By DAMIAN CRISTODERO and TOM JONES
Published April 24, 2004
St. Louis a Pearson finalist
Lightning wing Martin St. Louis, a finalist for the Hart Trophy, given to the league MVP as voted by the Professional Hockey Writers Association, also is one of three finalists for the Pearson Award, the MVP as voted by the Players Association.
Also nominated were Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo, who stopped a record 2,303 shots, and Colorado center Joe Sakic, second in the league with 87 points. St. Louis had a league-high 94 points and tied for the league lead with 56 assists and plus-35.
The award will be announced June 10.
Where are the fans?
With only one sellout in four home playoff games (Friday's attendance was 18,904, 854 below capacity but more than the capacities of all but six NHL arenas), CEO Tom Wilson said he was disappointed there hasn't been a more positive reaction from fans.
"I feel bad for this team because they have done such a remarkable job," Wilson said. "You'd like to think this place would be absolutely packed and that we'd be turning people away."
Wilson said the organization has to do a better job "of getting people involved." But how much more of an advertisement do you need than Tampa Bay's Game 5 overtime victory that clinched the East quarterfinals? A game that was sold out.
"It's a question we ask ourselves, "What more can you do?"' he said. "You've got the second-best record in all of hockey and just made it through a pretty exciting round and won a game in which 20,000 people had one of the adventures of a lifetime. You'd think everybody there would be in line that night or the next morning.
"The reality is we'll have 18 or 19,000 people in here (Friday) having a ball. Maybe it's a matter of keep pushing and keep growing and you don't run up a white flag because you have a few empty seats."
Wilson said he would not have predicted the Lightning's success three years ago.
"You have young guys with talent, but you don't know," he said. "A lot of young guys with talent become older guys with talent and don't accomplish anything."
Fighting mad
Who said there are no fights in the playoffs? Lightning defenseman Cory Sarich and Montreal's Sheldon Souray had a good brawl with 1:25 left. And though Souray dropped Sarich with a straight left to the face, Tampa Bay believed a larger point was made by retaliating for a cheap shot on Ruslan Fedotenko.
Montreal's Joe Juneau hit Fedotenko from behind into the side boards, picking up a boarding penalty, then jumped by Lightning defenseman Nolan Pratt. A pileup ensued, and Souray and Sarich came out swinging.
"Things happen in a game," said Souray, who got 17 minutes in penalties, including a 10-minute misconduct. "I was just sticking up for Joey."
And Pratt was sticking up for Fedotenko.
"It was just a reaction to let him know he can't do that," Pratt said. "On the other hand, the game was over. It's not something we want to get involved in."
"Cory stepped up," defenseman Dan Boyle said. "Those guys tried to send a message, and our guys stepped up."
Sarich said, "Yup," when asked if he was okay.
Perrin plays a role
Eric Perrin is slowly earning more and more responsibility. The Lightning center earned 34 seconds of power-play time and played with wing Martin St. Louis and Fedotenko during the third period when Vinny Lecavalier was getting his skates sharpened.
"He's played well," coach John Tortorella said. "He came in and won a job, and we know he has good offensive instincts." It was the first time Perrin played on an NHL line with St. Louis, his hometown buddy from Laval, Quebec, and linemate at the University of Vermont.
"I chuckled inside and said, "This is great. I never thought I would do this in the NHL,"' said Perrin, who was called up from AHL Hershey with four games left in the regular season. "I thought I had a good shift with him."
Record-setters
Among the records set or tied Friday:
St. Louis set a record for most assists (3) in a game.
Nikolai Khabibulin set a record for wins (5) in a playoff season.
St. Louis and Lecavalier tied the record for points (3) in a game. Brad Richards had three in Game 4 against the Islanders.
Season-ticket offer
Anyone who purchases a season-ticket or miniplan for next season by midnight tonight is eligible to win a trip for two to see Tuesday's Game 3 in Montreal. Purchase after that and by Tuesday for a chance to go to Thursday's Game 4.
