TAMPA - Dmitry Afanasenkov won a spot on the Lightning roster with his ability to play either wing and the potential to produce goals on a scoring line. But 18 games into the season, the 23-year-old rookie had only a goal and two assists and was averaging less than 15 minutes on a checking line before he was scratched on Friday for Andre Roy.
"Affy hasn't played poorly," Lightning coach John Tortorella said, "but he has to get to the point, when he has played as much as he has here, to be able to play at this level in an offensive position.
"We're not looking for a 25-, 30-goal year from him, but we need to get a little bit more than we've gotten out of him. He has to bury some of the chances that he has gotten."
Afanasenkov, scratched from three consecutive games in late October, has not scored since registering two assists in a 9-0 win over Pittsburgh on Nov.8. His only goal was the winner against Boston on opening night.
Afanasenkov's inconsistent season mirrors that of Ruslan Fedotenko, who produced 19 goals and 13 assists in 76 games last season but has just two goals and an assist and is averaging 13:28 minutes.
"(Both) are in the same boat," Tortorella said. "I don't think Ruslan has played poorly, but almost and we need to get some production. We need to get some offense out of Ruslan and out of Affy when they're put into an offensive role. I think we've been fair as far as ice time and now they need to step up and get something done, not almost be there."
Tortorella was impressed with Roy's ability to spark the Lightning with his physical play.
"I thought Andre played well," the coach said. "He gets into a fight and he adds some jam to our lineup."
LONG NIGHT: Lightning defenseman Dan Boyle and Blues center Mike Danton were frequent scuffle partners after Danton took Boyle hard into the boards in the first period.
"That's his role," Boyle said. "That's what he has to do. He's a fourth-line guy, he's not a big guy so that's what he has to do to be effective. His job is to get under people's skin and he kind of did that tonight."
BITS: Center Martin Cibak and defenseman Darren Rumble were scratched. ... Defenseman Brad Lukowich left briefly in the first period when he required seven stitches to close a cut around his right eye. ... The Lightning remained the only team not to have lost a man game to injury.
