2009–10 Tampa Bay Lightning season

2009–10 Tampa Bay Lightning
2009–10 Tampa Bay Lightning
Division	4th Southeast
Conference	12th Eastern
2009–10 record	34–36–12
Home record	21–14–6
Road record	13–22–6
Goals for	217
Goals against	260
Team information
General manager	Brian Lawton
Coach	Rick Tocchet
Captain	Vincent Lecavalier
Alternate captains	Mattias Ohlund; Martin St. Louis
Arena	St. Pete Times Forum
Average attendance	15,497 (78.4%)
Team leaders
Goals	Steven Stamkos (51)
Assists	Martin St. Louis (65)
Points	Steven Stamkos (95)
Penalty minutes	Zenon Konopka (265)
Plus/minus	Steve Downie (+14)
Wins	Antero Niittymaki (21)
Goals against average	Antero Niittymaki (2.87)
	← 2008–09 2010–11 →

The 2009–10 Tampa Bay Lightning season was the 18th season for the National Hockey League (NHL) team. Unlike the previous off-season, the Lightning did not make many roster changes. Second-year winger Steve Stamkos emerged from obscurity in which would turn out to be a breakout season that saw him score 10 goals in his first 11 games. Through the months of January and February, Stamkos had an 18-game point streak and he was ranked in the top five in the NHL in scoring by the time he turned 20, challenging the likes of established NHL superstars such as Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby. On April 10, 2010, Stamkos reached the 50-goal mark for the first time in his career when he scored two goals against the Florida Panthers. He ended the season with 51 goals, tied for most in the NHL with Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, with the two sharing the Rocket Richard Trophy as the NHL's goal-scoring leaders. He tied Crosby in the final minute of the last game of the season with an empty-net goal while also becoming the third-youngest player in NHL history to score 50 goals in a season, after Wayne Gretzky and Jimmy Carson.^[1] Despite Stamkos's individual successes, the team's poor seasonal record prompted team owner Jeffrey Vinik to terminate Brian Lawton and Rick Tocchet's contracts as general manager and head coach, respectively.

The Lightning improved on their regular season record but failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs for the third season in a row. The team was sold during the season to Boston-based investor Jeff Vinik. After the season, Vinik fired the Lightning's management team.

Off-season

On May 11, the Lightning gave Rick Tocchet a multi-year contract to make him their full-time head coach, removing the interim tag he held after taking over the position from Barry Melrose, who was fired during the previous season after 16 games.^[2]

On June 23, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman met with Lightning co-owners Oren Koules and Len Barrie due to philosophical and financial differences over how to build the team. More details were not available to the public because Bettman imposed a "gag-order" over the meetings.^[3]^[4] By February, the team was sold and both Koules and Barrie were no longer involved. It was also in this time period that Bettman reportedly vetoed a trade between the Lightning and the Montreal Canadiens that would have sent center Vincent Lecavalier to the Canadiens in exchange for goaltender Carey Price, center Tomas Plekanec and an unnamed prospect.^[5]

With the second overall pick in the Entry Draft, the Lightning selected defenseman Victor Hedman from Modo Hockey of the Elitserien. Hedman was considered the top European prospect available.^[6] Having acquired a second first-round pick from the Detroit Red Wings, the Lightning used the 29th overall selection on Carter Ashton from the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the Western Hockey League (WHL).

Among several of the free agent signings the Lightning made included defenseman Mattias Ohlund,^[7] goaltender Antero Niittymaki^[8] and veteran left winger Alex Tanguay.^[9]

Preseason

2009 Pre-season Game Log: 3–1–3 (Home: 0–0–0 ; Road: 1–0–2; Neutral: 2–1–1)

#	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Attendance	Record	Recap
1	September 16	Tampa Bay Lightning	4 – 3	Dallas Stars	SO	15,214	0–0–1	^[10]
2	September 18	Atlanta Thrashers	2 – 1	Tampa Bay Lightning	OT	16,223	0–0–2	^[11]
3	September 21 (in Regina, SK)	Ottawa Senators	3 – 1	Tampa Bay Lightning			0–1–2	^[12]
4	September 22 (in Everett, Washington)	Phoenix Coyotes	2 – 1	Tampa Bay Lightning			1–1–2	^[13]
5	September 23 (in Loveland, Colorado)	Tampa Bay Lightning	4 – 3	Phoenix Coyotes	SO		1–1–3	^[14]
6	September 24 (in Winnipeg, MB)	Edmonton Oilers	4 – 3	Tampa Bay Lightning	OT		2–1–3	^[15]
7	September 27	Tampa Bay Lightning	5 – 1	Atlanta Thrashers		7,179	3–1–3	^[16]

