The Lightning's usually reliable defensemen can't seem to corral the puck in Game 6.
By FRANK PASTOR
Published May 21, 2004
PHILADELPHIA - Though they entered the night with two chances to clinch a Stanley Cup final berth, the Lightning players, to a man, considered Thursday's matchup against the Flyers a must-win game.
But by "game," they didn't mean hot potato.
That's what it appeared the Lightning was playing at times during its 5-4 overtime loss at the Wachovia Center. Uncharacteristic mistakes with the puck by normally reliable defensemen in the Tampa Bay zone led directly to Philadelphia's first three goals.
"It was just guys trying to get rid of it and not be the one making the mistake, and when you play like that, there's going to be a mistake made," defenseman Dan Boyle said. "We obviously made a lot of them."
As could be expected from a team facing playoff elimination, the Flyers played with desperation and pressured the Lightning from start to finish. By not hanging on to the puck in its end, the Lightning allowed Philadelphia to control possession and, therefore, the majority of scoring chances.
"They put some pressure on us," center Tim Taylor said. "They played extremely well. They deserved to win.
They had help.
After Vinny Lecavalier gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead, Keith Primeau outworked Tampa Bay defenseman Pavel Kubina to set up the tying goal. Jeremy Roenick carried the puck into the Lightning zone, and Primeau poked the puck away from Kubina. He passed it to Simon Gagne, who flipped a backhand shot past Nikolai Khabibulin from the top of the crease at 7:23 of the first.
Darryl Sydor's blind pass into the high slot later in the period helped set up a go-ahead goal for Philadelphia. Vladimir Malakhov intercepted the pass and passed to Primeau in the lower right circle, where his one-timer gave the Flyers a 2-1 lead.
Sydor, who like Kubina was minus-3 for the night, said he "tried to make a play."
"I saw something and I screwed up, and I take full blame for it," Sydor said. "But we still came back and battled back. But by all means it was my mistake."
After the Lightning tied the score on Lecavalier's second goal, a Brad Lukowich giveaway near the Tampa Bay blue line midway through the second period allowed the Flyers to restore their lead.
Philadelphia's Alexei Zhamnov collected the loose puck and fed Sami Kapanen, who beat Khabibulin with a low shot from the lower left circle to put the Flyers back ahead 3-2 at 12:42.
"It was an emotional game for guys, and our emotions got the best of us," Lukowich said. "But they played great. They had some really good pressure on us. We got the first one, and now they know they have to score some goals to win the game, so that allows them to play a little bit more carefree."
Though he mostly was in the position of having to cover for his defensemen's mistakes, Khabibulin made a gaffe of his own late in regulation. With 5:44 left, he passed from behind the net to Michal Handzus in the slot. Khabibulin recovered in time to stop Handzus' shot, but the relief was only temporary for the Lightning.
Rather than dissect the reasons for the loss, the players preferred to turn their attention to Game 7 Saturday in Tampa.
"It's over, it's done," Taylor said. "If we win this Game 7, we won't be talking about Game 6 anymore."
