games for the Ducks this season – with top American prospect John Gibson still ahead of him on the long-term depth chart – while the Hurricanes are forced once again to rely on Justin Peters, who despite his NHL contract is not at this point an NHL goalie. At 27, the window for him to become one continues to grow smaller, although he’ll never have a better chance than this. In desperation, the Hurricanes offered Rick DiPietro an AHL tryout, and goalie coach Greg Stefan was in Grand Rapids, Mich., to watch his debut Wednesday. One word could suffice for Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller’s summary of Stefan’s appraisal: Rusty. If DiPietro can help, it won’t be soon. There are precious few teams that could survive losing both their No. 1 and No. 2 goaltenders, and the Hurricanes aren’t one of them. The shame of it is they were playing quite well before first Khudobin and then Ward went down, their 4-2-3 start becoming a three-game losing streak going into Friday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning to open a stretch of six of seven at PNC Arena. They continue to fall behind early, as they did before Ward was injured, but they have lost the confidence in their goaltending that allowed them to recover in those games. Instead of sticking with the game plan, they have panicked. And then lost. At one point in Thursday’s practice, Muller interrupted a drill to snap at the team. “We just went over this!” he exclaimed. “We have to be careful because we were playing really good hockey, and I think the message the last couple days has been we have to keep that foundation in our game,” Muller said. “Yes, there are some areas in our game we have to address, but we still have to be a confident team and be aggressive at the right times and have confidence that we can still win a tight game.” It’s a long season, and if the Hurricanes can stop the bleeding now, if Peters can answer the challenge or DiPietro can contribute, it’ll go a long way toward the eventual success of their season. If not, this goaltending crisis has the potential to sink it entirely. Canes sign Malhotra to one-year deal Chip Alexander (News & Observer)
The Carolina Hurricanes, looking to boost its depth at center, signed NHL veteran Manny Malhotra on Thursday to a one-year, two-way contract. General manager Jim Rutherford said Malhotra would join the Canes for the morning skate Friday and would play Friday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Malhotra, 33, has played eight games for the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL after signing a professional tryout contract on Oct. 3. He will receive $600,000 at the NHL level, or $125,000 at the AHL level, with a guarantee of $250,000. "Manny has leadership qualities, is a veteran player, a good defensive player and a good face-off man," Rutherford said. "We feel there are some areas where we can upgrade, and bringing in Manny should help us to it." Malhotra has played 864 regular-season games in the NHL with the New York Rangers, Dallas, Columbus, San Jose and Vancouver. He just played nine games last season with the Canucks because of a recurring eye injury suffered in March 2011. Rutherford said Malhotra was brought to Raleigh to meet with eye specialists, then watched closely in his games with the Checkers to see if there were any apparent vision problems. In other personnel moves Thursday, injured forwards Jeff Skinner and Radek Dvorak were placed on injured reserve -- Skinner retroactive to Oct. 24 and Dvorak to Oct. 25.
1. 2. 3. 4.
Lightning’s Salo feeling younger than his 39 years – Damian Cristodero (Tampa Bay Times) Bolts hope to build on fast start – Erik Erlendsson (Tampa Tribune) Another bizarre goaltending twist for Hurricanes – Luke DeCock (News & Observer) Canes sign Malhotra to one-year deal – Chip Alexander (News & Observer)
Lightning’s Salo feeling younger than his 39 years Damian Cristodero (Tampa Bay Times)
RALEIGH, N.C. — Sami Salo would like to continue playing hockey after this season. The Lightning defenseman said he still has the passion and the game still is fun. The only question is, at 39 years old, is there still time? "We'll see during the season how things progress and how I feel," Salo said. Right now, though, he said, "I don't feel like I'm 39." For the record, Salo, in his 15th NHL season, is the league's ninth-oldest player. But as coach Jon Cooper said, "I don't look at his age. It's just a number for me. You look at him and say, 'Can the guy play?' And Sami can clearly still play." Salo has a goal and five points and is plus-2 in 11 games. He has blocked 10 shots and, perhaps most impressive, averages 20:26 of ice time, fourth on the team, while taking regular shifts on the power play and penalty kill. The 6-foot-3, 202-pound Finn also has been durable with the Lightning, playing 46 of 48 games last season and missing only this season's opener for an unspecified upper-body injury. That's quite different from his previous 13 seasons, split between the Senators and Canucks, which were marked by significant and frequent injuries. Those injuries — about 40, Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper once reported, including an Achilles rupture, having his nasal and sinus cavities caved in by a shot, and a testicle bruised by a shot — have at times caused Salo to consider retiring. That is when Salo has thought about his father, Toivo, who in 1995 died of stomach cancer at age 52 just before Salo played his first pro game in Finland. "There have been times that's been in my mind: 'Is it really worth it to keep putting yourself out there?' " said Salo, who is in the final year of a two-year, $7.5 million deal. "But that's how I was raised by my dad, who fought cancer and died after three months of battling. That's how I learned to never quit and keep playing until you can't." Watching Salo play makes one appreciate veteran savvy, especially in a league getting so much younger and faster. He hardly ever is flustered with the puck, runs the power play from the blue line (though the Lightning surely would like to see more of his big slap shot) and is efficient in his skating. Older but smarter is how Cooper described it. "Sometimes it takes Sami less energy to do things than it takes other guys because he knows where the puck is going and what's going to happen," Cooper said. "But when we've asked him to play at pace, Sami has played at pace." There might come a time when Cooper cuts back on Salo's minutes just to save the defenseman wear and tear, but that is not the plan tonight against the Hurricanes at PNC Arena. "That he even keeps up with the younger guys, it's something special and unique," said 22-year-old teammate Andrej Sustr. Said Victor Hedman, Salo's 22-year-old defensive partner: "He doesn't look 39, no way. You can see him going on like this for many more years." That is something Salo wouldn't mind at all.
