Center takes shot at expectations

Lightning's success is proportional to the number of shots Vinny Lecavalier takes.

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 24, 2003

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- If you blinked you missed it. That is how fast Vinny Lecavalier's wrist shot was traveling Saturday when it beat Coyotes goaltender Brian Boucher to the short side.

It was a thing of beauty. Too bad the Lightning center doesn't show it off more often.

"His wrist shot is harder than most people's slap shots," coach John Tortorella said Sunday. "It's beyond me why he doesn't use it more."

It may seem strange to point out this flaw after Lecavalier's four-point game, which included a hat trick, two power-play goals and a short-handed goal, was the focal point of a 4-0 victory at America West Arena in Phoenix.

But that is what happens when the talent is so huge and the expectations so high. And in a season in which Lecavalier has produced personal bests of 30 goals and 71 points (almost doubling last season's 37), he is creating expectations not seen since his 67-point sophomore season.

Lecavalier, 22, will tell you the situations are totally different, that the 67 points he tallied in 1999-2000 were meaningless because the Lightning was losing. What, then, to make of a player having his best season with his team poised to clinch -- with one point tonight against the Sharks at the HP Pavilion -- its first playoff berth since 1996?

"It means your production, along with everyone else's, helped the team," Lecavalier said.

It means, linemate Vinny Prospal said, that "when he is on top of his game, we are a much better team."

Which brings us back to Lecavalier's shooting habits. He is second on the team with 248 shots. Entering Sunday, he was tied for 15th in the league.

Lecavalier would have had more had he shot more of the times he had the chance instead of looking to pass or dipsy-doodling around the offensive zone, which makes him susceptible to coughing up the puck.

Tortorella understands ... to a point.

"When you're dealing with people who cannot only score but can make plays, they want to do both of them," he said. "I really believe the mind-set he had in the second half of that game (against Phoenix) is the mind-set he sticks with, and that is to shoot first and look to pass next."

Case in point: Lecavalier had an open shot in the second period but looked to pass to Prospal. When he could not, his shot was deflected over the glass.

"Shooting is never a bad play, but sometimes passing can be a better play," Lecavalier said. "I came down on the goalie and with the defense coming, in my head, I thought the play was not to shoot. You tell me if I don't shoot, I don't score, and that's the truth. But I thought I could do something else to put it in the net."

He did exactly what was necessary to score a third-period power-play goal, carrying the puck from the right-wing boards to the slot and beating Boucher to the long side off the inside of the post.

Maybe this is all just nit-picking. Lecavalier is tied with Brian Bradley with a team-record 111 goals, and he is the NHL's youngest active player with at least 100.

Maybe the story is that Lecavalier has nine goals and 14 assists in the 19 games in which the Lightning has gone 12-2-5 to all but guarantee its second postseason appearance in 11 seasons.

Maybe it is that Lecavalier is plus-10 during that stretch to better his season mark to minus-2, 16 points better than his personal best.

"I've just been more consistent in the way I've been playing," Lecavalier said. "I've been ready every single game. I haven't played good every game, but overall I think I'm more consistent and more focused, and when you're focused good things happen."

Or maybe the story is that Lecavalier learned a lesson Saturday.

"Your game-breakers need to produce, not just get chances and be happy to get chances," Tortorella said. "Finish. Get it done. Vinny did that last night by shooting the (expletive) puck."