Lead goes, and anger flows
The Lightning rips the officiating after losing a 3-1 advantage and then the game against the Thrashers.
By By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
Published November 20, 2007
ATLANTA - John Tortorella really has tried of late not to criticize the referees. He has been baited by reporters. He has been cajoled.
He generally, and smartly, has begged off.
But the Lightning coach could not help himself after Monday night's 4-3 overtime loss to the Thrashers at Philips Arena as the winning goal was scored with center Brad Richards in the penalty box after what Tampa Bay believes was a bad holding call.
"The frustrating part for me is these organizations pay the players millions upon millions of dollars," Tortorella said. "They're the ones who need to decide outcomes of games.
"Listen, I'm trying to stay away from criticizing as far as the calls, but (expletive) that. I just don't get it. And it makes the coaching job that much harder, how you coach your players in playing when you get that (expletive) out there."
You could see the frustration after Todd White's fifth goal beat Johan Holmqvist 2:49 into the extra period to snap the goaltender's and Tampa Bay's five-game winning streak.
Defenseman Shane O'Brien angrily shot a puck into the side boards. Richards stared straight ahead while sitting at his locker and said, "I don't want to talk about it. If I talk about it, I'll probably get fined."
That the Lightning (10-8-2) got a point for the regulation tie was no solace.
"It's frustrating because we had that game," O'Brien said. "We just kind of gave away a point."
It gave away a 3-1 lead built by second-period goals from Jan Hlavac and Vinny Lecavalier, and Marty St. Louis' eighth goal, and fourth in as many games, with 9:30 left in the third.
But Atlanta's Bryan Little scored five-on-three with 5:18 left, and Ilya Kovalchuk scored his league-high 17th with 2:23 remaining to make the score 3-3.
"This team just never feels like they are out of it," said coach Don Waddell, whose team overcame a 4-1 deficit earlier this month to beat Tampa Bay 6-4. "Even when they were down 3-1 (Monday), they were positive on the bench."
The Lightning was not blameless.
It had just four third-period shots. It was 0-for-3 on the power play against the league's worst penalty kill, 0-for-2 in the third period. O'Brien took a bad hooking penalty to set up the two-man advantage on which Atlanta scored.
Defensemen Paul Ranger and Filip Kuba were out of position on Kovalchuk's goal, scored after the wing blew past St. Louis in the slot.
Still, it was Richards' penalty, called by referee Paul Devorski, to which Tampa Bay so heatedly objected as it seemed Richards barely put a hand on Tobias Enstrom, who went down along the boards.
Asked if he watched a replay, Richards said, "Why do I have to look at it? I know what I did. ... If that's a penalty in overtime, then there should be a parade to the penalty box the whole game. They should let the teams decide the game."
There were notable efforts.
Lecavalier's two points extended his team-record streak of multipoint games to eight. Vinny Prospal had two assists, Ranger played 30 minutes, Richards 28:30, Kovalchuk 29:53.
It was what Tortorella spoke about.
"They are the show," he said. "Obviously, there is a disconnect somewhere as far as what's going on with this game."