There's going to be some grumbling and finger pointing after the unpleasant weekend to be sure - Im guessing a lot of fans aren't going to be so forgiving of Iginla's continued mediocrity going forward - but I'm going to go the opposite route, especially since I've already talked about stuff like goaltending and Jarome's struggles.
Specifically, I'd like to highlight the recent play of Matthew Lombardi, because I think he's slipping beneath the radar a bit. The guy has six points in his last 5 games and has only been shut out twice this month. Although the team as a whole was underwhelming this weekend, Lombo fired a combined 12 shots on net, garnered 3 points and was +4. With his work in January, I think Lombardi has put some distance between him and Boyd on the depth chart, although the comparison may be an unfair one given the latter's ice time/teammates.
Also, guess who is the best PKer on the team is currently? Lombardi has had just two goals scored on him this season while down a man. That's inhumanly good - pointing to a lot of good fortune no doubt - but there's something to be said about his speed and tenacity at 5on4.
Lombardi had a tough beginning to the year: he was around for the terrible start, then he got hurt. His underlying numbers took a beating and languished with the Prust's of the world for awhile. In fact, even I started to sour on him.
However, since Keenan started bouncing him between the first and third lines, his ES figures have recovered nicely. He's over 2 ESP/60 (2.29), has a healthy corsi rate (+11.6), and is outscoring the bad guys (+7).
One thing to keep in mind as well is that Lombardi's SH% is ghastly - a career worst 5.1%. His average was around 10% prior to this season, so I wouldn't consider his relatively disappointing 4 goals to be indicative of his ability.
Of course, Lombardi's quality of linemates has gone way up this season relative to last. Remember the ill-fated kid line experiment? *shudder* Whether centering Iginla and Cammalleri or Glencross and Moss, Lombo is obviously in much better company these days. I speculated in the off-season that a lot of his terrible results from 07/08 had to do with his surroundings and that's the way it seems to be playing out so far.
Not that he's convinced me he'll ever be a consistent 20 goal/60 point player now or in the future; I think his ceiling is a versatile utility center that can move up and down the line-up, depending on need. He's never going to drive results like, say, a Daymond Langkow, but he can likely be a complement to already capable players. Which is actually a nice piece to have in the line-up.
Cue the "should we trade Lombardi for a top 6 player" debate all over again.
