Bolt of inspiration

The Lightning have one three in a row to climb within a point of sixth place in the conference. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/NHLI via Getty Images)

Ryan Dixon
2010-02-08 14:15:00

Steven Stamkos has clearly established himself as a front-line NHL player, but Steve Downie might not be far behind.

Downie is never going to have the elite offensive upside Stamkos does, but he’s rapidly becoming a very useful player for Tampa while skating on the top line with Stamkos and Martin St-Louis.

A lot of people are crediting Bolts coach Rick Tocchet with helping Downie even out his game. Tocchet, after all, was the kind of rugged goal-scorer teams kill for and he’s done a nice job of advancing the 22-year-old Downie down that same path.

The 40-goal seasons Tocchet racked up might be a bit beyond Downie’s reach, but it’s easy to see him developing into a guy who gets you 25 goals while making life absolutely miserable for opposing defenseman with his tenacious forecheck.

Keeping his emotions in check will always be the challenge for Downie, but the fact he’s more consistently on the right side of the line these days has helped him take a significant step forward in his career.

THE HOCKEY NEWS POWER RANKINGS
RK.	TEAM	LW	L10	THE SCOOP
1		1	10-0-0	Need four straight wins to set the NHL record for consecutive victories
2		5	9-1-0	While they were rumored suitors in the Ilya Kovalchuk sweepstakes, they don’t seem to need him, winning each of their last nine games
3		2	8-1-1	New Shark Niclas Wallin has a history of scoring at big moments during the playoffs
4		8	7-3-0	If this team makes the playoffs, Dave Tippett has to be coach of the year
5		4	5-4-1	Jonathan Toews is rolling, scoring at a point-per-game clip over his past 11
6		3	8-2-0	Ryan Kesler is on pace for 70-plus points after setting a career high with 59 last season
7		7	9-1-0	Let's see how goalie Brian Elliott holds up down the stretch
8		11	4-5-1	Adding an all-world talent like Ilya Kovalchuk means this will be one tough team to beat in the playoffs
9		9	5-4-1	Regular season or not, Pens can't be blowing 4-1 leads to Ovie and the Caps
10		6	2-7-1	The Sabres are falling quickly, having lost four straight while only winning two of their past 10
11		10	6-4-0	Will Wojtek Wolski take his mom's advice and shoot the puck more?
12		13	6-4-0	Marty Turco appears to have won his starting job back, going 2-1 with a 1.00 GAA and .970 save percentage in his past three games
13		20	7-2-1	There's enough top-end talent on this team to put a serious scare in a first round playoff opponent
14		16	3-4-3	Brought in to provide offense, Matt Stajan and Niklas Hagman have one point each in the four games since joining the club
15		19	6-4-0	Ryan Getzlaf is heading towards the Olympics on a tear, scoring six points in his past three games
16		21	5-4-1	No Harding? No Backstrom? No Problem. Rookie Anton Khudobin went 2-0 with an 0.87 GAA and a .979 save percentage in his first two NHL games last week
17		12	5-5-0	Philly is usually lethal on the power play, but the Flyers have struggled with the man advantage of late
18		15	3-5-2	Pavel Datsyuk is recovering his scoring touch after a slow start, scoring nine points in his past seven games
19		22	5-3-2	Team that struggles to score already is missing Mike Cammalleri, Andrei Kostitsyn and Benoit Pouliot right now
20		14	3-6-1	When your two leading scorers (Patric Hornqvist and J-P Dumont) are tied with 36 points, you've got a problem
21		23	7-3-0	Eric Staal is a big reason the Canes have won seven of their past 10, scoring 14 points over that span
22		27	1-6-3	Snapped their 10-game losing streak, but still play 10 of their next 12 on the road
23		17	4-5-1	Asking too much of Tomas Vokoun; the Cats haven't scored more than two goals in 10 games
24		18	4-5-1	Losing Ilya Kovalchuk hurts, but maybe – maybe – some of that pain will be relieved when Kari Lehtonen returns between the pipes this week
25		24	3-7-0	It's worth rolling the dice on pending-UFA Olli Jokinen for two months, especially since it meant getting rid of Ales Kotalik's contract
26		25	4-4-2	When your two leading scorers (Andy McDonald and Brad Boyes) are tied with 35 points, you've got a problem
27		26	6-4-0	2-0 under new coach Claude Noel; Steve Mason has given up just one goal in those contests
28		29	3-5-2	Two games as a Leaf, two shutouts for Jean-Sebastien Gigeure
29		28	2-8-0	Seven straight without a win
30		30	2-7-1	Shawn Horcoff has just 20 points in 52 games, not nearly enough for a guy getting an average yearly salary of $5.5 million