from Sam Donnellon of the Philadelphia Daily News,
Vinny had five shifts in the first period, four in the second, spending a total of 5 minutes, 31 seconds. He used to log that in the first 10 minutes of play during those 14 seasons at Tampa Bay. In eight of those seasons, he played in at least 80 of his team's 82 games, and in two others he missed a total of 11.
Last night's game was his 1,164th in an NHL uniform. For five consecutive seasons beginning in 2002, Lecavalier scored at least 33 goals. His best year was 2006-07, when he poured in 52 goals and finished with 108 points. His discernible decline in both productivity and health began a couple of years later, and Holmgren's offer sheet was extended the summer after he played in only 39 games.
Which is a long way of saying Lecavalier's current plight is hardly a matter of a fat-cat athlete.
"It's tough," he said of his current plight. "There's no flow. You're just not warmed up. I try to go when there's whistles, just skate around. The last couple of years have been like that. You kind of have to battle through that. I never understood that before. But it's tough to play so little minutes and stay warm because you can't. I want to make a difference."
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