RALEIGH, N.C. - After Lightning coach John Tortorella told his goaltenders that whoever was in net would stay there until he lost, Nikolai Khabibulin won eight straight games and was undefeated in nine.
So despite Khabibulin's stellar 28-save effort in Monday's 1-1 tie with the Red Wings, John Grahame got Wednesday's start against the Hurricanes.
"I thought it was Nik's best game of his last nine," Tortorella said of the tie with Detroit that clinched the Southeast title. "Give Nik credit. He ate up a lot of those games as far as that mode of win and stay in. My concern now is I want everybody sharp."
Tortorella said he also will give more playing time to defensemen Nolan Pratt and Darren Rumble. And newly acquired Stan Neckar may even see time if his groin is ready. The coach already is rotating Chris Dingman, Andre Roy and Ben Clymer at fourth-line wing.
"We can say we're in the playoffs now, so you tweak your thinking so everybody can be as sharp as they can when they enter in there," the coach said. "Johnny has been out for nine games. He has done some very good things for this club, so you can't put him on the shelf. Nik has played a lot and we don't want to wear him out through this quarter, so it's a good time for Johnny to get a game."
Tortorella said he soon will return to his day-to-day decision on a goalie.
"We're kind of in a middle area there, but eventually the thinking has to change as far as getting everybody sharp," he said.
HOME SWEET HOME: An argument can be made that the key to the Lightning's success has been on the road, where it has played 31 of its past 50 games. Tampa Bay is 18-8-2-3 in those games and has a franchise-best 21 road victories.
"If you look at some of the road trips we had in January and February, sometimes you just want to stay afloat until you get back into a little bit of a home schedule," Tortorella said. "But the credit goes to the players. It comes down to simply preparing themselves every day and finding ways.
"It's a good lesson to not get involved looking at the big picture of the schedule, and to take each game at a time and not getting worried about what's ahead of us."
What is ahead is nine of 12 games at home to finish the regular season.
NOTABLE: Lightning captain Dave Andreychuk scored his 17th goal, 630th of his career and NHL-high 268th on the power play. ... Wing Cory Stillman's assist gave him a career-high 68 points. ... Wing Dmitry Afanasenkov had two assists. He has two goals and four points in his past four games.
ODDS AND ENDS: Neckar, acquired Tuesday from the Predators, is expected to join the team today. ... Roy, Pratt and Rumble were scratched.
