KINGS 1, LIGHTNING 0 (OT): Tampa Bay seems destined for a tie until Ziggy Palffy scores with 7.7 seconds left.
By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
Published November 7, 2003
TAMPA - The Lightning knew it was coming.
It knew the injury-depleted Kings team would do everything it could to counteract Tampa Bay's speed, get in its way in the neutral zone and deny it easy access across the blue line.
"They play for ties," center Tim Taylor said, "and try to win it late."
And there is Thursday night's game in a nutshell as Los Angeles scored a 1-0 overtime victory at the St. Pete Times Forum on Ziggy Palffy's goal with 7.7 seconds remaining.
Palffy, who entered the game tied for second in the league with 17 points, slipped the puck through goalie John Grahame's legs while falling over the check of Lightning defenseman Pavel Kubina.
It was Tampa Bay's first 1-0 overtime loss in its 12 seasons, and its first shutout at home since a 5-0 loss to the Panthers on Oct. 7, 2001. It also was the first game it has played without being called for a penalty.
All that aside, a point is a point, and nobody was apologizing for getting one with a regulation tie, especially after Tuesday's 5-1 loss to the Capitals broke Tampa Bay's season-opening eight-game unbeaten streak.
At 7-1-1-1, the Lightning has 16 points, which ties last season for the franchise's best 10-game start.
"No one wants to lose," coach John Tortorella said. "We have to take that point and stay upbeat and find a way to get better in certain areas."
Such as finishing its plays, especially during a game in which the goaltender shuts out the opposition for almost 65 minutes. Grahame, in his second start, had 19 saves and has allowed just two goals in 156 minutes.
Tampa Bay outshot Los Angeles 30-20, and when it did get into the offensive zone, at times, applied pressure. But the Lightning just couldn't get the puck past goalie Roman Cechmanek, who earned his second shutout and 22nd of his career.
Most notable was a two-on-one with 1:36 left in overtime in which Cechmanek stopped Vinny Lecavalier. Dmitry Afanasenkov had chances alone in front of the net in the first and second periods and could not convert.
Then there were Tampa Bay's two moribund power plays. The Kings manufactured the only shot during one in the second period, and Tampa Bay, which has scored just once in its past two games, twice iced the puck.
"In those type of games the power play has to come through," Tortorella said. "It didn't come through."
Kings coach Andy Murray said the plan was to stick with Tampa Bay into the third.
"There was a lot of talk here about them not wanting to lose two games in a row," he said. "We thought the pressure would be on them a little bit. We wanted to play tight defensively and see what happens."
Without injured forwards Adam Deadmarsh, Jason Allison and Jozef Stmpel there really wasn't any other way for Los Angeles to play. So the Kings sent one forechecker into the offensive zone and kept four to clog the neutral zone.
"When you have five guys skating backward through the middle of the ice, it's tough to make tape-to-tape passes," Tortorella said. "Even if you make a pass, there's going to be someone there. There were too many bodies within the blue lines."
In response, the Lightning tried to chip the puck over the defense and mount a forecheck. Still, icings seemed the most common play.
"You play against another team here," Tortorella said. "We have our team concept and we want to try to execute it, but you're still playing against 23 pros on the other team. So give them a little credit as far as how gritty they were."
Tortorella also gave credit to the Kings coaching staff.
"They've gone through a lot of adversity with injuries, and their coaching staff has done a hell of a job adjusting and finding ways to win hockey games," he said. "There's no sense complaining about it."
