Lightning: St. Louis' three begets two

St. Louis recorded his first hat trick Thursday, scoring all three goals in Tampa Bay's 3-1 victory against Carolina before an announced 13,541 at the St. Pete Times Forum.

"It's electrifying," said St. Louis, who jumped up and down while fans tossed hats onto the ice after his third goal.

"I've been close before, but there's no better way to do it than in a win."

A big win, too.

A winner of consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 27 and 29, Tampa Bay is 4-1-1 in its past six. It trails first-place Washington, which beat Pittsburgh 2-1, by three points in the Southeast with the Capitals visiting Tuesday.

Just as important, the Lightning moved into a tie for seventh in the East with the Islanders, who beat the Canadiens 3-1, at 55 points. The top eight teams make the playoffs.

"We're in the hunt," St. Louis said.

St. Louis, who will make his All-Star debut Sunday tied for fourth in the league in goals, scored his 25th, 26th and 27th against former Lightning goaltender Kevin Weekes.

St. Louis scored a power-play goal for a 1-0 lead 3:23 into the second period, taking a pass from Dan Boyle beside the net and sliding the puck between Weekes' legs.

St. Louis made it 2-0 by beating Weekes one-on-one after a centering pass from Vinny Prospal with seven minutes left in the period.

With Tampa Bay clinging to a 2-1 lead, St. Louis jabbed a loose puck across the goal line just before Weekes could grab it for an insurance goal with 1:40 left in the game.

"Where are we without him?" coach John Tortorella said.

Goaltender John Grahame made 24 saves for his fourth consecutive victory, though his scoreless streak was snapped at 1:14:08 by Jeff Heerema's second-period goal.

Grahame's biggest save came early in the third, when he stopped Jan Hlavac's breakaway to preserve a one-goal lead.

"That's a save the goalie has to make at a critical time," said Grahame, 4-1 with a 1.17 goals-against average since being acquired Jan. 13 from the Bruins. "It's not how many saves you make. It's when you make them."

Earlier this month, the Lightning failed to follow up victories against Detroit, Ottawa and Dallas, elite teams it was not expected to beat. Each time, it underachieved in its next game, losing in overtime to the Thrashers, tying the Canadiens and losing to the Predators.

Feeling good after Tuesday's 3-0 victory at Philadelphia, the Lightning was determined to make those hard-earned points stand up against slumping Carolina.

The Hurricanes limped into town having lost 10 of 11, including two in overtime, and 19 of 26.

They suffered an emotional 3-2 loss Wednesday to the Maple Leafs, the first meeting since Carolina beat Toronto in the East final last season.

Carolina was down, and Tampa Bay kicked it.

"In the past couple of weeks, we spoiled some points after some big wins," captain Dave Andreychuk said. "Hopefully, we learned that you have to play hard every game."

The Lightning happily closed the book on January, a month that has not been kind in recent seasons. It was a combined 10-52-5-2 the past five seasons, with last season's four victories the most of any January during that span.

This year: 5-6-2-1.

Not great, especially considering the points it left unclaimed. But the Lightning enters the All-Star break with confidence and momentum, knowing it is a legitimate playoff contender.

"Obviously, January has been kind of a bad month for our team the last couple of years," St. Louis said. "The way we started, it felt like we were falling back into that same nightmare.

"But we stuck together."