Horrid start dooms Lightning

Chicago scores twice early to give Nikolai Khabibulin the victory.

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO, Times Staff Writer
Published November 29, 2007

Nikolai Khabibulin, who led the Lightning to the Stanley Cup in 2004, bats the puck away during the first period.
	[AP photo]

ADVERTISEMENT [Getty Images] Martin Havlat puts the puck past Johan Holmqvist to put the Blackhawks up 1-0 just 43 seconds into the game. Havlat's goal 12 seconds into the second made it 3-0. [Getty Images] The Lightning's Andre Roy fights David Koci soon after the Blackhawks took a 3-0 lead in the second.

CHICAGO - Coach John Tortorella could not stress enough before Wednesday night's game with the Blackhawks how important it was for the Lightning to have a good start.

"A simple, strong start," Tortorella said he wanted. "Play quick."

He said nothing about playing sloppy, which was the signature of Tampa Bay's dismal 5-1 loss at the United Center.

"We want to be a team that is hard to play against. We want to be a team that doesn't beat itself," Lightning associate coach Mike Sullivan said. "We were none of the above."

Forget the Lightning held a 22-17 shot advantage. It was purely cosmetic.

It was a fifth straight loss for Tampa Bay (10-12-2), including one in overtime, and dropped it to a league-worst 2-9-1 on the road.

Goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, in his first game against his former teammates since leaving as a free agent after the 2003-04 Stanley Cup season, was barely tested and made 21 saves.

"I was a little bit nervous," said Khabibulin, who also had two assists. "But after the first period, I settled down. (The Lightning) didn't seem to have the jump, for some reason. And we were able to jump on them and play strong."

The bigger story for Chicago was Martin Havlat, who played his first game since the season opener because of a shoulder injury and scored on his first two shots, the first 43 seconds in.

The bigger story for the Lightning was how little it accomplished. Bad decisions, bad passes, bad defense and a power play that went 1-for-4 and is 4-for-25 in its past seven games made the Blackhawks look like world-beaters.

There also was uninspired play from Vinny Lecavalier. He has been so good, it is difficult to criticize, and he certainly wasn't the only offender. But the league's top scorer had a hand in Chicago's first three goals.

Havlat's first goal ended with a two-on-one backhander over goalie Johan Holmqvist. But the play began in the Chicago zone when Lecavalier's poor drop pass to Marty St. Louis was picked off by Havlat.

Havlat's crisp backhander, the game's first shot, beat Holmqvist high to the glove side.

It was 2-0 at 5:31 when Dustin Byfuglien whacked in a rebound after Holmqvist's great right-leg stop of Patrick Kane's snap shot. Again, the play began in the Chicago zone, where Lecavalier's pass to defenseman Paul Ranger at the blue line was picked off.

Ranger could have been better holding up the play, and Lecavalier didn't sufficiently get back into the chase to shadow Byfuglien.

While Chicago converted, the Lightning bumbled. Mathieu Darche's big hit caused a turnover and a two-on-one with Chris Gratton. But Gratton's pass was blocked, he couldn't control the puck and Tampa Bay did not get a shot.

It didn't get any better to start the second period as Havlat scored 12 seconds in from the slot off Robert Lang's faceoff win against Lecavalier.

"It's seemed like nothing was going right," Lecavalier said. "It seemed like everything I touched went into the net right after."

Holmqvist allowed three goals on 10 shots before being pulled for Marc Denis to start the third period.

"It's bad when you're treading water all the time," the Lightning's Brad Richards said. "We put ourselves in another little hole that we need to get out of quick. And that's frustrating."

UP NEXT

Tonight: Lightning at Red Wings

When/where: 7:30; Joe Louis Arena, Detroit.

TV/radio: Sun Sports; 620-AM.

Injuries: Tampa Bay - Defenseman Dan Boyle (wrist) and center Ryan Craig (knee) are out. Defenseman Filip Kuba (abdominal strain) is day to day. Detroit - Center Kris Draper (knee) is out. Wings Matt Ellis (head) and Tomas Kopecky (shoulder) are day to day.

Key stats: Detroit's Tomas Holmstrom has four goals and five assists in a six-game points streak and a league-high nine power-play goals. Chris Osgood entered Wednesday leading the league with a 1.76 goals-against average. ... The Lightning is 5-19-1 with two ties against the Red Wings and 1-10 with one tie in Detroit, where it hasn't won since January 1994 (0-7 with a tie).

[Last modified November 29, 2007, 00:41:19]