Lightning's transition begins steadily
LIGHTNING 4, BLUE JACKETS 2: In its first game of the post-Dave Andreychuk era, Tampa Bay hangs on.
By TOM JONES
Published January 14, 2006
TAMPA - The only appearance former captain Dave Andreychuk made at the St. Pete Times Forum on Friday was during a video tribute on the scoreboard before the game. For the first time in more than three seasons, Andreychuk was not alongside his teammates as they dropped the puck on another hockey game.
He wasn't there to pick up the garbage on the power play or dish out some much-needed advice in the locker room.
But, perhaps, he did serve as inspiration as the Lightning closed out its emotional week with a 4-2 victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets in front of 20,425.
"Obviously, it was a tough couple of days for everybody," said Marty St. Louis, referring to the Lightning's waiving of Andreychuk on Tuesday. "But you've got to move on after things like that and take what that guy brought with us and move ahead. Dave wouldn't want it any other way."
The Lightning refused to have it any other way. It dominated the Blue Jackets, outshooting them 39-24 and never trailing, but needed a little mettle to snap its two-game losing streak and hold on to the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Lightning took leads of 2-0 and 3-1, but each time the Blue Jackets cut the lead to a goal.
In far too many games this season, such a goal would be the start of a collapse for the Lightning. On Friday, however, it simply set the stage for a Lightning star to exert his leadership skills on and off the ice.
"I thought they handled themselves very well," Lightning coach John Tortorella said. "I thought we reacted okay."
The Lightning jumped to a 2-0 lead on goals by Tim Taylor, the newest of the Lightning's three alternate captains, and RuslanFedotenko.
When Columbus cut the lead to 2-1 early in the third period, St. Louis responded with a breakaway goal. And when Columbus got within 3-2 with 4:47 left, Vinny Lecavalier responded with a blistering slap shot with 2:05 left to ice the game.
"I thought Vinny tried to make a difference in a lot of areas," Tortorella said. "Vinny is not going to be a guy who is going to say a lot in the locker room, but the onus is on him and some of the other guys to start stepping up and leading on the ice. And I thought he really tried to do that tonight. Marty St. Louis, too. I thought Tim Taylor played one of his best games."
In fact, before the game, St. Louis told Tortorella it was time to stop talking and start playing on the ice.
The Lightning did that, without its captain, but with the distractions of being without its captain.
"This was huge for us," said goalie Sean Burke, who made 22 saves. "There have been a few distractions and that was good sign tonight that we were able to put them all aside and go out and play hard."
Along the way, Tortorella earned his 143rd victory, moving him past Terry Crisp for the most in franchise history. For Tortorella and the Lightning, however, it was simply two more points to put an end to a rough week.
"It was obviously very tough," Lecavalier said. "It was good to get a win. We're not going forget Andy and we never will, but it was nice to think about something else, play a game and make sure we were ready for it."