BUFFALO, N.Y. - When you are a healthy scratch for 22 straight - more than a quarter of the 82-game schedule - you have lots of time to think.
Just ask Lightning wing Andre Roy.
"I know I'm with the team, but I just don't feel like I'm part of everything," he said Friday. "That's what makes it tough on me.
"I have all these question marks. Is the team going to give up on me? Do they think I'm done now or I did something bad that's made me sit out? I just don't want people to think I did something wrong. It's hard to understand why, I guess."
Roy said he knows coach John Tortorella does not want to tweak a winning lineup. Roy understands that intellectually. It's tougher emotionally.
"I know we're winning," he said. "I just hope this doesn't affect my career. I think I've proven I can bring everything to the game; fighting, I can play, I got a pretty good shot. I know I'm not Cam Neely or Wendel Clark back in the day, but I still think I'm a pretty effective player."
Tortorella said he respects the way Roy has handled the situation.
"He's a good man," he said. "There's nothing I can say or do to make him feel more part of it until he starts playing. On the other hand, we have to make decisions on what we feel is best for the team. Right now, in the way most of the guys have played and everybody chipping in, there just hasn't been a crack to get in there. When there is one, I hope he has a great night because he's in a tough situation."
Roy, with one goal and 59 penalty minutes in 22 games after scoring a career-high 10 last season in 62, said he is bolstered by his teammates.
"Everybody tries to cheer me up," he said.
"I'm sure I'm not a big hit with Andre," Tortorella said. "But I hope he respects that the coaching staff is trying to do things for the team. We want him to be part of the team and, eventually, I think he will be and contribute as we go through the last quarter."
SCHEDULE DIFFICULTIES: The Lightning not only played the second half of a back-to-back, it played its third game in four nights. It also was the third of 15 in 26 days.
"It's part of our schedule and we have to accept it," Tortorella said. "If you spend too much time thinking about it ... you build a crutch. We're all going to complain about it occasionally, but every team goes through the same kind of situations."
ODDS AND ENDS: The Sabres honored former Buffalo defenseman and Hall of Famer Tim Horton, who founded the Tim Hortons restaurant chain and died at age 44 in a 1974 car crash. ... Lightning defensemen Nolan Pratt and Darren Rumble were scratched.
