In the spring of 2011 the Tampa Bay Lightning, under a rookie GM (Steve Yzerman) and a rookie head coach (Guy Boucher), made it all the way to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals before finally being ousted by the eventual champion Boston Bruins. In the spring of 2012 they failed to make the playoffs, finishing eight points out. What was different? Goaltending, plain and simple. Tampa goalies allowed a league-worst 281 goals, which was 116 goals less than the St. Louis Blues allowed. Their 3.39 goals against per game was dramatically worse than last year’s 2.85 mark. Their offense may have been a tad less potent than a year ago (2.83 goals per game vs. 2.94 last year), but they were still a top-10 offensive team. Can you blame the ‘team defense’ on some of this? Partially, but not nearly the extent to which blame needs to be passed out. The team was only allowing an increase of 1.8 shots against more than they were last year. Their penalty kill was a bit worse, but goalies definitely share the blame in that: this year Lightning netminders posted a .855 SV% on the penalty kill, while last year they had a .895 SV%. Last year the Lightning rode an extremely hot Dwayne Roloson in the playoffs, who they acquired during the season from the Islanders. Roloson posted a 2.51 GAA and .924 SV% in the playoffs last year and with the Lightning in the regular season put up 2.56 and .912. This year? 3.66 GAA and .886 SV%. He eventually lost his starting job to Mathieu Garon who was average (2.85, .901). That is the position that most needs addressing in Tampa. GM Steve Yzerman has publicly indicated he prefers a young goalie, no doubt with the sour odor of the ancient Roloson still lingering in the locker room. There are quality options on the Restricted Free Agency and trade market, young backups ready for a starting opportunity. Cory Schneider is the perfect fit, and I even thought so before the year began, but it seems likely that Vancouver keeps him over Roberto Luongo at this point. Tuukka Rask likewise stays in Boston. That leaves Jonathan Bernier in L.A., Anders Lindback in Nashville, UFA Josh Harding from Minnesota, prospect Jacob Markstrom in Florida, Thomas Greiss in San Jose, Ben Bishop or Robin Lehner in Ottawa, Sergei Bobrovsky in Philadelphia, and Jhonas Enroth in Buffalo as potential targets. Despite Yzerman’s comments, I am not completely ready to rule his team out of the Roberto Luongo sweepstakes just yet. True, his contract is very lengthy and onerous, but he is still a very solid option for the next five to seven years. If Tampa can get near-All-Star goaltending, they would return to being a big threat in the Eastern Conference, and even average goaltending would get them back into the playoffs. And as you see from this year, just making the playoffs can often be enough for a surprise trip to the Stanley Cup Finals, where Steven Stamkos deserves to be on the game’s biggest Nick is RealGM’s NHL Feature Writer. You can reach him by email nick.obergan@realgm.com or on twitter @NickObergan