Lightning/NHL

Impressive outing tires Alexeev

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
Published September 17, 2006

BRANDON - Nikita Alexeev slumped on the bench in front of his locker and said he was "suffering."

The Lightning left wing had just scored two goals with three assists to lead the Blue team to a 5-4 victory over the Red in a scrimmage Saturday at the Ice Sports Forum.

But Alexeev was more concerned, and upset, with how tired he felt in the game's final 15 minutes.

"I have to do better," he said. "I'm not very comfortable with the pace yet. I want the coaches to see I can play a full 20 minutes."

Still, the positives well outweighed the negatives.

"He played hard," coach John Tortorella said.

"He played really well," Red goaltender Marc Denis said. "He's a big presence out there."

This is an important camp for Alexeev, 24, a former first-round draft pick who never lived up to expectations and spent last season playing in Russia.

It helped that he and third-line teammates center Andreas Karlsson and Ryan Craig clicked immediately.

Karlsson, whom Alexeev called an "awesome" playmaker, had a goal and two assists. Craig had a goal and three assists.

But the 6-foot-4, 230-pound Alexeev was the star, drawing gasps from the packed house when he drove the slot, put a series of moves on Denis and scored his second goal.

"Nikita had a great game skating and shooting the puck," said Craig, who started the play by blocking Cory Sarich's point shot. "We fed off that a little bit."

A good first step Alexeev said was not nearly enough.

"I'll get better," he said. "It's just the beginning."

WHOSE LINE IS IT? Interesting about the scrimmage was it also featured the fourth line of center Tim Taylor, right wing Rob DiMaio and Norm Milley for the Red.

"Blue versus Red was an audition of guys fighting for third- and fourth-line spots," Tortorella said.

The current line configurations, he said, are his first thought.

"We'll allow that to flow through and when the exhibition season comes, that's when we really make our assessments," Tortorella said.

AFFY LOOKS GOOD: Left wing Dmitry Afanasenkov played with center Brad Richards and Marty St. Louis and had two assists in the Black's 3-1 victory over the White.

"We skated well and created a lot," said St. Louis, who had two goals, including an empty-netter. "We need some more time in feeling each other out, but for a first day, I don't think you could have asked for more."

ROCK 'EM, SOCK 'EM: White defenseman Andy Delmore took a run at Black's Blair Jones and decked him with two fists to the head after Jones hit and cut Delmore below the right eye with an inadvertent stick.

White's Brandon Elliott (6-4, 225) and Black's Geoff Waugh (6-4, 215) had a heavyweight punch-fest that Elliott won on points.

Tortorella said he doesn't mind the rough stuff.

"We don't want anyone to get hurt, but we want the players to bring the strengths of their game to catch our eye," he said.

"Bangers need to bang, fighters need to fight, scorers need to score and right on down the line. That's what these scrimmages are about."

ODDS AND ENDS: Denis allowed five goals on 15 shots. "For a goalie, this is when you figure out your game and what you need to work on." . . . Johan Holmqvist stopped 13 of 14 shots for the Black. . . . Left wing Ruslan Fedotenko practiced but did not play.

[Last modified September 17, 2006, 01:13:34]