Regular season

The Lightning ended the regular season having scored the fewest shorthanded goals in the League, with just 2.^[17]

After the regular season finished with Tampa Bay missing the playoffs, the Lightning fired both General Manager Brian Lawton and Head Coach Rick Tocchet on April 12, 2010.^[18]

Divisional standings

**Southeast Division^[19]**
		GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	p – Washington Capitals	82	54	15	13	318	233	121
2	Atlanta Thrashers	82	35	34	13	234	256	83
3	Carolina Hurricanes	82	35	37	10	230	256	80
4	Tampa Bay Lightning	82	34	36	12	217	260	80
5	Florida Panthers	82	32	37	13	208	244	77

Conference standings

**Eastern Conference^[20]**
R		Div	GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	p – Washington Capitals	SE	82	54	15	13	318	233	121
2	y – New Jersey Devils	AT	82	48	27	7	222	191	103
3	y – Buffalo Sabres	NE	82	45	27	10	235	207	100
4	Pittsburgh Penguins	AT	82	47	28	7	257	237	101
5	Ottawa Senators	NE	82	44	32	6	225	238	94
6	Boston Bruins	NE	82	39	30	13	206	200	91
7	Philadelphia Flyers	AT	82	41	35	6	236	225	88
8	Montreal Canadiens	NE	82	39	33	10	217	223	88
8.5
9	New York Rangers	AT	82	38	33	11	222	218	87
10	Atlanta Thrashers	SE	82	35	34	13	234	256	83
11	Carolina Hurricanes	SE	82	35	37	10	230	256	80
12	Tampa Bay Lightning	SE	82	34	36	12	217	260	80
13	New York Islanders	AT	82	34	37	11	222	264	79
14	Florida Panthers	SE	82	32	37	13	208	244	77
15	Toronto Maple Leafs	NE	82	30	38	14	214	267	74

bold – Qualified for playoffs; y – Won division; p – Won Presidents' Trophy (and division)

AT – Atlantic Division, NE – Northeast Division, SE – Southeast Division

Game log

2009–10 Game Log

October: 4–3–4 (Home: 4–0–3; Road 0–3–1)

Game	Date	Opponent	Score	Location	Attendance	Record	Points
1	October 3	Atlanta Thrashers	6 – 3	Philips Arena	18,545	0–1–0	0
2	October 6	Carolina Hurricanes	2 – 1 (SO)	RBC Center	16,186	0–1–1	1
3	October 8	New Jersey Devils	4 – 3 (SO)	St. Pete Times Forum	17,454	0–1–2	2
4	October 10	Carolina Hurricanes	5 – 2	St. Pete Times Forum	14,212	1–1–2	4
5	October 12	Florida Panthers	3 – 2	St. Pete Times Forum	14,126	2–1–2	6
6	October 15	Ottawa Senators	7 – 1	Scotiabank Place	17,732	2–2–2	6
7	October 17	Pittsburgh Penguins	4 – 1	Mellon Arena	17,132	2–3–2	6
8	October 22	San Jose Sharks	5 – 2	St. Pete Times Forum	13,343	3–3–2	8
9	October 24	Buffalo Sabres	3 – 2 (SO)	St. Pete Times Forum	15,804	3–3–3	9
10	October 29	Ottawa Senators	5 – 2	St. Pete Times Forum	13,213	4–3–3	11
11	October 31	New Jersey Devils	2 – 1 (SO)	St. Pete Times Forum	12,154	4–3–4	12

November: 6–4–4 (Home: 2–2–1; Road 4–2–3)

