Tampa Bay energized against in-state rival

LIGHTNING 6, PANTHERS 1: 6 score as East's No. 1 team bounces back after loss.

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 29, 2002

SUNRISE -- The music was blasting in the Lightning locker room Monday night. Tampa Bay buried the Panthers 6-1 at the Office Depot Center, and the team was feeling pretty good about itself.

What a difference from Saturday, when a heavy silence punctuated a 5-1 loss to the Devils that snapped Tampa Bay's seven-game unbeaten streak.

So what if the Lightning was sloppy in the neutral zone, didn't win enough battles for the puck and was, as coach John Tortorella said, "awful" and "terrible" on the power play. Those issues will be addressed in today's practice at the St. Pete Times Forum.

During the aftermath of a victory over a Southeast rival that elevated the Lightning to No. 1 in the East, everything was right with the world.

"It was big," right wing Sheldon Keefe said. "It's what we talked about before the game, about how we were going to respond to Saturday night. For us to be the team we want to be, it was important not to start a losing streak."

"We won the game," Fredrik Modin said, "and we're off again."

The Lightning, 5-0-0 in the division and winner of three on the road, something it did not earn last season until Nov. 25, went off in the third period.

Four goals -- by Ruslan Fedotenko on the power play, Ben Clymer, Vinny Lecavalier and Modin -- in a span of 3:02 that ended with 1:02 remaining, turned a 2-1 nail-biter into a rout.

The eruption tied a team record for most goals in a period on the road, and it came after goalie Nikolai Khabibulin made an unconscious right-leg save on Denis Shvidki with 8:42 left.

"That's the game winner, absolutely. A huge save right there," Modin said.

"The biggest play of the night," Tortorella said.

Khabibulin, who made 22 saves, had difficulty remembering what happened.

"It just hit me, kind of," he said.

For most of the game, it seemed as if the Lightning, which outshot Florida 38-23, couldn't help but hit Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo, who made 32 saves. Still, Luongo was Bronx-cheered by the announced crowd of 13,244 when he stopped a shot after the four-goal outburst.

Totally unwarranted, Tortorella said.

"It ticks me off to hear people mock-cheer that young Luongo," he said. "For him to play the game he played, and for them to mock-cheer him ... "

Panthers coach Mike Keenan also came to Luongo's defense, putting the blame on Florida's skaters.

"I think it's completely unfair for a group of hockey players to abandon a goaltender that's done so much for you," he said.

For all the Lightning's pregame talk about starting strong, it was the Panthers who went ahead at 2:34 on Marcus Nilson's power-play goal.

Dave Andreychuk tied it at 4:12 with his fourth goal and 597th of his career that deflected off the stick blade of a Panthers defenseman. It punctuated a terrific shift for Keefe and Andre Roy, both of whom threw big checks to put the Panthers on their heels.

Tampa Bay took a 2-1 lead at 13:33, when Vinny Prospal converted a brilliant pass from Lecavalier, who cruised left to right through the slot, lured two defensemen and passed across his body, diagonally to his right, to Prospal at the side of the net.

The power play needs serious work. It was 1-for-7, 3-for-26 in its past four games, and could not score during the 2:37 it played five-on-three.

"It's lucky it didn't come back to bite us," Tortorella said.

It took a while, but the Lightning finally sunk its teeth into the Panthers for its fifth consecutive victory at the Office Depot Center.

"It wasn't a 6-1 game," Keefe said. "It was a lot tighter that."

"But the good news," Tortorella said, "is we found a way to win."

It was music to the team's ears.