from Shawn Mitchell of Puck-Rakers,

A day away from the rink gave Jackets coach John Tortorella plenty of time to “chew” (his word) on a 5-2 loss at Tampa Bay on Friday, and to contemplate what he called a glaring leadership void that plague’s the NHL’s 30th-place team.

Tortorella did not mince words when he met with the media this afternoon.

“We implode,” Tortorella said of a second period on Friday in which the Jackets turned a 2-1 lead into a 4-2 deficit. “Let’s call a spade a spade. It’s embarrassing, and that’s what we are. I’m not going to tiptoe around here. That’s how we play right now and I think I’m going to need to depend on the kids to get us out of this because I’m not getting squat from the top players as far as that stuff.”

The “stuff” would include a pair of odd-man rushes by the Lightning immediately following a goal by Scott Hartnell that gave the Jackets a 2-1 lead followed by three consecutive minor penalties in a span of three seconds.

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