CONNOLLY RECALLED: Right wing Brett Connolly was called up from AHL Syracuse, two days after the Lightning was sluggish and outshot 22-17 in a dreary loss at New Jersey. "We're looking at our forward group not so much to shake things up," general manager Steve Yzerman said. "We just feel Brett can help us out. It gives us a little bit more depth, a little bit more speed, a little bit more size as well." Connolly, 21, the No. 6 overall pick of the 2010 draft, has zero goals and one assist in six games for Syracuse, but he had four goals during training camp to tie Steven Stamkos for the team lead and had 31 goals last season for the Crunch. Lightning at Hurricanes When/where: 7; PNC Arena, Raleigh, N.C. TV/radio: Sun Sports; 970-AM Key stats: The Lightning has won four straight at Carolina, with an 18-6 goals advantage. … Tampa Bay's power play is on a 5 for 17 streak. The Lightning also has killed 25 of its past 26 penalties. … RW Richard Panik entered Thursday leading league rookies with four power-play assists and tied for the lead with four power-play points. … The Hurricanes, losers of three straight, have been outscored 10-4 in first periods.
Bolts hope to build on fast start Erik Erlendsson (Tampa Tribune)
RALEIGH, N.C. — One month and 12 games into the season, the Tampa Bay Lightning have exceeded expectations. With eight wins and 16 points, Tampa Bay is tied for third in the Eastern Conference. But that doesn’t mean the Lightning are one of the top teams in the league. After all, through seven games last season, Tampa Bay was 6-1 and looked like one of the top teams in the league before it all unraveled and the team finished 28th in the league standings, making a coaching change along the way. “It’s not like we are sitting here thinking we are the best team in the league,” center Steven Stamkos said. “We want to be, but we have a lot of work to be that. “We are not satisfied. We are sitting (near) the top of the standings, but it’s not like we are sitting here having that feeling that we are the best team. We have to earn that by being consistent, and it’s done by playing like that for the full year. We know what happened last year and the way we started, so we have to make sure that doesn’t happen again.” One of the challenges to finding consistency is avoiding those dips during the season that can lead to losing streaks. Heading into today’s game at Carolina, Tampa Bay has not lost consecutive games. Coming off Tuesday’s loss in New Jersey, the Lightning hope to continue that early-season trend. “That’s the mindset that we have going to the game that we never lose two in a row,” defenseman Victor Hedman said. “That’s a pretty great mindset to have that after we lose a game, we never lose two in a row, so we are going to keep that up going into (today) against Carolina. We want to make this an excellent road trip, and to do that, we need to win the next one and it’s going to be huge for us.”
Though it’s early in the season and the schedule has yet to kick into high gear, one of the strengths of the Lightning appears to be a resilient attitude and a strong penchant for responding well to adversity. Whether the team has blown third-period leads, suffered a last-minute loss, fallen behind by two goals in a game or just flat-out lost, the Lightning have put it behind them and moved forward. “I think part of what has gone on is the guys don’t like to lose, so you like to have that inside,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “They’ve just responded and recognize what went wrong, why did we take a step back and then we take two steps forward. “I think, as a group, what we’ve just talked about is we need to keep munching points. And this group, they’ve responded to every challenge.” Cooper hopes to kick-start that process by getting back to playing a game that utilizes the team’s speed, something it failed to do in the loss to New Jersey. “If we don’t do that consistently with the potential players that we have, it is frustrating,” right wing Teddy Purcell said. “It is early (in the season), but it does stink to have two days off to kind of sit here and think about (Tuesday’s) loss. But we had a good practice and want to get back to that speed game, that quick game. “Hopefully we can apply that to (today’s game).” CALLED UP: The Lightning recalled RW Brett Connolly from Syracuse of the American Hockey League on Thursday, and he is expected to join the team for today’s game at Carolina. Connolly, who tied for the team lead with four goals during the preseason, started the season in the AHL, but was called up for one game earlier this season. In six games with Syracuse, he has one assist, but general manager Steve Yzerman noted Connolly has played well “even without putting up numbers.” WHERE/WHEN: PNC Arena, Raleigh, N.C.; 7 p.m. TV/RADIO: Sun Sports/970-AM INJURIES: Lightning - D Brian Lee (knee), C Tom Pyatt (broken collarbone), out. Hurricanes - G Cam Ward (lower body), G Anton Khudobin (lower body), D Joni Pitkanen (broken heel), C Jeff Skinner (upper body), RW Kevin Westgarth (upper body), LW Radek Dvorak (lower body), out; D Brett Bellemore (lower body), probable. NEED TO KNOW: This is the first of three meetings between the former Southeast Division foes. ... Tampa Bay has won four consecutive games at PNC Arena and seven of the past nine, outscoring Carolina a combined 39-21. ... The Lightning have killed 25 of the past 26 power plays in seven games. ... C Steven Stamkos has four goals and eight points during a four-game scoring streak. ... The Hurricanes have been outscored 10-4 in the first period. ... RW Alexander Semin has one goal and four assists during a four-game scoring streak. ... Carolina is 11-for-16 on the penalty kill in the past four games. ... The Hurricanes have scored three or fewer goals in 11 of 12 games.
