Martin St. Louis, the league's leading scorer, has just three goals in his past 14 playoff games, and each has come on the power play. That means the wing has not scored a five-on-five goal since April 16 when his overtime tally in Game 5 finished off the East quarterfinals with the Islanders.
St. Louis still leads the postseason with 21 points, and he has two goals in his past three games, but he admitted improvements must be made.
"I have to be more opportunistic when I get chances," St. Louis said. "I have to go to the holes and I have to go to where I can score goals, and that is in front of the net."
The physical effort to control the regular-season's leading scorer has gotten more intense with each series. And the Flames have apparently made it part of their game plan to tackle St. Louis as much as possible and give him the business when he is on the ice.
"If you give him time and space, he's going to create and make plays, so we're trying to stay as close as possible, not give him a lot of room," Calgary center Craig Conroy said. "We're trying to limit as much as we can time and space with the puck, take him out and finish our checks on him, to get a body on him. If you just let him skate around and do what he wants, he's going to be very effective."
St. Louis said teams have tried to make it tougher on him to operate, but added, "But I get back up and keep working. I have to fight through it. I'm not going to make that as an excuse because I faced that all year long, and faced that every round. It's nothing new. I have to bounce back and I expect myself to."
Talk about bouncing back
Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff is 7-1 in the postseason with a 1.17 goals-against average, a .953 save percentage and four shutouts in games after a loss. He is 8-0 including the regular season in games after allowing four or more goals.
"Whatever it is, I hope he keeps doing it," Calgary defenseman Mike Commodore said. "He's been fantastic. We just play defense and everything that gets through he stops. He's done a great job."
Kiprusoff has been solid in the final, not spectacular. But he has played all but 19 minutes in the playoffs with a 1.87 goals-against average, a playoff-high five shutouts and a .930 save percentage.
"It was a shutout but it doesn't help me for the next game," Kiprusoff said after Game 3. "I have to do everything the same way."
"The reason we're here is because of Kipper," Flames right wing Shean Donovan said. "He's the best goalie in the league."
Defense first
The team that scored the first goal won the first three games of the series, but coaches John Tortorella and Darryl Sutter are not bowled over by that statistic.
"The first goal comes, the first goal comes," Tortorella said. "We always go about preparing our team for each and every game the way we always do. If you are preparing that way, sure you'd like to score the first goal. But as far as emphasis and all the talk about it, no, it's not really in our meetings. Our meetings are about how we're going to play."
Sutter went a step further, saying that goal scoring grabs headlines, but the team that plays better defensively usually wins in the playoffs.
"In the end, the best defensive teams are playing," Sutter said. "That's what it is about. It's about teams having the ability as a group, not as individuals, to shut other teams down. The most consistent team over the past decade, for sure, regular season and playoffs, is New Jersey. So that's "a pretty good model to try and follow."
Sending a message with silence
Sutter called defenseman Rhett Warrener the club's unsung hero. Forward Stephane Yelle referred to Warrener as the voice of the team.
"When something needs to be said," Yelle said, "he says it."
Apparently, Warrener also has a sense for what should not be said. The 10th-year pro in his first season with Calgary stood patiently in front of his locker Sunday afternoon fielding questions from the media. But he did not always answer.
Warrener refused to talk about Kiprusoff, simply shaking his head.
"Why? Because," he said.
He declined to comment on his physical play in Game 3.
"No," he said.
When questions referred to the Flames, he shared his insights. He just didn't want to talk about individual players, not even in a complimentary manner.
"It's not about me or anybody else," he said. "It's about us getting ready for Game 4."
Fighting for respect
Moments after the Lightning's Vinny Lecavalier fought Calgary's Jarome Iginla in the first period of Game 3, Tortorella could be seen applauding on the bench. After Lecavalier had served his time in the sin bin, teammates patted him on the helmet and tapped him with their sticks to say, "Good job."
But did Lecavalier's fight do more harm than good?
"As far as the fight was concerned, I thought that was good stuff by Vinny," Tortorella said. "As far as that affecting his play, no."
While Tortorella said the fight had nothing to do with it, Lecavalier's play did take a slight dip afterward.
The fight, or rather his willingness to fight, however, sent a message, particularly because Lecavalier acquitted himself well against Iginla.
"He wants to be a lead dog and to be a lead dog you got take on all in the other corner," captain Dave Andreychuk said. "Obviously Iginla is a top player in this league and (Lecavalier) will be, but Vinny wants to get to that echelon and that's the process that he's going through right now in his mind. Whether he's fighting or whether he's battling, people are going to notice."
Close call at practice
The Lightning barely had any injuries during the regular season. But the postseason has been a different story. Forward Cory Stillman missed time with an injured hip. Defenseman Jassen Cullimore suffered what was believed to be a broken wrist. Forward Ruslan Fedotenko suffered a facial injury Saturday.
All were a result of physical play.
The Lightning's luck appeared to take another downward turn during a light practice Sunday when it almost suffered a freak injury. Dmitry Afanasenkov, who might replace Fedotenko on the top line tonight if Fedotenko cannot play, was hit in the neck with a puck.
Near the end of practice, players were shooting into empty nets when a puck deflected off the crossbar and struck Afanasenkov. He crumbled to the ice and writhed in pain for a minute or two, but seemed fine after.
"It's nothing," said Afanasenkov, sporting a nasty red welt. "No big deal."
