Slapshots

Cullimore's status uncertain

Jassen Cullimore, the Lightning's best overall defenseman, is day to day with what the team called an upper body injury. Cullimore left Monday's Game 3 about six minutes into the second period after being checked cleanly into the boards by Islanders defenseman Roman Hamrlik.

It appeared Cullimore hit the boards with his right shoulder, the same one on which a bruise kept him out of three games from Feb. 26 through March 1. Coach John Tortorella said Cullimore was fine. Cullimore agreed, but declined when asked to talk about it more.

It is expected Nolan Pratt would fill in for Cullimore if necessary.

The Islanders acknowledge the fine play of Lightning goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, who has stopped 80 of 82 shots. But New York also blamed itself for making things too easy for him, especially during Monday's 3-0 loss.

"We didn't do a good job (Monday) night with traffic," Islanders coach Steve Stirling said. "He was seeing everything."

And what he didn't see many times was blocked by Tampa Bay's defense.

"There were a lot of those, that's for sure," Khabibulin said. "When there are no shots, it's hard to score."

So the Islanders vowed to work harder.

"He definitely doesn't like traffic in front of him," New York right wing Trent Hunter said of Khabibulin. "We have to get as many bodies as we can in front of his and bother him."

Said right wing Mark Parrish: "It's just a matter of getting to the front of the net and getting things done."

Desperate. That seems to be the word of this series. The Islanders played desperate in Game 2. The Lightning was desperate in Game 3. Now it's New York's turn again. After falling behind 2-1 in the series with a loss Monday, the Islanders weren't searching for a thesaurus Tuesday. One word fit the mood.

"We need to play desperate, there is no question about that," goalie Rick DiPietro said. "Nobody wants to go into Tampa down 3-1. It's our home ice, it's our building, we've been confident in here all year."

Stirling said, "We cannot get by with just skill. ... I think we have to be somewhere between a tremendous sense of urgency and desperate. Somewhere in the middle there."

The Islanders, though, aren't prepared to pack it in. Stirling said his team needs only a few minor adjustments to get back to where it was in the first two games when it carried the play.

"I'm hoping to recapture some of what we had in Tampa Bay," Stirling said. "If we do that, I think you'll see a better hockey club (tonight)."

The one thing the Islanders have going for them is their knack of responding after tough losses, and perhaps that experience will come in handy tonight.

"You would like to think because we've done it before," Stirling said. "That's something to reach back on. But it is an important game. We know that. They know that."

The Lightning and Islanders have played three 3-0 games. But identical scores in three consecutive playoff games is not as odd as you might believe. The Wild and Avalanche played three consecutive 3-2 games in last season's West quarterfinals. Minnesota and the Canucks played three straight 3-2 games in the semifinals.

The last time teams played four straight with identical scores? The 1993 division final between the Sabres and Canadiens, which Montreal swept with four 4-3 victories.

Lightning center Vinny Lecavalier and wing Cory Stillman have yet to get a point. Lecavalier has had some good chances and nine shots on goal. Stillman, with seven, has been less noticeable.

"It's frustrating," Lecavalier said.

Still, he said he believes he is playing well, and Monday's victory took some of the edge off.

"I'm comfortable, and we won the last game, so I feel great," Lecavalier said. "I feel like I'm playing pretty solid. When you win a game 3-0, you don't need another goal so it doesn't bother me. It's going to come. It's going to go in."

Lightning center Tim Taylor and left wing Dave Andreychuk have been monsters in the faceoff circle. Taylor's winning percentage is 64.3 (18 of 28). Andreychuk is at 58.7 (37 of 63).

And give Lecavalier credit for boosting his winning percentage despite Monday's dismal 4-for-14 effort. Lecavalier won 41.4 percent of draws during the regular season. He has won 46.2 percent (24 of 52) against the Islanders.

New York's best has been Dave Scatchard at 58.5 percent (31 of 53) and Michael Peca at 51 percent (51 of 100).

Stirling, as you might expect, was not pleased about the Game 3 loss and not afraid to dissect it.

"They were skating and we weren't," he said. "That's the bottom line. And you saw the end result. They were good and we weren't so good. And that's the kind of game we had."

"This home ice stuff, I don't think it's a big deal. The way we look at it, when the schedule comes out, you need to win four out of seven. The quickest one to four gets it done. I don't care where we're playing. We're just approaching each game a day at a time and just trying to get that No. 4 before they do." - Tortorella.

Today's lineup
Lightning