BOSTON – One of the really effective players for the Tampa Bay Lightning in their playoff run has been winger Steve Downie.
Formerly a loose cannon, Downie has settled down under coach Guy Boucher. He’s kept the Gong Show antics to a minimum and has become an effective member of the Lightning’s hugely successful third line along with Sean Bergenheim and Dominic Moore.
Along the lines of Vancouver’s Ryan Kesler, Downie has reduced his counterproductive interaction with members of the other team.
“I don’t want to take any credit for changing him. He’s the one doing it,” said Boucher. “He’s the one willing to take the steps. I was looking on TV yesterday and they were talking about Kesler pretty much in the same way that you’re talking now. He’s a guy that’s got some great hockey attributes and he was wasting a lot of energy doing other things.
“You can see him now he’s a dominant hockey player because his focus and his energy are going in the right direction. You know, at this level, I strongly believe now – I’m still a little rookie here – there’s one thing I see and that’s these guys are Formula Ones. The minute there’s one little thing that’s off, it has an incredible impact on the car and the body, basically. If your mind is not in the right place, if your energy is just slightly off because you’ve wasted some in places that you shouldn’t, you’re not going to get the maximum out of yourself. I think Steve understood that.
“To realize that is one thing. To put it into practice, it’s an every day training. He’s been great at it. There’s been a few times he’s had some trouble controlling his emotions, but nothing like before. It’s night and day from the beginning of the year…he has evolved and he’s really sold on doing what he’s doing now. Teams have tried to go at him in the first and second series but it ain’t working because he knows how important he is for us on the ice.”
Tags: Guy Boucher, Ryan Kesler, Steve Downie, Tampa Bay Lightning