Game	Date	Opponent	Score	Location	Attendance	Record	Points
12	November 2	Philadelphia Flyers	6 – 2	Wachovia Center	18,667	4–4–4	12
13	November 3	Toronto Maple Leafs	2 – 1 (OT)	Air Canada Centre	19,301	5–4–4	14
14	November 5	Ottawa Senators	3 – 2 (OT)	Scotiabank Place	17,511	5–4–5	15
15	November 7	Montreal Canadiens	3 – 1	Bell Centre	21,273	6–4–5	17
16	November 12	Minnesota Wild	4 – 3 (SO)	St. Pete Times Forum	14,530	7–4–5	19
17	November 14	Los Angeles Kings	2 – 1 (SO)	St. Pete Times Forum	16,612	7–4–6	20
18	November 16	Phoenix Coyotes	4 – 1	Jobing.com Arena	9,503	8–4–6	22
19	November 19	Anaheim Ducks	4 – 3 (OT)	Honda Center	14,555	8–4–7	23
20	November 21	Carolina Hurricanes	3 – 1	RBC Center	13,224	8–5–7	23
21	November 22	Atlanta Thrashers	4 – 3 (OT)	Philips Arena	13,342	9–5–7	25
22	November 25	Toronto Maple Leafs	4 – 3	St. Pete Times Forum	15,333	9–6–7	25
23	November 27	New York Rangers	5 – 1	St. Pete Times Forum	17,608	10–6–7	27
24	November 28	Dallas Stars	4 – 3 (OT)	American Airlines Center	17,334	10–6–8	28
25	November 30	Colorado Avalanche	3 – 0	St. Pete Times Forum	12,214	10–7–8	28

December: 5–8–2 (Home: 3–3–1; Road 2–5–1)

Game	Date	Opponent	Score	Location	Attendance	Record	Points
26	December 2	Boston Bruins	4 – 1	TD Garden	16,533	10–8–8	28
27	December 4	New Jersey Devils	3 – 2	Prudential Center	15,336	10–9–8	28
28	December 5	New York Islanders	4 – 0	St. Pete Times Forum	13,577	11–9–8	30
29	December 7	Washington Capitals	3 – 0	St. Pete Times Forum	12,400	11–10–8	30
30	December 9	Edmonton Oilers	3 – 2	St. Pete Times Forum	13,477	11–11–8	30
31	December 11	Colorado Avalanche	2 – 1 (SO)	Pepsi Center	12,188	11–11–9	31
32	December 13	Chicago Blackhawks	4 – 0	United Center	21,081	11–12–9	31
33	December 15	Nashville Predators	7 – 4	Sommet Center	15,804	11–13–9	31
34	December 17	Detroit Red Wings	3 – 0	Joe Louis Arena	19,474	11–14–9	31
35	December 18	St. Louis Blues	6 – 3	Scottrade Center	19,150	12–14–9	33
36	December 21	New York Islanders	4 – 2	Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum	10,864	13–14–9	35
37	December 23	Philadelphia Flyers	5 – 2	St. Pete Times Forum	16,177	13–15–9	35
38	December 26	Atlanta Thrashers	4 – 3	St. Pete Times Forum	15,437	14–15–9	37
39	December 28	Boston Bruins	2 – 1	St. Pete Times Forum	16,926	15–15–9	39
40	December 30	Montreal Canadiens	2 – 1 (OT)	St. Pete Times Forum	18,441	15–15–10	40

January: 7–6–1 (Home: 5–1–1; Road 2–5–0)

Game	Date	Opponent	Score	Location	Attendance	Record	Points
41	January 2	Pittsburgh Penguins	3 – 1	St. Pete Times Forum	20,109	16–15–10	42
42	January 6	Buffalo Sabres	5 – 3	HSBC Arena	18,690	16–16–10	42
44	January 8*	New Jersey Devils	4 – 2	Prudential Center	15,129	17–16–10	44
43	January 9	Philadelphia Flyers	4 – 1	Wachovia Center	19,678	16–17–10	44
45	January 12	Washington Capitals	7 – 4	St. Pete Times Forum	13,891	18–17–10	46
46	January 14	Florida Panthers	3 – 2	St. Pete Times Forum	13,516	18–18–10	46
47	January 16	Florida Panthers	5 – 2	BankAtlantic Center	15,971	18–19–10	46
48	January 18	Carolina Hurricanes	3 – 2	RBC Center	16,031	19–19–10	48
49	January 19	New York Rangers	8 – 2	Madison Square Garden	18,200	19–20–10	48
50	January 21	Toronto Maple Leafs	3 – 2 (OT)	St. Pete Times Forum	13,691	20–20–10	50
51	January 23	Atlanta Thrashers	2 – 1 (SO)	St. Pete Times Forum	16,212	21–20–10	52
52	January 27	Montreal Canadiens	3 – 0	St. Pete Times Forum	14,404	22–20–10	54
53	January 29	Anaheim Ducks	2 – 1 (SO)	St. Pete Times Forum	15,230	22–20–11	55
54	January 31	Washington Capitals	3 – 2	Verizon Center	18,277	22–21–11	55
*Originally scheduled for January 8, but suspended during the 2nd period due to a lighting failure. Play resumed on January 10 from the moment it was stopped.^[21]

