Lundin, Mike

Atlanta dealt a blow in their own quest for Steve Stamkos.

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Mike Smith allowed just 1 goal on 23 shots for the loss. Can I just say, "Case in point?" After seeing Karri Ramo go 2-0-1 including a sterling effort against the division leading Canes, Smith got well quickly to play the Thrashers tonight and with only a smidge of goal support he would've won. That's what having two young lions competing for the starting job will do for the Lightning. You won't get that if Smith isn't being pushed because he has a sad sack retread as a backup.

19:40 of even hockey for Matt Smaby with 1 shot on goal and 3 hits. The fact Matt has been even with over 18 minutes of IT in both of these one goal nailbiters only helps his resume going into next season in pursuit of an NHL job. And I'll pose the question again: if Smaby finishes out the year continuing to garner 5-6 minutes more IT than Mike Lundin, does that mean he's passed Lundin on the depth chart? When I heard Coach Tortorella's comments about Ramo and Lundin, I obviously was strongly against sending Ramo down to the minors next season. However, if Lundin doesn't hit the weight room hard this offseason and get the upper body strength he desperately needs, Coach might have a legitimate point about the young blueliner.

Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.

Lightning had all the hustle, but couldn't bury the Panthers.

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Mike Smith allowed 3 goals on 25 shots for the loss. His puckhandling gaffe early in the game turned out to be the margin of difference.

Congratulations to Junior Lessard on his first goal as a member of the Lightning, and to Mathieu Darche who had an outstanding game. Shame on the homers in Sunrise for denying Darche a star of the game.

Matt Smaby was even in 8:38 with 3 hits and 1 blocked shot. He made a good block in the first period but got caught out on a couple of 1 minute plus shifts which might be part of why he sat in the second period (although there were a lot of special teams in the middle frame). In the third period he was pretty solid and even did some business from the point on one shift helping to keep a couple of pucks in the zone. I really like the pairing of Smaby and Mike Lundin that has been put together by the coaching staff because I feel like each player's strength helps cover up the other's weakness. It would have been interesting if Boyle hadn't dropped the skate on his wrist this year to see these two Minnesota boys develop together as a unit in Norfolk. If they can stick together and learn to read off of each other, they could be a really good second or third pairing for the Lightning down the road. I'm already seeing flashes of Lundin reading what Smaby is doing and making the right adjustments to cover for what Matt is doing.

The Panthers were flat lucky to survive this game. The Lightning outworked and out played them for the final 55 minutes of the game and didn't let up even when they fell behind by two goals. This is a team filled with character guys playing their rear ends off for jobs next season. If the Lightning can throw in another skill player or two up front, this can get interesting. Also, if they can get a post and a chain to keep Smith and Ramo closer to their net, that might not be a bad investment either.

Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.

I didn't want this to be lost in amongst the eulogy for the season...

With his 41st NHL game played this season, Mike Lundin graduated from prospect status tonight according to Bolt Prospects' criteria. Lundin will be moved to the Bolt Prospects Alumni section of prospects page when we release our 2007-2008 Midterm Rankings some time within the next few months.

In the meantime, congratulations to Mike on his breakthrough year and best wishes on a long and productive career.

Finally, the Lightning manage 3 goals support for Ramo and they get a point out of the deal. It isn't rocket science.

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Karri Ramo allowed 3 goals on 29 shots before getting roughed up in the extra session to take the penalty shot loss.

First Period
Tampa Bay 13:29, Andreas Karlsson 1 (Jan Hlavac, Shane O'Brien)

Second Period
Toronto 3:23, Jason Blake 6 (Pavel Kubina, Tomas Kaberle)
Toronto 9:39, Mats Sundin 18 (Jason Blake)
Tampa Bay 10:08, Martin St. Louis 14 (Vaclav Prospal, Vincent Lecavalier)
Toronto 17:27, Hal Gill 2 (Jason Blake, Pavel Kubina)

Third Period
Tampa Bay 19:19, Paul Ranger 7 (Vaclav Prospal, Vincent Lecavalier)

Overtime
NO SCORING

Shootout
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Just a terrible third period as the Lightning waste a quality start by the kid.

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Karri Ramo stopped 33 of 35 shots faced in the loss.

First Period
Tampa Bay 0:23, Martin St. Louis 13 (Brad Richards, Shane O'Brien)
Carolina 18:04, Andrew Ladd 3 (Matt Cullen, Brandon Nolan)

Secnd Period
NO SCORING

Third Period
Carolina 9:31, Ray Whitney 17 (Cory Stillman, Frantisek Kaberle)
Carolina 19:00, Ray Whitney 18 (empty net) (Scott Walker)
Carolina 19:57, Eric Staal 17 (empty net) (Ray Whitney, Bret Hedican)