ISLES 3, LIGHTNING 0: It was among the best of Rick DiPietro's times and ... well ... not the best of John Grahame's times.
By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
Published March 22, 2004
UNIONDALE, N.Y. - This is not the way the Lightning envisioned its run-up to the playoffs.
Another dispiriting loss - this time 3-0 to the Islanders on Sunday at Nassau Coliseum - left the players searching for ways to explain four losses in five games and a second in six days to New York, a possible first-round playoff opponent.
It also left the team scratching its head about continued problems in net.
This time, it was John Grahame who allowed questionable goals that staked the Islanders to a 2-0 lead with 8:19 left in the third period.
That came one day after Nikolai Khabibulin was shaky in a 5-4 loss to the Bruins in which Tampa Bay gagged on a 3-0 lead.
No one in the locker room was pointing fingers, though. In fact, players acknowledged there is plenty of blame to go around.
Such as a sputtering power play that went 0-for-6, Vinny Lecavalier's inability to convert a first-period breakaway that would have opened the scoring and failing to get sustained pressure on Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro, who made 29 saves for his fourth shutout.
"Teams are bringing a little more intensity than we are," wing Martin St. Louis said. "We have to realize that. We have to bring more desperation now. This is not the time to whine about it. We have to keep our head up and get out of it."
The Lightning better do it quickly if it hopes to maintain the East's No. 1 seed, though (tongue in cheek) if the Islanders are the opponent, as it appears they would be, falling a spot might not be so bad.
New York won the season series 3-1-0-0 while outscoring Tampa Bay 13-6.
And how about this? With 45 seconds left in the third period, an Islanders fan yelled, "We want Tampa."
With 97 points, the Lightning is one ahead of the Flyers and two ahead of the Bruins, who have a game in hand, so the No. 3 seed isn't much of a misstep away.
"It's going to be a dogfight to see who finally gets first in the East," DiPietro said. "But in the playoffs, it's a whole different ballgame."
A ballgame that can turn quickly on goaltending, which is exactly what happened Sunday.
Grahame could not stop Mark Parrish's shot from the faceoff circle that went in long side for a 1-0 lead with 1:56 remaining in the first period. He also was beaten short side and high by Michael Peca with 8:19 left in the third period.
Neither goal occurred in a vacuum.
Defenseman Cory Sarich's pass into the middle of the ice resulted in a turnover that sent Arron Asham into the Lightning zone with Parrish as the trailer. And St. Louis was stripped of the puck in the Islanders zone at the start of a play that ended with Peca's goal.
"I take full responsibility for that one," St. Louis said. "You can't do that."
Still, both shots seemed stoppable. Not to mention the Lightning's entire system is based on goaltenders bailing out the team even when they are left hanging by its relentless quest for offense.
Grahame declined comment. And all coach John Tortorella said was, "I thought it was a hard-fought game by both teams, evenly matched. DiPietro was the difference."
The No. 1 pick of the 2000 draft not only stopped Lecavalier with a sprawling save, he put an exclamation point on the shutout with positioning so perfect, Ruslan Fedotenko's one-timer from in close with 2:01 remaining went right into his glove. He also made a glove save of Pavel Kubina's big blast with two seconds remaining.
"We were going so good," St. Louis said. "We knew we weren't going to win all the games the rest of the year. But we didn't think we'd have a slump like we have now.
"But it's not a time to be all disappointed. Look at our record. Look where we are. We're in a great situation.
"We're going to keep our heads up and get out of this."