February: 4–3–0 (Home: 3–1–0; Road 1–2–0)

Game	Date	Opponent	Score	Location	Attendance	Record	Points
55	February 2	Atlanta Thrashers	2 – 1	Philips Arena	11,390	23–21–11	57
56	February 4	New York Islanders	5 – 2	St. Pete Times Forum	13,891	24–21–11	59
57	February 6	Calgary Flames	2 – 1 (OT)	St. Pete Times Forum	15,859	25–21–11	61
58	February 9	Vancouver Canucks	3 – 1	St. Pete Times Forum	14,226	26–21–11	63
59	February 11	Boston Bruins	5 – 4	St. Pete Times Forum	15,826	26–22–11	63
60	February 13	New York Islanders	5 – 4	Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum	12,337	26–23–11	63
61	February 14	New York Rangers	5 – 2	Madison Square Garden	18,200	26–24–11	63
League-wide break for 2010 Winter Olympics (February 15–28)

March: 5–10–1 (Home: 2–5–0; Road 3–5–1)

Game	Date	Opponent	Score	Location	Attendance	Record	Points
62	March 2	Philadelphia Flyers	7 – 2	St. Pete Times Forum	17,812	26–25–11	63
63	March 4	Washington Capitals	5 – 4	Verizon Center	18,277	26–26–11	63
64	March 6	Atlanta Thrashers	6 – 2	St. Pete Times Forum	19,926	27–26–11	65
65	March 9	Montreal Canadiens	5 – 3	Bell Centre	21,273	27–27–11	65
66	March 11	Toronto Maple Leafs	4 – 3 (OT)	Air Canada Centre	19,110	27–27–12	66
67	March 12	Washington Capitals	3 – 2	Verizon Center	18,277	28–27–12	68
68	March 14	Pittsburgh Penguins	2 – 1	St. Pete Times Forum	20,230	28–28–12	68
69	March 16	Phoenix Coyotes	2 – 1	St. Pete Times Forum	14,517	28–29–12	68
70	March 18	Buffalo Sabres	6 – 2	St. Pete Times Forum	16,868	28–30–12	68
71	March 20	Washington Capitals	3 – 1	St. Pete Times Forum	19,844	28–31–12	68
72	March 21	Florida Panthers	5 – 2	BankAtlantic Center	14,831	28–32–12	68
73	March 23	Carolina Hurricanes	3 – 2 (OT)	St. Pete Times Forum	13,009	29–32–12	70
74	March 25	Boston Bruins	5 – 3	TD Garden	17,565	30–32–12	72
75	March 27	Buffalo Sabres	7 – 1	HSBC Arena	18,690	30–33–12	72
76	March 30	Columbus Blue Jackets	3 – 2	Nationwide Arena	15,760	30–34–12	72
77	March 31	Pittsburgh Penguins	2 – 0	Mellon Arena	17,132	31–34–12	74

April: 3–2–0 (Home: 2–2–0; Road 1–0–0)

Game	Date	Opponent	Score	Location	Attendance	Record	Points
78	April 2	New York Rangers	5 – 0	St. Pete Times Forum	17,909	31–35–12	74
79	April 6	Carolina Hurricanes	8 – 5	St. Pete Times Forum	12,454	31–36–12	74
80	April 8	Ottawa Senators	4 – 3 (SO)	St. Pete Times Forum	15,876	32–36–12	76
81	April 10	Florida Panthers	4 – 3 (SO)	St. Pete Times Forum	17,050	33–36–12	78
82	April 11	Florida Panthers	3 – 1	BankAtlantic Center	15,884	34–36–12	80

Schedule

Win Loss Overtime/Shootout Loss

Playoffs

For the third consecutive year, the Lightning failed to qualify for the playoffs.

