There will be a time, Steve Downie said, when he has to answer only
hockey questions; when questions about his boiling emotions and
suspensions that have come at every level from juniors to the NHL
are gone.
There will be a time, Downie said, but he knows it is not
now.
"I know it's going to take time, but I can't wait," the
Lightning right wing said. "That said, it falls on me to do the
right things and not cross that line."
He has put his toe on it a few times this season. Downie's
117 penalty minutes are second on the team, and several weeks ago,
coach Rick Tocchet warned him to take it down a notch after a spate
of games in which he was in the penalty box too much.
But with career highs of 10 goals and 22 points, and at
plus-6, Downie, 22, finally is showing the skills that made him the
Flyers' 2005 first-round draft pick.
At 5 feet 11, 195 pounds, he is a puck hunter, a presence in
front of the net and second on the team with five power-play goals.
His reward: a top-six spot on a line with center Vinny
Lecavalier and Alex Tanguay.
"When the puck is up for grabs, he comes up with it," Tocchet
said. "He's one of our best corner men along with Ryan Malone.
That's the sort of stuff that wins playoff hockey."
So is the way he scored in a 4-2 victory last weekend over
the Devils — in front of the net, jostling with a defender
and screening goalie Martin Brodeur before deflecting Kurtis
Foster's shot from the blue line.
"That's the typical goal we need," Tocchet said. "He's in
position, he pushes the (defender) and the puck is in the net.
Those are things that are huge.
"I just want to get him to the point where he can play the
last minute of a game and get that puck off the wall. If he can add
that to his tool bag, he's going to be a complete hockey player."
Given his past, Downie must work carefully on his game.
He was suspended by his junior team for instigating a fight
with a teammate. The NHL suspended him 20 games in 2007 for a hit
on Ottawa's Dean McAmmond. The AHL suspended him 20 games for
slashing a linesman in a Feb. 28 game for Norfolk, though Downie
said it was accidental in the course of play.
"I'm watched extra on the ice, I feel," said Downie, acquired
from the Flyers in November 2008 in the Matt Carle deal. "I have to
keep my emotions in check and not hurt the team. ... But at the
same time, I play my best hockey when I'm emotional and put
everything on the line. It's a fine line I have to follow."
The closest he came to tripping over that line last month
came in six games during Dec. 5 to 15, when he had 28 penalty
minutes.
"Stupid penalties," Downie said, "because I wasn't thinking."
This week, Downie challenged Washington Capitals superstar
Alexander Ovechkin to a fight after he felt Ovechkin stuck out his
knee when he hit him. But after Downie squared off with Ovechkin,
the Caps' Matt Bradley raced across the ice to fight him instead.
Before the fight against the Capitals, he had just 12 penalty
minutes in 11 games since Dec. 15. In the previous eight games, he
had three goals, eight points and was plus-4.
"It's a tough situation where you have to tell a guy, 'Yeah,
play on the edge but be careful,'" Tocchet said. "He's getting
better. Is he where I want him? No, but he has to learn that edge
part."
"It's been a learning process for me," Downie said. "My game
has developed so much, but I still think I have a lot more."
Ask him about it.
