Martin St. Louis torched his former team for three goals and an assist and John Grahame made 18 saves for Tampa Bay.
St. Louis tied it at 1 on the power play with 40.4 seconds left in the first on a snap shot from the slot. Then the Lightning's four-goal second period broke it open.
St. Louis redirected Vinny Lecavalier's pass off goalie Roman Turek's stick and between his legs to make it 2-1. Martin Gelinas tied it off a two-on-none. But Richards put the Lightning ahead again with 8:26 left when he put in a rebound of Dan Boyle's shot.
Tim Taylor made it 4-2 with 5:10 left, beating Turek at the end of a three-on-one. And St. Louis finished the hat trick with 1:40 left off Lecavalier's perfect feed.
THEY SAID IT
"It's nice to do it in the city you used to play, obviously. But I've moved on, and I'm trying to help my own team win. Tonight was one of those nights where things were bouncing the right way." - St. Louis
"They have a lot of skill. There's no doubt. But you can't give up two-on-ohs, three-on-ones, two-on-ones and let them do what they want." - Flames center Craig Conroy
THE REPERCUSSIONS
The Lightning improved to 8-2-0-2 in its past 12, part of a streak in which it went 26-3-2-4 to earn the conference's top seed for the playoffs.
Just as important, the victory was the second of the Lightning's four-game road trip, which included three games in western Canada. The trip began with a 5-4 overtime loss to Vancouver and 3-2 victory over Edmonton and was capped by a 6-2 victory against Pittsburgh.
After the game, Lightning center Brad Richards admitted he was nervous about the trip. But the victories helped ease the tension, Lecavalier said.
"We believe again. We're more aggressive and playing with more confidence," he said. "Every line is playing well."
