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Slapshots

Still one win away

The Lightning is taking nothing for granted. Though only two teams in NHL history, the 1942 Maple Leafs and the 1975 Islanders, have come back from 3-0 deficits, the Lightning isn't booking any reservations for the conference final despite a commanding lead.

Now is no time to relax, according to the Lightning.

"I'm not going to (kid) you," coach John Tortorella said. "I have too much respect for Montreal because they are too good of a team. I think in all these games, there's a fine line between winning and losing. During the playoffs, momentum changes are a dangerous thing. Sometimes you can't get it back. So we want to try to keep the momentum on our side.

At the same time, the Canadiens aren't setting up tee times for the weekend.

"We have to make it as tough as possible for them to get that fourth win," Montreal coach Claude Julien said. "No doubt we feel we can play and beat these guys. It's up to us to come out mentally prepared."

The Canadiens overcame deficits of 2-0 and 3-1 in the first round but aren't playing the Bruins this time.

"We're playing a much better team," Montreal's Sheldon Souray said. "These guys are a great team. They have the best transition game I've seen from an opponent."

Lightning goalie Nikolai Khabibulin gave up three goals for the first time in this year's playoffs, but he might have turned in his best effort of the postseason with his 28-save performance.

"He was our best player," Tortorella said. "I don't think there is any question about that."

Khabibulin has pitched four shutouts in the playoffs, but he never was tested like he was Tuesday. He came up particularly big in the second period, and the game likely would not have reached overtime had he not made big save after big save.

"He's unbelievable," Lightning center Vinny Lecavalier said. "I don't know if it's his best hockey ever, but he is definitely on top of his game."

Lecavalier is a hot story whenever he visits Montreal. How hot? A fight nearly broke out Tuesday morning when a cameraman tried to jockey for position to get a good shot of Lecavalier while he was being interviewed.

The demand to talk to Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis is so great in Montreal that the Lightning's public relations department used a vacant locker room for the two to talk to the English and French media. Each player, one at a time, stood in the room and was surrounded by reporters.

When Lecavalier went from answering questions in French to English, a cameraman from an English-speaking station tried to horn his way into the pile of media, about 30 or so people, but could not get a clear shot among all the heads, hands and microphones.

After bumping into several people, he shouted, "Can we make room for a camera here?" His outburst caused Lecavalier to stop momentarily and drew several dirty looks and a couple of light shoulder shoves from other reporters.

Lecavalier, though, isn't letting the extra attention get to him. He spoke to a few friends on the telephone when the team arrived Monday but went to the team dinner and said he was in bed early after the dinner.

"We're here for business," he said. "We're here to play hockey."

Lightning forward Cory Stillman has struggled so much on the point of the power play that Tortorella took him off and replaced him with Brad Richards, who scored a power-play goal.

So what did Stillman do? Scored a short-handed goal instead. Just moments after being cut down on a partial breakaway, Stillman scored his first goal of the postseason on a breakaway to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead in the second period.

"I was thinking goal all the way," Stillman said. "I wasn't thinking anything else."

"At certain times I think we were. But at the end of the day, when we pick up the paper tomorrow, we have a win. In playoff hockey, we're not going to overanalyze." - Tortorella when asked if his team was outplayed.

The starting time for Game 5 has been changed to 7 p.m. ... The best fight of the postseason took place Tuesday, but not on the ice. Two reporters, one from TV and another from radio, fought in the Montreal dressing room after the game while trying to gain position for interviews. According to eyewitness accounts, the scuffle lasted nearly a minute and was broken up by other reporters. ... The Lightning is 6-0 in these playoffs when it scores first.