James Wright News

Tampa Bay's venture through the desert Monday turned into a night of vindication for some of the Lightning's key components in a 4-1 victory against Phoenix.

The Tampa Bay Lightning will try to stretch their points streak to six games tonight, when they visit the Phoenix Coyotes and Jobing.com Arena.

Anze Kopitar scored the lone goal of the shootout to lift the Los Angeles Kings to a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning at St.

Not looking for trouble It should be no surprise that LW James Wright , above, whom Lightning coach Rick Tocchet has praised for being very coachable, was not a problem child.

Ryan Malone and Alex Tanguay each had a goal and an assist to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 3-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.

Greg Lamoureux always thought his dad Roger was a big deal. The Olympic hockey jersey hanging in the basement of their Calgary home "was the coolest thing," he said.

Poetry may be the path to the highest literary expression, but it doesn't usually pay much.

Tampa Bay is not a good shootout team. The Lightning is 3-13 in shootouts dating back to the start of the 2008-09 season, 1-7 in its past eight shootouts and is winless in three shootouts this season ... Ottawa, of course, has the worst shootout record of all time, having won just 11-of-35 shootout games ... The Lightning is unbeaten on home ice ...

During six seasons with the Lightning, Boyle blossomed into one of the league's top offensive blue-liners and became a cog in the 2004 Stanley Cup championship team.

Almost five months after he finished radiation treatments, and three weeks since his latest tests confirmed his cancer is in remission, John Tucker still cannot taste.

The odds of left wing Drew Miller scoring on his brother, goalie Ryan Miller, tonight when the Lightning host the Buffalo Sabres aren't great.

The final result won't be to his liking, but Tampa Bay goaltender Mike Smith may enjoy it anyway.

Coach Rick Tocchet said he admires David Hale 's "gritty" game. Add a dip in the performance of Kurtis Foster and Hale has pushed into the Lightning's top six on defense.

Mike Smith won for the first time in nine months, James Wright scored his first NHL goal and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the San Jose Sharks 5-2 on Thursday night.

Zero goals in seven games this season. Zero goals in 14 games, including the final seven last season.

Nothing really worked out today for those of us who like a good story. Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Kurtis Foster was scratched from tonight's game with the Sharks, and San Jose center Torrey Mitchell is on long-term injured reserve with tendinitis in his left knee and is not even with the team.

For 19-year-old James Wright, it's a fantasy world. After being drafted in the fourth round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft from the Vancouver Giants of the WHL, the Saskatoon native figured he would be toiling in juniors and the minors for quite some time.

For a guy who's living at the Embassy Suites because he might be back in juniors next week, 19-year-old James Wright has attained a rather lofty status with the Lightning.

James Wright knows he has to treat Thursday's game with the Sharks like any other, even if, really, it is not.

Seven games into the season, it appears the Lightning already have entered a potentially critical crossroads.