LIGHTNING 5, RANGERS 2: Vinny Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis help cover up sloppiness and extend points streak to 18.
By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
Published March 13, 2004
[Times photo: Dirk Shadd]
Martin St. Louis beats Rangers goalie Mike Dunham in the second period to put Tampa Bay up 2-0.
Lightning left wing Cory Stillman and Rangers center Jamie Lundmark get tangled in the first period.
TAMPA - Lightning coach John Tortorella apologized after Friday night's game for being a pain in the - well, how should we put this? - in the butt.
That's not how he said it, of course. But that is how far Tampa Bay has come.
After a 5-2 victory over the Rangers in front of a sellout 20,026 at the St. Pete Times Forum, the coach found things at which to pick.
The 18-game points streak (14-0-2-2), best in the league this season; the 11-game unbeaten streak (10-0-1-0); the 95 points, tops in the NHL and a franchise record. All are nice, but not enough.
"I don't care what the standings are. I don't care what we've clinched as far as our division," Tortorella said. "We have to start thinking that we are getting ready for the playoffs as we go through the rest of the season."
The cause of Tortorella's concern was a sloppy second period that allowed the badly outmanned Rangers to cut a 3-0 deficit to 3-2.
Good thing Vinny Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis were on the case.
Lecavalier had four points with two goals and two assists, and St. Louis had two goals, which gave him a career-high 34, and an assist as the Lightning won its seventh straight at home. Cory Stillman scored on the power play, Ruslan Fedotenko had two assists and goalie Nikolai Khabibulin raised his unbeaten streak to 9-0-1 with 26 saves, and was especially sharp in the third period when he had 14.
Still, it wasn't until St. Louis' power-play goal 4:03 into the third and Lecavalier's second breakaway goal at 6:55 that the breathing came easily.
Tortorella's point is the players shouldn't take a breath.
"I'm not trying to be a pain in the (butt) here," Tortorella said. "But if we don't remain consistent in how we play ... then it puts you in a struggle. It put us in a little bit of a dogfight going into the third period."
Tortorella's concerns really began during Wednesday's sloppy victory over the Hurricanes.
It appeared the problems were solved when the Lightning took a 1-0 first-period lead on Stillman's goal and built a 16-5 advantage in shots. Tampa Bay, which outshot New York 37-28, had 16 shots all game against Carolina.
The lead was 3-0 after St. Louis scored on a breakaway 52 seconds into the second period and Lecavalier scored at 2:36.
But when an inability to clear the defensive zone led to Tom Poti's power-play goal with 7:44 left, and Cory Sarich's bad pass and bad coverages by Jassen Cullimore and Dave Andreychuk led to Jan Hlavac's goal with 5:40 remaining, Tortorella's radar went up.
As did the players'.
"The second period wasn't good," said Lecavalier, who has 29 goals. "When we realized what we did, we came back in here and said we have to outwork them. We came out in the third period and that's what we did."
"Sometimes when we play teams not in the playoff hunt, we start well and everybody thinks it's an easy game and we get away from the crisp play and smarter play," Fedotenko said. "We just need to get rid of the sloppiness in the middle of the game."
Tortorella said video sessions are the front line.
"We're spending our days going over the minute things," he said.
Tortorella knows how this sounds, especially considering Tampa Bay's Southeast title and the already-clinched playoff spot.
If he is being anal, so be it.
"I fear it," he said. "I fear the lack of consistency. This is a time of year where you really need to be on top of things. If you start getting inconsistent with your play, there aren't a lot of games left here to turn it around."
Maybe this will make him feel better.
"This is a good hockey club," Rangers coach Tom Renney said. "The No. 1 team in the NHL, and not by accident."
