Back to sunny day for team vs. L.A.

LIGHTNING 4, KINGS 1: Tampa Bay plays with purpose and passion and disposes of banged-up Los Angeles.

By TOM JONES
Published January 18, 2006

LOS ANGELES - Finally, some passion. Finally, some desperation.

The Lightning players, for the first time in some time, showed a sense of urgency Tuesday night in Los Angeles.

They threw checks. They threw punches. They got angry. When shoved, they shoved back. When denied a chance, they didn't hang their heads, but instead, put their heads down and worked for another.

Twenty-four hours after being embarrassed in San Jose and about 18 hours after a candid, don't-hold-anything-back, late-night meeting in its Los Angeles hotel, the Lightning played like a team whose season is on the brink. The result was a much-needed 4-1 victory against the Kings in front of 17,017 at Staples Center.

"You could have never seen a hockey game before and seen the difference between (Monday and Tuesday)," defenseman Cory Sarich said. "We needed effort, desperation. Those were the two biggest keys we talked about in the past 24 hours. If anyone didn't come out and give it their all, they must have been deaf."

The banged-up Kings were without several stars, including Jeremy Roenick, Pavol Demitra and Aaron Miller. And No. 1 goalie Mathieu Garon left after the first period with a shoulder injury. But that didn't make the victory any less significant considering the Lightning's fragile state of mind and even more fragile place in the playoff hunt.

The victory allowed Tampa Bay (23-20-3) to keep pace with the New Jersey Devils, whose victory Tuesday kept them two points ahead of the Lightning for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Meantime, the Lightning washed out the bitter taste of Monday's drab effort in San Jose that drew the ire of coach John Tortorella and sent the team into Monday night's 30-minute, closed-door meeting in the basement of its swanky L.A. hotel.

The Lightning showed immediately that Tuesday would not be a sequel. Only four minutes into the game, Sarich goaded Kings tough guy Tom Kostopoulos into a fight. While it was little more than a wrestling match, it lit a spark.

Less than three minutes later, the Lightning power play finally struck, snapping an 0-for-40 slump. Marty St. Louis' goal from a bad angle past Garon at 6:59 of the first gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead and a serious boost to its confidence.

The Kings responded on Dustin Brown's goal at 15:56 of the first, but the Lightning grabbed control of the game in the second period.

Again, the power play clicked. With the Lightning holding a five-on-three advantage, Vinny Lecavalier shoved home a St. Louis pass at 8:09 to give the Lightning a lead it would never relinquish.

Ruslan Fedotenko extended the lead to 3-1 at 14:42 after a nifty pass from Vinny Prospal.

Meantime, John Grahame gave the Lightning the goaltending it needed, making all the routine saves and several outstanding ones. None was bigger than when he stoned Sean Avery on a penalty shot with 16:57 left to preserve the Lightning's two-goal lead. Norm Milley's first NHL goal into an empty net with 1:10 left closed the scoring.

The Lightning now gets a day to relax. It will spend today kicking back in Southern California before flying to Dallas on Thursday for a game Friday night against a tough Stars team.

[Last modified January 18, 2006, 13:41:41]