Timely breakthrough

LIGHTNING 3, ISLES 2 (OT): Marty St. Louis ends his goal drought then sets up Vinny Lecavalier's winner.

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
Published February 7, 2006

	[Getty Images]
	Vinny Lecavalier celebrates his winner with Pavel Kubina. Marty St. Louis' goal with 1:12 left forced overtime.

UNIONDALE, N.Y. - It's just a matter of time.

That is what Lightning right wing Marty St. Louis said he has been telling himself for pretty much the entire season. It's just a matter of time before he finds the form that made him the NHL's 2003-04 most valuable player.

Perhaps, after Monday night's 3-2 overtime victory over the Islanders, he finally is on the right track.

"I'm just trying," he said, "to build on positive things."

You can't get much more positive than what happened at Nassau Coliseum.

St. Louis' goal with 1:12 left in the third period tied the score at 2 and shook Tampa Bay out of a gamelong doldrum. He also made a perfect pass to spring Vinny Lecavalier on his winning breakaway with 54.5 seconds left in the extra period.

"It's nice to get a goal like that," St. Louis said. "And then when the team wins, you feel like you're really doing your job."

"He made a great play," Lecavalier said. "He's doing pretty good."

You would have a hard time convincing St Louis.

His 18th goal was his first in nine games. He had zero points in four of his previous five, and his 42 points are less than half what he had in 2003-04.

The most frustrating part: St. Louis believes, and coach John Tortorella concurs, he has been working hard and playing pretty well. He just hasn't had much to show for it.

"It's going to happen for him," Tortorella said. "He cares too much, and he's working too hard for it not to turn around for him. Maybe this will jump-start it for him. It was a big goal and a big play to set Vinny up."

The Lightning, which won its third straight and is on an 8-1-1 tear, sure needed something.

After Fredrik Modin put Tampa Bay ahead 1:22 into the game with his team-high 23rd goal, the team flattened out. The power play went 0-for-5, the Lightning lost 61 percent of faceoffs, was outhit 22-11 and outshot 30-24; the first time in seven games Tampa Bay had fewer than 30 shots.

There were aesthetic issues as well. Passes were off line. The Islanders had the better of the battles for the puck, and most of Tampa Bay's shots at goaltender Rick DiPietro were from the outside.

Good thing, then, for Lightning goaltender Sean Burke, who made 28 saves for his third straight win and could not be faulted on goals by Jason Blake in the second and Mike York in the third that gave the Islanders a 2-1 advantage.

"Ugliness," Tortorella said.

But as St. Louis pointed out: "You can't always get perfection. You just find a way."

For St Louis, standing in the high slot after Tampa Bay pulled Burke for an extra skater, that meant scoring by getting his stick shaft on defenseman Dan Boyle's shot from the point.

The goal strengthened a remarkable hex St. Louis has on the Islanders. He scored winners in this season's two previous games, and he scored four goals in the last three games, including the series clincher in overtime, of the 2003-04 East quarterfinals.

But back to Monday. St. Louis' pass to Lecavalier was as much familiarity with his teammate's game as skill. Lecavalier yelled for the puck, but St. Louis said he knew Lecavalier would break and fired it up ice.

Lecavalier's 22nd goal, his fifth winner which tied St. Louis for the team lead, came off a forehand set up by a backhand fake.

After the game, St. Louis tried to keep things in perspective. It was only one game, after all. But the sense was St. Louis might have turned a corner.

Modin gave him a playful headlock and hug. And Burke called St. Louis' big game "great. We know how hard he works and how valuable he is to this team. Hopefully, this propels him."

St. Louis, plus-3 in the game, said he hopes so, too.

"I've been telling myself it's just a matter of time for a lot of the year," he said. "I've been playing good."

It's about time he got rewarded.

[Last modified February 7, 2006, 01:13:13]