Melrose Blasts Bolts' Offense After Second Loss

[Lil Bit Special]

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/oct/06/na-melrose-blasts-offense/sports-lightning/

Tampa Bay Lightning's Vincent Lecavalier, foreground, falls on ice in front of New York Rangers' Nikolai Zherdev.

PRAGUE, Czech Republic - The Lightning are 0-2 and Coach Barry Melrose is frustrated.

After another 2-1 loss to the New York Rangers on Sunday in which the Lightning were grossly outshot, Melrose minced no words in criticizing his star offensive players. Tampa Bay mustered 19 shots, two fewer than in Saturday's 2-1 loss to the Rangers.

In the two games combined, the Lightning were outshot 80-40.

"We don't compete," Melrose said. "We're too easy to play against. Until that changes, we're going to have trouble. We have a lot of skill on our team, but skill means nothing if you don't work hard."

Melrose praised the team's veteran third line of Chris Gratton, Adam Hall and 42-year-old Gary Roberts. Hall's first-period goal gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead.

"My biggest problem was I can't play Gratton's line every shift," Melrose said. "It's probably the lowest-paid line we've got on the ice, but by far the best line in the last two games.

"I hope our guys are embarrassed. We've just got to get our great players playing as hard as our lesser players and we'll be fine."

WHO SCORED?

Lightning - Adam Hall (1).

Rangers - Wade Redden (1), Scott Gomez (1).

NEAR MISS

Lighting rookie Steven Stamkos, the No. 1 overall draft pick, nearly scored his first NHL goal in the second period. His wrist shot beat Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, but clanged off the cross bar.

OVERSEAS SUCCESS

This marked the second straight year the NHL began the season in Europe, building off games in 2007 between Los Angeles and Anaheim in London. Fans packed the 17,000-seat O2 Arena for the second straight day to see the first NHL games in the Czech Republic, even though the cheapest tickets were 20 times more expensive than the same ticket for a Czech league game.

"I think that any NHL team would love to come over," Lightning coach Barry Melrose said. "I'm sure that the NHL will continue to do it every year. We've got so many European players, the fans over here deserve to see their homeboys play."

BUSY BACKSTOPS

Lightning goaltenders Mike Smith and Olaf Kolzig were tremendous during the two games against the Rangers. Smith stopped 40 shots on Saturday, and Kolzig 37 on Sunday. Kolzig, playing his first NHL game with a different team after spending his first 16 seasons with the Washington Capitals, made 23 saves before Wade Redden finally got a puck past him.

Barry's pissed already... should be a fun hockey season.