Young defense has a lot to learn

With veteran Dan Boyle injured, the Lightning's defense is struggling with a lack of experience on the ice.

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO, Times Staff Writer
Published December 15, 2007

Paul Ranger, 23, right, will play his 180th game tonight against the Capitals. The Lightning have the seventh-youngest defense in the NHL, and without Dan Boyle, 31, they are even younger.
	[Dirk Shadd | Times]

TAMPA - Pavel Kubina said it took him about 300 games to finally understand how to play defense in the NHL.

"You've got to get that experience," said the former Lightning blue-liner, who now plays for the Maple Leafs.

"When you're young, you think you're ready to play, but sometimes you just don't get it. It takes some time. It's pretty much a learning process."

Consider, then, where the Lightning finds itself: tied with the Devils for the league's seventh youngest defense at 26.67 years, and with four of seven defensemen who have played fewer than 200 games.

Take Dan Boyle, 31, out of the mix because of his injury, and the group is even younger.

Using Kubina's criteria, that means a steep learning curve. Using common sense, that means games in which the defense trips on itself.

That happened in Thursday's 9-6 loss as the Flames had free rein in the Tampa Bay zone and were the happy recipients of several giveaways that led to goals.

"We've turned the page," Paul Ranger said. "We're just worrying about today."

Ranger, 23, will play his 180th game tonight against the Capitals at the St. Pete Times Forum.

Rookie Mike Lundin, 23, will play game 33. Shane O'Brien, 24, will play game 113, and Doug Janik, 27, will play game 110.

"We're really excited about the play of some of these young guys," coach John Tortorella said.

Still, he added, "It's something we need to be patient with."

Boyle was expected to be the leader of the defense, and the team lost more than 1,000 games of NHL experience when Cory Sarich and Nolan Pratt left as free agents.

It doesn't help the margin for error is razor thin playing in front of goaltenders Johan Holmqvist and Marc Denis, whose combined .882 save percentage entered Friday last in the league.

"It's been a trial by fire for them," general manager Jay Feaster said.

The defensemen said the biggest challenges are their own.

"For me," Lundin said, "the challenging thing is coming back after mistakes and not losing that confidence or getting sidetracked because you're thinking about mistakes."

Added Janik: "The biggest thing is just staying focused on your positioning and reading the plays and trying to have that confidence in yourself."

That, Tortorella said, is key.

"The hardest thing about playing defense is the different looks you get at split-second intervals," he said. "It's the most difficult thing about the position, the awareness of where you need to be when things come at you.

"You can't teach that. You have to experience it. That's why it takes so long for D to mature and when they see those things not to think. It has to be an instinct."

As for mistakes, associate coach Mike Sullivan said they generally have been "of enthusiasm, not trepidation. They've really stepped up in that regard and played with the edge that allows them to be competitive."

That is one reason Feaster said of Thursday's loss, "I'm not going to lose my mind over a game in which we stubbed our toe."

It was, after all, another game closer to 300.

Damian Cristodero can be reached at cristodero@sptimes.com.

[Last modified December 14, 2007, 21:33:35]