Lecavalier vanishes first, then stumbles

The 33-goal scorer in the regular season is held shotless, and his man scores in overtime.

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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Once again, the Lightning's Vinny Lecavalier is under the hot light.

He stood in a little opening just outside the Lightning locker room at the Continental Airlines Arena after Saturday's 3-2 loss, but it might have felt more like a police interrogation room.

Where were you?

What did you see?

Can you explain your whereabouts during the past two games?

Lecavalier took his lumps Saturday. On the ice then off. Surrounded by a heap of microphones, cameras, pens and notebooks and a whole lot of probing questions, Lecavalier was one of the prime suspects in the Lightning's loss.

Not only did he fail to record a shot in Game 2, it was his assignment, his man - the Devils' Jamie Langenbrunner - who got away to score the overtime goal.

All in all, not a good day for the Lightning standout.

"Sure, I'm frustrated," Lecavalier said.

On the winning goal, Langenbrunner worked his way around a Lecavalier stick check to fire a shot on Nikolai Khabibulin. Langenbrunner then took a couple of strides to shake loose of Lecavalier and scored on the rebound.

"He (took) the shot. And the puck came right back on his stick, and he scored the goal," Lecavalier said. "It was unfortunate for us, but what can you do? I kind of looked at the puck to see where it was. I tried to get him, but he went around me and scored a goal. What can you do?"

Whatever could be done, Lecavalier didn't do it, and it capped a frustrating two games in New Jersey.

Unable to take even a breath, let alone a stride on the ice, without being surrounded by New Jersey center John Madden and defenseman Scott Stevens, Lecavalier spent most of the two games searching for his game.

"If (Lecavalier's) line doesn't score, we like our chances," Langenbrunner said. "It's important for us to stop them. We're just sticking to our system against them."

So far, it's working, at least against Lecavalier, who has no points and only one shot in two games. He is a minus-3 and has won only 16 of 43 faceoffs.

"Obviously, I'm frustrated by not producing more," Lecavalier said. "I'm supposed to produce offensely, and I haven't done it so far in this series."

If there is a bright spot, it's that Lecavalier has shown he can turn his game around in a hurry.

"I didn't score in the first two games against Washington either," Lecavalier said.

After being shut out for two games against the Capitals in the opening series and being criticized for his absence on the score sheet, Lecavalier responded with three goals and two assists in the next four games and led the Lightning into the second round.

"Hopefully, it's going to be the same way," Lecavalier said. "We just need to go back home and play like we know how. We're not going to back down. We're going to keep working hard and look forward to the next game."

It sure beats looking back at the past two.

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