Hodson's effort pleases Feaster

SUNRISE -- Kevin Hodson's first game as the Lightning's backup goaltender earned him points with general manager Jay Feaster.

In a 5-1 loss to the Devils on Saturday in his first regular-season game since February 2000, Feaster said Hodson, who made 25 saves, played well despite scant help from teammates.

"I was not displeased," Feaster said Monday. "I think he handled the puck well, and he didn't get down on himself at all."

Feaster said he faulted Hodson on one goal, the third, by former Lightning Stephen Guolla. Feaster would have liked Hodson farther from the net to better challenge the two-on-one and breakaway goals by John Madden that finished New Jersey's scoring, but Feaster said that can be overcome with practice.

"I'm not going to evaluate Kevin on the basis of a game in which we were totally flat," Feaster said. "We were not in that game."

Not that Hodson won't be watched.

"There will come a time when we expect him to answer," Feaster said. "But it will be in a game we are capable of winning. ... It did not matter who was in net in that game. We weren't going to come up with points."

LINEUP MOVES: Left wing Chris Dingman, who had scored in consecutive games, was a healthy scratch Monday, as was rookie center Alexander Svitov.

Right wing Sheldon Keefe, who had been scratched for consecutive games, was reinstated. And left wing Andre Roy, a healthy scratch for two games after finishing a 13-game suspension, also played.

Coach John Tortorella said Keefe and Roy were added to energize a lineup that had little hop against the Devils. He said Dingman had trouble coping with New Jersey's speed and that the Panthers might be faster.

Dingman did not take the news well.

"I'm bothered by it," he said. "There's not a guy in this room who wouldn't be bothered by it."

"Dinger hasn't played poorly, but I'm concerned about the speed," Tortorella said. "Anybody who's taken out of the lineup is upset, and that doesn't bother me. You hope it's the right kind of upset, and he doesn't bring it into the locker room. But he should be upset."

SVITOV WATCHES: Tortorella praised Svitov's third period against the Devils. But with Keefe and Roy coming in, someone had to sit.

"With a young guy, it doesn't hurt for him to watch a game from upstairs," Tortorella said. "I think that's part of the process with a young guy."

Svitov has one assist and is minus-1 in eight games.

STANDING PAT ON DEFENSE: Tortorella said he considered making changes on defense but decided against it, meaning Nolan Pratt was a healthy scratch for the ninth game.

"You don't want to get into a position when you're yanking people left and right when they make mistakes," Tortorella said. "Then, when they get back in, they're afraid to make mistakes, and you lose the whole team dynamic of the way we're trying to play, and that's aggressive, pinching and going after it."

NO LOOKING BACK: Defenseman Mathieu Biron, whom the Lightning lost to the Panthers in the waiver draft, played Monday.

"I don't want to get into that," Biron said when asked if Tampa Bay had given him a fair chance. "They let me go. The future will show if it is a good thing or a bad thing for me. You can't look back and try to find excuses. I have to look forward to make the best of it."

Biron, who has no points in three games, said he isn't surprised by the Lightning's early success.

"Just look at the team," he said. "Even though it's young, there's a lot of talent ready to explode."

REMEMBER: Wednesday's game against the Rangers at the St. Pete Times Forum is 7 p.m.