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The perfect analogy to describe Matthew Lombardi: like a young debutante ready to move into the right direction, but needs to go to finishing school. He possesses amazing speed, but lacks finish. Kelly Hrudey and Mike Rogers said it best, recently, on HNIC satellite radio: great speed but has poor hockey sense. Exactly. He blazes around the ice, but has the same move: drives to the net and starts to circle the net and then blindly whips a backhand into the slot, usually on to an opposing player's stick to start a transition play leading to an odd man rush for the opposition. If he actually gets brave and ventures into the slot without the puck, and receives a pass, he acts like Joel Otto and "stone hands" it immediately wide or loses the handle. A great example is the game against Dallas (Feb. 3/09), Calgar leading 1-0, Conroy and Lombardi are rushing up ice on the PK, they criss cross over the Dallas blueline, Conroy drops it for #18, and he appears shocked to get a drop pass and overskates it, Dallas subsequently picks it up on the odd man rush wth the PP and Lehtinen scores late in the period. Dallas went on to win 3-1. The only reason why he received his 3 year deal was due to his performance at the World Championships; where he excelled on the bigger ice surface where nobody gets hit and your peers are the castoffs from the NHL playoffs. Since that performance, however, he's been a disappointment. Also, for a guy who is so shy of contact, he sure takes a lot of penalties. With the development of Dustin Boyd (who is grittier a la Sutter), the pleasant surprise of Glencross and Bourque, and the expected progress of Moss, Lombo might be somewhere else come March. Kind of like what happened to Chuck Kobasew, Lombardi's contemporary, who has actually become a better player points wise with the Bruins. Keep your head up Lombo, the trade winds are blowing.
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