MONTREAL - The last star in the Lightning's solar system finally appeared Tuesday night.
Cory Stillman scored.
It was short-handed. It was on a breakaway. It was the critical first goal of the game. In the world of hockey, that's like hitting a homer into the upper deck or making a halfcourt shot.
But the details of the goal, the beauty of it hardly matters. He could have shot a 25-hopper from the blue line that hit a rut in the ice, bounced off four pairs of skates and barely slid over the goal line in a 10-1 game. It would've been just as sweet. After all, it was a goal, his first of the postseason.
Let's face it, for the first seven games of this postseason, Stillman was invisible offensively. True, he missed two games with a bruised hip and still might not be 100 percent. But as they say in the playoffs, if you're breathing, you're playing. And Stillman was breathing and playing. He just wasn't scoring.
"You can make as much as you want about people not scoring, but to me right now, it's about winning games," said Stillman, who had 25 goals and 80 points in the regular season. "And you know what? Be excited for guys who score, and to win is the most exciting thing right now."
Stillman said the Lightning could win every game in the postseason 1-0 with 16 players finishing with one goal, and that would be fine because 16 victories would mean a Stanley Cup. But as balanced as the Lightning might be, a chance for 16 victories takes a serious hit when the team's second-leading scorer during the regular season doesn't score.
The Lightning talks about how everyone needs to chip in. Martin St. Louis, Fredrik Modin and Brad Richards carried the team in the first round. Vinny Lecavalier has taken over this second-round series. But along the way, Ruslan Fedotenko went on a streak. Andre Roy got a key goal. So did Tim Taylor.
Finally, in Game 3, Stillman, whom coach John Tortorella pulled off the power play because he was "fighting it a little bit," pulled his share of the load. Now he can settle back into his game, which is more than just scoring.
"When everyone is scoring, I think it takes pressure off the guys who score goals," Stillman said. "You're not cheating. You're not trying to score every shift and not playing well defensively, and I think that makes a huge difference. We have legitimate goal scorers."
And all of them have gotten on the score sheet now that Stillman has his first. To be fair, Stillman had chances before his goal. In fact, he had a partial breakaway less than a minute before he scored. But this isn't horseshoes. You don't win playoff games by almost scoring.
"It's nice to get rewarded," Stillman said. "I need to score."
Now that he has, it might open a floodgate. Remember how Lecavalier went scoreless in the first round?
"I think you can breathe easier sometimes if you get a goal," Stillman said. "I think when Vinny scored (in Game 1), it has really elevated his game, and hopefully, it can do the same for me."
