They need a hero

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
Published April 19, 2006

TAMPA - Every now and then you come across a stat that begs for an explanation.

Take this one: Of Ruslan Fedotenko's 95 career goals, 22, or 23.2 percent, are game-winners.

It is a pace some of the NHL's most clutch players - Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic, Steve Yzerman and Jaromir Jagr, for example - can't match.

The Lightning left wing is even more opportunistic in the playoffs with four winners out of 13 goals; 30.8 percent.

Big-time stuff from a player considered more worker bee than king of beasts.

Fedotenko said he has no special powers, does not call upon unseen forces. There are no Bruce Banner-like transformations, no sixth sense.

"I don't know," he said. "Maybe I just like the adrenaline rush."

The eighth-seeded Lightning is going to need more than that against the No. 1 Senators when the East quarterfinal opens Friday at Ottawa's Scotiabank Place.

Tampa Bay must disrupt the Senators' formidable transition game with a fierce forecheck. It has to find ways to the net, take hits to establish position and throw lots of pucks at rookie goaltender Ray Emery.

Basically, it has to do what Fedotenko did so well in the 2003-04 playoffs when he tied Brad Richards with a team-high 12 goals and had three winners, including the clincher in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final.

"We try to have a little extra," he said of big-goal hunting, "because it's do or die."

"He's a character player, a guy who has confidence," Lightning goaltender Sean Burke said. "He's been able to come through. He makes a huge difference for your team."

This was an important season for Fedotenko, acquired from the Flyers for the No. 4 pick in the 2002 draft. He was coming off left hip surgery, and after signing a one-year, $1.3-million contract, was challenged by general manager Jay Feaster.

Before a long-term commitment was made, Feaster wanted to know if he was dealing with the Fedotenko of the 2003-04 playoffs or the one who stumbled the year before. He wanted Fedotenko for the first time to score 20 regular-season goals.

Fedotenko, 27, of Kiev, Ukraine, answered with career highs of 26 goals and 41 points. His six winning goals were one off the team record.

"I give him high marks because there has always been that issue of, "Can he get to the next level?"' Feaster said. "The challenge in my mind is to continue to do it in the postseason."

"I'd like to," Fedotenko said. "I will try. But this is a new season, new playoffs. What I did was in the past. Now you have to start from the beginning."

It's as good a place as any to figure out Fedotenko's winning ways.

Fedotenko said his father, Viktor, always urged him to develop a pure wrist shot. Fedotenko said he would shoot a plastic puck for hours against the wall of the family home.

"Sometimes you go for a slap shot or snap shot, it seems like it's bigger and heavier," Fedotenko said. "But the goalie can see that and it isn't as accurate."

"He's got a hard, accurate shot and he doesn't need a ton of time to get it away," Burke said. "That's a pretty good combination."

Fedotenko, a feisty 6 feet 2, 196 pounds also isn't shy about setting up in the high slot and crashing to the net if he sees an opening.

It was a lesson Fedotenko said was taught in 1999-00 by Bill Barber, now the Lightning's director of player personnel, who coached Fedotenko at AHL Philadelphia.

"He said, "If you want to score goals, you have to go into traffic. You need to go in front of the net and get some bruises,"' Fedotenko said. "It doesn't matter if I get a couple of licks and whatever. I'm going to be greedy and go for it."

That Fedotenko, unlike teammates Marty St. Louis, Brad Richards and Vinny Lecavalier, doesn't automatically trigger opponent countermeasures doesn't hurt either.

"He's a guy who flies under the radar," Feaster said. "You're focusing on Lecavalier. You're focusing on Richards or St. Louis or even (Vinny) Prospal, and all of a sudden you look and there's 26 goals."

Twenty-three percent of which were winners.

[Last modified April 19, 2006, 21:44:02]