Coach wants consistency in goal

TAMPA -- Coach John Tortorella said a "major problem" facing the Lightning is the search for consistent goaltending, and especially Nikolai Khabibulin's search for his A game.

The East's All-Star starter has lost five of his past seven decisions and has been lifted in four of his past eight games with a worrisome .878 save percentage.

He played the entire game during Saturday's 3-2 loss to the Flyers and played well until allowing a bad goal in the third period after Tampa Bay tied it at 2.

"I thought Nik was good, but it's not the saves you make, it's the saves you don't make," Tortorella said. "We can talk about all the systems and the guys struggling, and this and that and the other thing, but we can't have fair-to-decent goaltending. We need very good goaltending for us to compete and have a chance to win."

John Grahame provided that Monday with 22 saves in a 6-2 victory over the Senators.

Tortorella would not say if Grahame will start Wednesday against the Canadiens. If he does, it will be the first time since the beginning of last season (not including the games before and after the Olympic break), that Khabibulin sits in consecutive games.

Tortorella would not comment on his plans, but said before the game, "Every team in this league that gets to a higher level, you play off your goalie. I make no bones about it because I know our star goalie, our go-to guy knows that too."

MIXING IT UP: It was just one of those things, Vinny Prospal said, no big deal."My false teeth are still in place," he said.

The Lightning left wing was involved in a violent incident with Ottawa's Chris Neil on Monday with 3:03 left.

Neil, still wearing his gloves, sucker-punched Prospal twice in the face after they tangled along the corner boards in the Senators end. Prospal then came down on Neil's back with a cross-check.

Neil got two minutes for roughing, two minutes for high-sticking and a 10-minute misconduct. Prospal got five minutes for high-sticking and a game misconduct.

"He was after me all game," Prospal said. "I had a good game and that's his role, to go after guys making a difference in a particular game."

"He definitely deserved it," Neil said of Prospal's penalties. "He's probably going to go in front of the league, and hopefully they make the right call. He should get a couple of games for it at least."

Prospal's game misconduct does not require a review by the league to determine if a suspension is warranted, though a review is possible.

MO'S STRUGGLES: Fredrik Modin's goal drought prompted Tortorella to move him off one of the top two scoring lines to a checking line with Tim Taylor and Dave Andreychuk.

"There's no doubt about it, I just have to bear down and keep working and see if I can get something happening," Modin said.

He did with his 11th goal, his first in 10 games, to give the Lightning a 2-1 first-period lead.

ODDS AND ENDS: Center Brad Richards returned after missing two games to attend the funeral of his grandmother, Jemima Richards. ... Right wings Ben Clymer (groin) and Jimmie Olvestad (healthy) were scratched.