Player stats

Skaters

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes

Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; TOI = Time on ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime losses; GA = Goals against; GAA= Goals against average; SA= Shots against; SV= Saves; Sv% = Save percentage; SO= Shutouts

Player	GP	Min	W	L	OT	GA	GAA	SA	Sv%	SO	A	PIM
Antero Niittymaki	49	2657	21	18	5	127	2.87	1388	.909	1	1	0
Mike Smith	42	2273	13	18	7	117	3.09	1165	.900	2	0	14
Dustin Tokarski	2	44	0	0	0	3	4.09	16	.813	0	0	0

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Lightning. Stats reflect time with Lightning only.
^‡Traded mid-season
Bold/italics denotes franchise record

Awards and records

Awards

Player	Award	Awarded
Regular Season
Mike Smith^[22]	NHL Second Star of the Week	January 4, 2010
Steven Stamkos^[23]	NHL First Star of the Week	February 15, 2010
Steven Stamkos^[24]	NHL Second Star of the Week	March 8, 2010
Steven Stamkos^[25]	Maurice Richard Trophy (Shared with Sidney Crosby)	April 11, 2010
Martin St. Louis^[26]	Lady Byng Trophy winner	June 23, 2010

Records

Milestones

Player	Milestone	Reached
Regular Season
Victor Hedman	1st Career NHL Game 1st Career NHL Assist 1st Career NHL Point	October 3, 2009
James Wright	1st Career NHL Game	October 3, 2009
James Wright	1st Career NHL Goal 1st Career NHL Point	October 22, 2009
James Wright	1st Career NHL Assist	October 24, 2009

Transactions

The Lightning have been involved in the following transactions during the 2009–10 season.

Trades

Date	Details
June 26, 2009^[27]	To Detroit Red Wings 2nd-round pick (32nd overall) in 2009 3rd-round pick (75th overall) in 2009	To Tampa Bay Lightning 1st-round pick (29th overall) in 2009
July 21, 2009^[28]	To Phoenix Coyotes Radim Vrbata	To Tampa Bay Lightning Todd Fedoruk David Hale
August 13, 2009^[29]	To Anaheim Ducks Evgeny Artyukhin	To Tampa Bay Lightning Drew Miller 3rd-round pick in 2010
March 3, 2010^[30]	To Los Angeles Kings Jeff Halpern	To Tampa Bay Lightning Teddy Purcell 3rd-round pick in 2010

Free agents lost

Player	New team	Contract terms
David Koci^[36]	Colorado Avalanche	1 year, $575,000
Cory Murphy^[37]	New Jersey Devils	undisclosed
Richard Petiot^[38]	Chicago Blackhawks	1 year
Geoff Kinrade^[39]	Ottawa Senators	1 year, 2-way contract
Noah Welch^[40]	Atlanta Thrashers	undisclosed
Jason Ward^[41]	Philadelphia Flyers	1 year
Brandon Segal^[42]	Los Angeles Kings	2 years
Vaclav Prospal^[43]	New York Rangers	1 year, $1.1 million
Matt Pettinger^[44]	Vancouver Canucks	undisclosed
Lukas Krajicek^[45]	Philadelphia Flyers	undisclosed

Lost via waivers

Player	New team	Date claimed off waivers
Radek Smolenak^[48]	Chicago Blackhawks	September 25, 2009
Drew Miller^[49]	Detroit Red Wings	November 11, 2009

Draft picks

Tampa Bay's picks at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft in Montreal.

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	Club Team
1	2	Victor Hedman	(D)	Sweden	Modo Hockey (Elitserien)
1	29 (from Detroit)	Carter Ashton	(RW)	Canada	Lethbridge Hurricanes (WHL)
2	52 (from Philadelphia)	Richard Panik	(RW)	Slovakia	Ocelari Trinec (Czech Extraliga)
4	93	Alex Hutchings	(LW)	Canada	Barrie Colts (OHL)
5	148 (from Carolina via Nashville)	Michael Zador	(G)	Canada	Oshawa Generals (OHL)
6	162 (from Nashville)	Jaroslav Janus	(G)	Slovakia	Erie Otters (OHL)
7	183	Kirill Gotovets	(D)	Belarus	Shattuck-Saint Mary's (USHS-MN)

References

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