From The Point: Tampa turnaround.

Two years ago, the Tampa Bay Lightning hit the midway point of the season in ninth place in the Eastern Conference. A couple months later, they finished the regular season in first place. A couple months after that, they were Stanley Cup champions. This year, the reverse might occur. The defending champion Bolts – although, don't say that to coach John Tortorella – have struggled all season. They've hovered around the middle of the pack, sixth or seventh or eighth in the East, just ahead of the bubble teams. But not by much. Their best players – Martin St-Louis, Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards – too often have been shadows of their 2003-04 selves. They sorely miss goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, who left for Chicago; John Grahame and Sean Burke have been inconsistent and allowed too many soft goals. (Khabibulin, for the record,... [read full story]