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Lightning shoots but misses

Nikolai Khabibulin gets no help in a 2-0 loss to the Wild.

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 3, 2002

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- It doesn't matter if goals are allowed at the beginning or the end of a period, they hurt just as much.

The Lightning on Wednesday night snapped its three-game streak of allowing goals on the first shot. But for the third time in four games it allowed a goal with less than two minutes left in a period in a 2-0 loss to the Wild in front of a sellout crowd of 18,568 at the Excel Energy Center.

Sophomore sensation Marian Gaborik got the goal with 1:08 remaining in the first period to send the Lightning to its fourth consecutive loss. Darby Hendrickson added a goal in the third period.

Tampa Bay, which outshot Minnesota 36-20 and is 0-12-1-1 when trailing after two periods, has not beaten the second-year Wild in three games.

After four consecutive off games, Nikolai Khabibulin played solidly and made a huge glove save on Richard Park's breakaway early in the third period.

But Tampa Bay could not solve Dwayne Roloson, who made 36 saves for his third shutout this season, the fifth of his career.

The Lightning played a pretty good first period and outshot the Wild 12-5 but came away trailing 1-0 on Gaborik's goal.

It was a bit fluky, as the pass from Filip Kuba hit the stick of Tampa Bay's Juha Ylonen and slid perfectly to Gaborik in a faceoff circle to Khabibulin's right. The goal was Gaborik's team-high 16th.

Other than that, the Lightning controlled play.

Vinny Prospal had a terrific chance on a Lightning power play when he flew by Park on the left wing and swept in at Roloson. Prospal went to the backhand, but Roloson made a left-leg save 9:32 into the period.

Sheldon Keefe was set up to Roloson's right at 10:45 and got a pass from Tim Taylor, but Keefe's shot smacked Roloson's mask.

Another chance came at 17:31, when Brad Richards dropped a pass for Fredrik Modin. Roloson stopped the slap shot. The rebound went to Richards, who swatted at the puck but could not get it past the goalie.

Tampa Bay kept the shots advantage as both teams got off nine in the second period. But the Wild got the better of the scoring chances.

Jim Dowd challenged Khabibulin, gathering the puck in the corner and taking it to the net. But the goalie went to the ice and made a pad save about five minutes in.

Andrew Brunette hit the post from the slot at 10:42 off a flurry of Wild activity that began when Lightning defenseman Cory Sarich gave the puck away to Sergei Zholtok behind the Tampa Bay net.

Things opened up a bit after the halfway point. In one active sequence, Minnesota's Aaron Gavey and Ladislav Benysek tested Khabibulin without success.

The action went the other way as Richards and Martin St. Louis went into the Wild zone two-on-one. St. Louis held the puck until he was almost on top of Roloson and slipped the puck to Richards, who one-timed it over the net.

The Lightning got a good chance at 16:11, when Ylonen, after some good work in the Minnesota zone by he and linemates Vinny Lecavalier and Ben Clymer, got off a turnaround backhander. But Roloson made a left leg save.

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