NHL

Slapshots

It is extremely difficult to fault Vinny Lecavalier for anything associated with Thursday's 3-0 loss to the Capitals.

The Lightning center had a game-high six shots, produced, by coach John Tortorella's count, three of Tampa Bay's eight serious scoring chances and shrugged off the jitters that gripped some of his teammates in their first playoff game.

"He was one of our better players," Tortorella said Friday.

Still, Lecavalier failed to beat Capitals goalie Olaf Kolzig one on one with Washington ahead 1-0 in the second period.

"It's frustrating," Lecavalier said. "But he's a good goalie and made a great save."

The play occurred with 5:08 remaining when Vinny Prospal's wonderful backhand pass hit Lecavalier in stride one step ahead of a defender.

Lecavalier, whose 33 regular-season goals was tied for the team lead, made a nasty deke and tried to push a backhander past Kolzig. But the goalie flopped forward, spread his legs and made the save with the tip of his left pad.

"His momentum was sliding toward me. That's why I went the other way," Lecavalier said. "I could have got that, but I didn't. Next time I'll try something different."

"Let's face it, Kolzig made a hell of a save," Tortorella said. "But he needs to score. It's nice to have a huge chance at a huge time, but that's a key play. This isn't to grind on Vinny, but he needs to score that goal like (Robert) Lang scored a big goal for them. That's where these playoff series and each game can change."

Homeice disadvantage

Tortorella said he was not surprised seven of the first eight playoff games were won by road teams.

"Those games are tough early in the series," he said. "Good teams that come in, they know how to put pressure on the other team to win that first one."

Tortorella said he would have prefered to start the Lightning's series in Washington.

"You have your guys under your thumb more," he said. "The distractions aren't there. You don't have the pressure of trying to play a little too cute in front of the home crowd."

Feeling groovy

While the Lightning is looking for ways to change the tide from Game 1, the Caps merely are looking to stay the course. The scary news for the Lightning is Washington coach Bruce Cassidy thinks the Caps can play better than they did in the first game.

"But look, it's only one win," Cassidy said. "You have to win four, and we have a long way to go. Certainly, if we won Game 2 and were going back to the MCI Center (in Washington) up 2-0, we would be in the driver's seat."

And the Lightning, at that point, could be squished on the windshield.

"Anything can happen," Cassidy said. "Look at Detroit. (The Red Wings) lost the first two games at home last season and then came back to win. But maybe the difference here is Detroit had a lot of veterans who could say, 'Hey, let's slow this thing down.' (Tampa Bay) is a younger team, but I think they will play better (tonight), too."

Sleeping giant

The Lightning did a fairly decent job against Jaromir Jagr in Game 1, holding him to no points and one shot. The Lightning, though, isn't convinced it suddenly found a magic formula that no one else has been able to discover.

"Look, you're not going to totally stop Jaromir Jagr," Tortorella said. "But you can do your best to try and contain him."

Even that is a chore.

"We know he's going to score,' Cassidy said, "because he's Jaromir Jagr."

Bearded wonders

Lightning defenseman Cory Sarich has a pretty good playoff beard going. Defenseman Dan Boyle's has potential. Center Tim Taylor has a playoff goatee.

Asked if he would take part in the tradition, right wing Nikita Alexeev, 21, who appeared clean-shaven said, "I actually am. Three weeks, this is my beard. By the end of June, I'll be all right."

Taylor said his children asked him to grow one.

"They like it," Taylor said. "They think it's kind of cool. 'Daddy looks different."'

Tickets available

Will Call tickets will be available when the box office opens at 8 a.m. Tickets also are on sale for a potential Game 5 that, if necessary, will be played Friday at the St. Pete Times Forum.

Shots restaurant at the Chrysler/Jeep Plaza will open at 11 this morning and serve $1 draft beer until doors open at 1.

Quotable

"It's a great feather in the organization's cap, but who cares? There are so many damned divisions in this league."

-- Tortorella on securing homeice advantage with the Southeast title.