TAMPA - Finally, the puck belonged to Vinny Lecavalier. The moment, too.
For a dozen games, he had waited for a chance such as this. Lecavalier was gliding down the ice, on the right side of a three-on-none break, and his opponents had turned into spectators. Who was going to stop him now?
It was in the final seconds of the middle period, and Shane Willis had fed him the puck, and the lane to the back of the net seemed as wide as I-275. For the first time all night, Ottawa goaltender Martin Prusek seemed frozen in the middle of the net.
Lecavalier was flying now, moving like a predator timing his pounce, and then he ...
passed ...
the ...
puck ...
back.
Oh.
In the instant that followed, when Willis' shot clanged harmlessly off Prusek's shoulder, you could see just how out of order things have become with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The scorers do not score. The stars do not shine. The slumps do not end.
Nothing against teamwork, and nothing against Willis, but what in the name of Lord Stanley was Lecavalier doing giving up the puck at such a time? What? Has he been reborn as a point guard? Is he now a passer or, considering his fisticuffs later, a puncher?
Lecavalier was better off, and the Lightning was better off, if he had taken the shot at that moment and left Willis and Cory Sarich to scramble for a possible rebound.
"You need to be a selfish son of a (expletive) right there," Lightning coach John Tortorella said. "That's not a negative on Vinny, because he's trying to make a play. But that's the guy we wanted with the puck."
Perhaps you want to call it selfishness. The better phrase is self-awareness. Lecavalier needs to believe that he's the best chance his team has to score. He needs to take the moment upon himself. Staring down a tie, he needs to take the darn shot.
Lecavalier, to be fair, didn't see it quite that way. Which might be part of the problem.
"I don't regret not shooting," Lecavalier said. "I thought we got a great shot. I thought we were going to score.
"A lot of things could have happened. We could have done a give-and-go five times and not scored."
That's the way it's going with the Lightning as of late, however. It's still wading through the muck, and it's still waiting for its leading scorers to show it the way out.
It is not a coincidence that the Lightning has entered its first pronounced slump of the season at precisely the same time as its 1-2 punch of Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis. For Lecavalier, there have been two goals in 12 games. For St. Louis, there has been one.
Frankly, Tampa Bay could use either one.
The Lightning is winless in its past six games, and it has scored six times along the way. The biscuit seems too big. The basket seems too small. And the Lightning trying to score these days looks very much like someone trying to shove a quarter through the dime slot in a soda machine.
At times such as these, players turn their heads toward the more talented players in the room. It's a natural thing. Lesser scorers may carry you for a game, maybe for a week. Eventually, however, the players paid to score have to do so.
This is Lecavalier's team. This is St. Louis' team.
Where, for goodness' sake, have they been?
Who else is going to score the big goal for a team struggling for all it can get? Dave Andreychuk scored Thursday night, but his big number days have passed. Cory Stillman is a nice player who has had a nice year, but he's still new. Brad Richards still doesn't finish the way he should. And who knows what is going on with Ruslan Fedotenko?
That leaves Lecavalier and St. Louis, not necessarily in that order, in the spotlight. Or, the way things have gone lately, the searchlights.
How long has it been since St. Louis came flashing past in a blur, burning another goaltender? As for Lecavalier, he had one shot all night.
For Lecavalier, it is time he claimed his birthright. From the time he was drafted by the Lightning, you have heard two things about Lecavalier. One, he was going to be a star someday and, two, don't rush him, for goodness' sake.
It is time for Lecavalier's arrival. Lecavalier has been fortunate to play where the pressure never mounts too large, but he should be getting pretty close to ripe. It is time he put the season on the end of his stick and carried it with him.
Only twice in the past 10 games has Lecavalier scored. Only once in the past 12 has St. Louis scored.
For the Lightning, that cannot continue. There is only so far the Lightning can go with, say, Dan Boyle or Sarich leading the charge.
There is a truism in sports. At the big moments, the big players stand up. That's why they have the fame. That's why they have the fortune.
Both Lecavalier and St. Louis say they don't mind the pressure. It's time they didn't mind the responsibility, either.
For the Lightning, it starts with their self-awareness. They have to realize that, yes, the puck is theirs.
