ATLANTA - Lightning coach John Tortorella is confident Vinny Lecavalier, Brad Richards and Martin St. Louis will work their way out of their collective scoring malaise, but he'd like to see it sooner than later. And he'd like to see them take the initiative.
"(They) simply have to stop thinking about it and bring the desperation level up and make it happen," he said.
Tortorella has used his options, including mixing lines liberally again on Saturday, and when he determined Lecavalier was not "pushing" hard enough, used him for just more than two minutes in the third period. Improving, Tortorella said, comes down to "mental toughness."
"We talk about mixing lines and trying to get the lines going," Tortorella said. "I do that, but sometimes there is a point of diminishing returns when you are trying to help them by changing lines and getting people going. Sooner or later it's upon the individual to make something happen and get yourself going and I think we're at that point right now."
Lecavalier (nine goals, five assists) is pointless in five games and has one goal since his hat trick Nov.8 against Pittsburgh. Richards (three goals, 11 assists) has two points in his past five and has not scored a goal in six. St. Louis (five goals, 13 assists) has four assists in the past six games, including one each Friday and Saturday, but has no goals in his past six.
Lecavalier said he was "disappointed" in playing five shifts in the third and not at all in the final six minutes. He said he had not spoken with Tortorella about it nor did he plan to.
LET ME: Defenseman Pavel Kubina is making things happen on the power play and the 6-foot-4, 230-pounder is willing to stand in front of the net and battle. Tortorella has experimented with Kubina at forward and used him there Friday against the Blues.
"(Kubina) being asked to play forward on the power play is like a kid in a candy store because he wants that offensive-type role," Tortorella said.
DO OVER: The league said that the game misconduct penalty defenseman Jassen Cullimore drew in the third period Friday was rescinded. The accumulation of three game misconducts (not stick-related) are punished with a mandatory one-game suspension. Cullimore was given a 10-minute match penalty when it was ruled his jersey was improperly fastened when he fought Scott Mellanby. The Lightning asked the league to review the penalty.
SLAP SHOTS: Center Martin Cibak, left wing Dmitry Afanasenkov and defenseman Darren Rumble were scratched. ... Center Tim Taylor suffered a neck stinger when he was sent into the boards in the third by Garnet Exelby and played little thereafter.
