By DAMIAN CRISTODERO and JOHN C. COTEY
Published May 12, 2004
The NHL told the Lightning Tuesday not to show scoreboard replays that could incite the crowd. That became an issue in the third period of Philadelphia's 6-2 victory in Game 2 when a clip of Philadelphia's Donald Brashear applying a hit to the head of Tampa Bay's Tim Taylor was shown repeatedly after no penalty was called.
Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said Lightning fans behind the Philadelphia bench were throwing food at him and his players.
"They (the Lightning) were told it cannot happen again," NHL spokesman Frank Brown said. "It must not happen again."
Said Hitchcock: "I am listening to those people behind us, behind our bench and they are not happy. And they are watching this thing and then it comes up again and again. You can't do it. You just can't do it.
"You can't incite the fans like that. Those are things that happen at a much lower professional level. ... It's very dangerous for the players and coaches on both teams. It's not healthy for everybody. You can't do those things."
The Lightning had no comment.
Khabibulin will start Game 3
As if there was any doubt. One bad game does not wipe out 10 in which Lightning goalie Nikolai Khabibulin was stellar while allowing just 10 goals and crafting four shutouts.
"He knows he's going to go the next game Thursday," coach John Tortorella said Tuesday.
Tortorella said he does not need to speak to Khabibulin about the goalie's removal in the second period of Game 2 after allowing four goals on 12 shots. Khabibulin was clearly at fault on only one.
"By no means was I taking him out for his play," Tortorella said. "It was one of those nights for our whole team."
Tortorella said there are no doubts about Khabibulin's ability to bounce back.
"Our team understands what Nik is," Tortorella said. "Nik understands our team. We understand the situation we're in. We've been in it before. Sometimes you need to show them a little respect as far as believing in them."
"Nik has been able to respond all year long," captain Dave Andreychuk said. "He's had a year where he's responded after every time we haven't played well in front of him. He's going to be right back in there. He was very happy, light after he got pulled. He was calm. Not much was bothering him. He wasn't upset. He's focused and that's a good sign for us."
Lightning good for TV ratings
A notoriously bad NHL television market has come to life thanks to the surging Lightning.
Viewers watching Tampa Bay lose to Philadelphia in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final Monday night predictably bailed out when the Lightning fell behind early but still left ESPN with a solid 6.2 rating.
That number is down from a 7.0 rating for Game 1 on Ch. 28 Saturday.
One ratings point equals about 16,443 homes in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Sarasota market.
In the first 30 minutes Monday, more than 120,000 households were tuned in. By the middle of the second period, that number dropped to around 80,000 and stayed there until the end.
Saturday's game was the opposite. The ratings hovered around a 6.0 until the final hour, adding an average of 17,000 households per 15 minutes. The game posted a 9.3 rating (or 152,919 households) the final 15 minutes, the highest segment of the series.
Sunshine Network, which carried more than 60 Lightning games this season, is also benefiting from the Lightning playoff push. Though it won't do any more playoff games, its half-hour pregame show Monday night averaged a 1.2 rating, more than 400 percent better than anything else the network aired on Monday.
Saturday, its pregame show averaged a 0.7 rating, a 300 percent increase over the rest of its programming that day.
Hitchcock praises Lightning
The Flyers coach called Tampa Bay's puck-pursuit style "exciting" and something to "admire." Hitchcock said he played a similar style while coaching at WHL Kamloops and IHL Kalamazoo. He even tried it with the Stars.
"I went into Dallas, got drilled for a month and a half and then we had to change," Hitchcock said. "We didn't have the foot speed. We didn't have the physical side of things, and we certainly didn't have the mobility on the back end to play this way.
"The way they play the game, in my opinion, is the way the game was played when the Oilers were in their heyday, things like that. It's a very exciting brand of hockey."
Quotable
"They simply outplayed us and kicked our (butts) more or less. Let's be honest about it."
