Slapshots

It was just four words, but no one realized how much information was packed into that small sentence.

After Saturday's 3-2 overtime loss, Lightning coach John Tortorella was asked, "What are you disturbed at most?"

"Losing the hockey game," he said.

With that, he got up and left the interview area after six questions and 70 words in response. Asked about it Sunday, he said, "I hate losing. I can't sit in the locker room for 15 minutes and cool down. I don't know how to do that. I'm a bad loser, and I want my players to be bad losers.

"If you end up being like the old high school coach who told you to be a good loser, you're a good loser. You're a loser. I don't mean to disrespect anybody in the media, and I have a lot to learn that way, there's no question.

"But that's tough."

If there was anyone singing the blues in the Lightning locker room about the team's 2-0 deficit, it was not for others to hear. Tortorella and the players made much of Tampa Bay's comeback from a similar deficit in the quarterfinals against the Capitals.

"We have gone through this experience before, and it's fresh in our minds," the coach said. "I still think we haven't played our best game in this series. That's the good news."

"We'll let everyone else say (the Devils) are too good and stuff like that," defenseman Brad Lukowich said. "We have to look to the guys in here and push them to be better players, not look across the way and say, "We have to beat this guy or that guy.' We just have to do our thing."

One game at a time, Tortorella said.

"One game, that's all you're looking for," he said. "You want to win a game, and it changes everything."

Lightning enforcer Andre Roy said he was tempted to belt a couple of Devils players who tried to get under his skin Saturday, but he held back.

Roy played his first game since Game 2 of the East quarterfinals against Washington. He was benched during the first period of that game, then banished to the locker room for taking a post-whistle penalty and beefing at referee Kerry Fraser after a Capitals power-play goal.

"I thought he handled himself very well," Tortorella said. "Plus, he was physical. You don't want to turn Andre into a guy who's soft. You want him to play physical. But he's got to understand, and I believe he does, it's a matter of control. I thought he worked at it and played very well."

So well he had the puck on his stick during overtime and sent a low shot that Devils goalie Martin Brodeur gloved.

"I thought about it all night how I could have ended the game there," Roy said.

Roy said he thought about passing to center Brad Richards, but New Jersey defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky cut down the passing lane.

"So I just decided to shoot," Roy said. "I didn't get much power on it, but it was a decent shot. Still it went right in (Brodeur's) glove. I would have loved to score there. That's for sure."

Brodeur said he was playing shot all the way.

"I think he was surprised he was so wide open," the goalie said. "When he looked up, I was sure he was going to shoot, so I just stood my ground. If he made a pass, I don't know what I would have done."

Tortorella said he fiddled with the idea of using defenseman Janne Laukkanen in Game 2 to give the team a little more offensive punch. But the coach decided to use defensive specialist Nolan Pratt to replace Stan Neckar, who was out with what the team called a "lower body injury."

Neckar was bothered during the regular season by a groin strain.

The hunch paid off as Pratt played well in his first playoff game this season.

"Come playoff time, you've got to think defense first," Tortorella said. "And Nolan Pratt had a lot to do with getting us to where we are here. That's no slight to Janne, but Nolan has been a pretty good player for us. I watched him play. and it was the right decision. I know how hungry he was because he was (mad) he wasn't in. The same with Andre. There's nothing better than a mad athlete wanting to play and getting an opportunity."

Pratt, who played 67 games in the regular season, had 16:42 of ice time and was plus-1.

"I wasn't trying to make any difficult plays. Just get it in and get it out," he said. "I didn't feel a step behind. I was concerned I would, but no complaints."

The Lightning power play is 0-for-5 in the series and has converted just 4-of-32 in the playoffs. More disturbing, though, was the failure Saturday to pad a 1-0 second-period lead during four consecutive chances with the man advantage.

"We had absolutely no patience at all with the puck," Tortorella said. "And before you even get to the word patience, you have to win a couple of battles. Power play is not a science. We haven't turned our back in the first two games to get something accomplished. Turn your back, take a hit, make a play and work from there."

"We were just missing the juice," point man Dan Boyle said. "The times we did throw the puck in (to the offensive zone), we had only one guy in there. We were just missing the energy. The guys that are out there have to do a better job. It's a privilege to be out there on the power play. We have to make the best of it."

Brian Rafalski had quite a day in Game 2. The Devils defenseman scored on a five-on-three to make the score 1-1 with 33.4 seconds left in the second period. He then turned the puck over to Martin St. Louis, whose short-handed goal gave Tampa Bay the lead with 21.7 seconds left.

"The game wasn't over, so I was okay," Rafalski said. "The game bounces both ways. It really didn't affect me either way."

"I would say, "Get a win,"'

- Lightning goalie Nikolai Khabibulin when asked what he would change from Game 2.

Today's lineup

Lightning