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Slapshots

Game 1 set for Saturday

The Lightning doesn't know the who, but it does know the when.

The Eastern Conference final will start Saturday at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa. Game time isn't known. The guess is Game 2 will be Monday, but that hasn't been set; it could be Tuesday.

The who? The Lightning will play the Flyers or Maple Leafs. The Flyers lead that second-round series 3-2 with Game 6 tonight in Toronto.

Until then, the Lightning waits. It took off Friday and Saturday, practiced Sunday and for about an hour and 15 minutes on Monday. It will take off today, then practice every day until Game 1.

"We want to play, that's for sure," Lightning forward Cory Stillman said. "You're seeing teams play each other and battling. So it's good we're getting some extra rest to play that first game."

But is it too much rest? The Lightning will have been off eight days between the end of the Montreal series and the start of the conference final.

"It's good having the time off," Lightning forward Tim Taylor said. "When you go through a series, you're very emotionally charged and physically you're drained whether it's four games, six games, seven games. It's nice to get the break and enjoy the past series we just went through and then get recharged, refocused and get ready for the next series."

Coach John Tortorella said the break the Lightning is getting might be more important mentally than physically. But Stillman thinks the time off might be more valuable physically.

"I really do," Stillman said. "When you're playing in the playoffs, you want to play every other night. But this break gives you a chance to rest some of the bumps and bruises we have. As far as getting ready for the next round mentally, hey, it's the playoffs. It's the conference finals. It's something you play for all year. I don't think you're going to see anybody having a hard time getting up for it once it starts again."

The one advantage the Lightning sees, whether it's mental or physical, is that its opponent is playing at least six games and could end up playing seven. That worked to the Lightning's advantage in the last round when it played the drained Canadiens, who were coming off a seven-game series against the Bruins.

"I know watching Montreal the first game in here," Taylor said, "they weren't really ready to play that first game and we took advantage of it."

The Lightning doesn't care whether it plays the Maple Leafs or the Flyers in the next round, but it is pulling for the Maple Leafs to win tonight and force a Game 7.

"Hopefully we can catch a team like Montreal, where they were on such a high after a seven-game series," Stillman said. "They might not have been ready to come out for Game1."

Lightning goalie Nikolai Khabibulin has been something of a mime in the playoffs. He rarely is at his locker after practices and games, and has continually slipped out the back door without talking to the media.

He has spoken to the media when cornered in hallways after games. While cordial, he rarely says anything other than he is getting help from his teammates and doing his job.

"Nik has always been a very quiet guy," Tortorella said. "I don't think he's not talking to the media, I think he just wants to keep himself focused in his own little world there. Whatever he's doing we're certainly not going to interrupt and we hope you guys don't. He has been our best player through two series and will have to be our best player in the upcoming series if we want to continue to compete and be successful."

Most of the practice was an intrasquad scrimmage that will continue the rest of the week. "It's a way to keep us motivated with all the time off," forward Martin St. Louis said. ... Defenseman Jassen Cullimore, out with a broken bone near his right wrist, played in the scrimmage, but won't be able to start the next series. He said he wasn't sure if he would be able to play at all in the conference final, even if it goes seven games.