Point taken and lost

LIGHTNING 3, WILD 3: Tampa Bay loses lead but gets closer to playoff spot.

By BRANT JAMES, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 18, 2003

TAMPA -- The Lightning could have pondered the blown two-goal lead, the wasted opportunity to reduce its magic number for securing a playoff spot or a lost chance to extend its Southeast Division lead on Washington.

But after three games in four days, and exhibiting gritty play and raw energy against another playoff-caliber team, the Lightning accepted the good in a 3-3 tie against the Minnesota Wild before 18,169 at the St. Pete Times Forum on Monday night.

"It's a point, but it's a disappointing point," said center Tim Taylor, who scored his fourth goal of the season. "At this time of year you take points."

The Lightning is 33-23-12-5, good for 83 points and a two-point lead over the Capitals, who also have played 73 games. The Lightning's magic number is six -- a combination of points gained by Tampa Bay or lost by the Canadiens, who are tied for ninth with the Rangers in the East (Tampa Bay and Montreal have a game in hand on New York).

Taylor was one positive aspect of the game. His goal 38 seconds in proved he could still find the net after a 62-game drought and offered hope that more lines can contribute down the stretch.

Then there was the continued improvement of a Nikita Alexeev-Alexander Svitov line that played hard and helped Ruslan Fedotenko score his 16th goal of the season for a 2-1 lead at 11:56 of the second.

Defenseman Pavel Kubina, a seasonlong whipping boy after playing poorly in long stretches, cobbled together several quality shifts and displayed a tough side by jumping a Wild player that took a run at emergency goaltender John Grahame.

Solace became more of a necessity after Andrew Brunette scored his 17th goal of the season on the power play to tie the score at 3 with less than five minutes left. Brunette tipped down a Cliff Ronning blast from the point that trickled by Grahame.

That wasn't close to being the most hurtful Wild goal of the game. Marian Gaborik delivered that at 18:19 of the second, just 48 seconds after Martin St. Louis scored on the power play for a 3-1 Lightning lead and apparent end to the Wild's unbeaten streak against the Lightning. Minnesota is 4-0-1 in the series. Gaborik stationed himself at the undefended right doorstep of the crease as a bevy of Lightning players chased a puck to the other side of the rink. He deflected in a cross-ice pass from Filip Kuba.

"That one hurts," Lightning coach John Tortorella said. "You can't have those in your game too often against good teams, and that's a good team."

Grahame, who played because scheduled starter Nikolai Khabibulin was ill, made 17 saves. Tampa Bay outshot the Wild 32-20. The Wild's Dwayne Roloson made 29 saves.

Kubina drew cheers early in the second when he chased down center Wes Walz, who drew an interference penalty for throwing an elbow to Grahame's head.

"I knew I couldn't let him do that to our goalie," Kubina said. "You can't let stuff like that happen so I just went after him."

Kubina earned an assist on the St. Louis goal when he thwarted an attempted clear and fed center Dave Andreychuk, who found the wing alone in front of the net.

St. Louis' 31st goal of the season gave Tampa Bay a 3-1 and lead and tied him for the fourth-highest single-season goals total in team history. Andreychuk's second point of the night gave him 306 multipoint games.

Taylor opened the scoring when he swooped in behind Roloson from the right side, tried unsuccessfully to shoot the puck through his skates but kept whacking at it.

Somewhere around the fourth whack, it founds its way through, like the Lightning.

"It was nice to see it go in," Taylor said, "but I would take it back for the win. But, it's a point."