Another bizarre goaltending twist for Hurricanes Luke DeCock (News & Observer)
RALEIGH — In one of those strange twists of goaltending fate that so often seem to plague the Carolina Hurricanes, their season may be heading the wrong direction because of a seventh-round draft pick.
Long before they lost both Cam Ward and Anton Khudobin to injuries in the space of 10 days, the Hurricanes lost Frederik Andersen to a contract squabble. They had taken the Dane with the 187th pick of the 2010 draft, and he looked like one of those rare late-round picks who might actually pan out. But Andersen refused to sign, telling the Hurricanes they had too much goaltending depth with Ward and Brian Boucher, and went back into the 2012 draft, where he was taken by the Anaheim Ducks, an organization with more goaltending depth than the Hurricanes. Carolina general manager Jim Rutherford took the rare step of issuing a press release criticizing both the player and his new agent, Ritch Winter. “We tried to sign Frederik to a contract, and made him aware that we felt there was an opportunity here for him to earn one of our two NHL spots during training camp,” Rutherford’s statement read. “We are very disappointed that he chose not to join our organization. Prior to him changing his agent, we had every indication that he was very interested in being a part of the Carolina Hurricanes.” By now, given Boucher’s sudden departure and Ward’s frequent injuries, Andersen probably would have played in as many as 40 NHL games for the Hurricanes during the past two seasons. Instead, he has played three games for the Ducks this season – with top American prospect John Gibson still ahead of him on the long-term depth chart – while the Hurricanes are forced once again to rely on Justin Peters, who despite his NHL contract is not at this point an NHL goalie. At 27, the window for him to become one continues to grow smaller, although he’ll never have a better chance than this. In desperation, the Hurricanes offered Rick DiPietro an AHL tryout, and goalie coach Greg Stefan was in Grand Rapids, Mich., to watch his debut Wednesday. One word could suffice for Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller’s summary of Stefan’s appraisal: Rusty. If DiPietro can help, it won’t be soon. There are precious few teams that could survive losing both their No. 1 and No. 2 goaltenders, and the Hurricanes aren’t one of them. The shame of it is they were playing quite well before first Khudobin and then Ward went down, their 4-2-3 start becoming a three-game losing streak going into Friday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning to open a stretch of six of seven at PNC Arena. They continue to fall behind early, as they did before Ward was injured, but they have lost the confidence in their goaltending that allowed them to recover in those games. Instead of sticking with the game plan, they have panicked. And then lost. At one point in Thursday’s practice, Muller interrupted a drill to snap at the team. “We just went over this!” he exclaimed. “We have to be careful because we were playing really good hockey, and I think the message the last couple days has been we have to keep that foundation in our game,” Muller said. “Yes, there are some areas in our game we have to address, but we still have to be a confident team and be aggressive at the right times and have confidence that we can still win a tight game.” It’s a long season, and if the Hurricanes can stop the bleeding now, if Peters can answer the challenge or DiPietro can contribute, it’ll go a long way toward the eventual success of their season. If not, this goaltending crisis has the potential to sink it entirely. Canes sign Malhotra to one-year deal Chip Alexander (News & Observer)
The Carolina Hurricanes, looking to boost its depth at center, signed NHL veteran Manny Malhotra on Thursday to a one-year, two-way contract. General manager Jim Rutherford said Malhotra would join the Canes for the morning skate Friday and would play Friday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Malhotra, 33, has played eight games for the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL after signing a professional tryout contract on Oct. 3. He will receive $600,000 at the NHL level, or $125,000 at the AHL level, with a guarantee of $250,000. "Manny has leadership qualities, is a veteran player, a good defensive player and a good face-off man," Rutherford said. "We feel there are some areas where we can upgrade, and bringing in Manny should help us to it." Malhotra has played 864 regular-season games in the NHL with the New York Rangers, Dallas, Columbus, San Jose and Vancouver. He just played nine games last season with the Canucks because of a recurring eye injury suffered in March 2011. Rutherford said Malhotra was brought to Raleigh to meet with eye specialists, then watched closely in his games with the Checkers to see if there were any apparent vision problems. In other personnel moves Thursday, injured forwards Jeff Skinner and Radek Dvorak were placed on injured reserve -- Skinner retroactive to Oct. 24 and Dvorak to Oct. 25.
