Lighting continue to slide

And John Tortorella continues to blow up:

Fuming from a brutal 3-0 loss to the Colorado Avalanche last week, Tampa Bay Lightning coach John Tortorella had his players show up for an 8 a.m. practice the next day and skated their tails off.

General manager Jay Feaster liked the idea and made a snide comment about his players when asked his thoughts on the early practice.

"We only got 20 minutes from them (against Colorado), so we needed to get that 40 minutes back," Feaster said.

Tortorella said he was simply trying to emphasize the need to work harder as a team.

"It's not about embarrassing athletes," Tortorella said.

As for Tortorella having one foot out the door in Tampa, Feaster supported him and placed much of the blame for the Lightning's last-place standing on himself.

"I believe John Tortorella is the right guy to coach this team," Feaster said. "There's no quit on this hockey team in terms of the coaching staff.

" ... This is my mess. This is my problem. The responsibility lies with me."

No quit in the coaching staff? Maybe not, but there is a whole lot of crazy.