TAMPA, Fla. — John-Michael Liles stood up and spoke a few words to his teammates after Saturday night’s 6-5 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The message:
“I told them I apologize,” the Avalanche defenseman said.
The transgression? Shooting a puck around the boards and down the ice in frustration following Ryan Malone’s key power-play goal in the third period, which gave the Lightning a 5-3 lead.
Liles was whistled for a 10-minute misconduct penalty at 9:06 and never could get back on the ice to try to help his team pull out at least a point in the end. As one of the Avs’ more veteran players, and in the middle of a high-scoring season that saw him add another point to his totals earlier in the game, Liles’ absence hurt in the final minute when the Avs were pressing for a tying goal.
“I had just had the puck bounce over my stick before the goal, which kept it in the zone, and I got frustrated,” Liles said.
Avs coach Joe Sacco didn’t pile on verbally to Liles, saying, “A lot of guys shoot the puck against the boards after a goal’s scored.”
Said Liles: “It was just a frustrating night all around for us. We got ourselves in trouble with penalties, and that’s too good of a power play to do that.”
Footnotes.
Avs winger Tomas Fleischmann recorded his first two points with the team, both assists. . . .
Matt Hunwick also got his first point as an Av, a first-period assist on Phillipe Dupuis’ goal. . . .
Lightning coach Guy Boucher wasn’t happy at how close the final score became, after taking a 6-3 lead with 4:05 left. “That was a big letdown,” Boucher said. “When we’re two or three goals ahead, we tend to change things. We want to mature as a team.”
