Settling on the bottom

Offensively challenged Lightning falls into a tie for the fewest points in Eastern Conference.

By EDUARDO A. ENCINA, Times Staff Writer
Published December 28, 2007

Goalie Johan Holmqvist, center, is beaten for the Canadiens' second goal of the first period. Holmqvist allowed three goals, was lifted for Karri Ramo, then returned.
	[Douglas R. Clifford | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Douglas R. Clifford | Times] Lightning forward Vinny Lecavalier lays out in front of Canadiens forward Christopher Higgins during a second-period rush. [Douglas R. Clifford | Times] Lightning defenseman Shane O'Brien takes the Canadiens' Tom Kostopoulos to the ice during a third-period fight as Tampa Bay lost for the eighth time in 10 games.

TAMPA - This is a Lightning team that has been here before, on the brink of a lost season.

In the past, Tampa Bay often has been able to regroup around midseason and string together a set of wins that makes people forget about the earlier struggles.

But this season, it feels different.

The Lightning's 5-2 loss to the Canadiens on Thursday night at the St. Pete Times Forum left Tampa Bay coaches and players wondering if they've hit rock bottom. The standings say they're close. Combined with the Capitals' overtime loss on Thursday, Tampa Bay is tied with Washington for the fewest points in the Eastern Conference (33).

"It is one of the worst stretches I can remember since I've been here, as far as how we've played, it really is," coach John Tortorella said. "I don't have a great memory of way back, but this is right there with it as far as just trying to play decent. We just haven't been able to."

With the loss, the Lightning (15-20-3) fell five games under .500 for the first time since the end of the 2001-02 season, Tortorella's first full season as coach, long before the banners started going up into the rafters at the Times Forum.

A day earlier, Tortorella called for panic. Veteran leaders Vinny Lecavalier and Marty St. Louis called the Canadiens a must-win game, but after Montreal scored five unanswered goals and the Tampa Bay offense was as anemic as ever, the Lightning was left to wonder when it was going to end.

"Right when you think you've hit the bottom and you start working up, you see some stretches of the game where and you say, 'Holy crap, we're going lower,'" Tortorella said. "We have to stay within ourselves. We need to take onus of this mess ourselves."

The loss was the Lightning's sixth in its past seven games, and with a four-game road trip looming for the league's worst road team after Saturday's home game against the Flyers, the Lightning's season could continue to spiral out of control barely into the new year.

"Sometimes you want it so bad that you're trying too hard," St. Louis said. "And the game's just not coming to you, you try to go after it and it kind of backfires a little bit. We've just got to calm ourselves down and let it come to us. There's not much flow to our game right now. We've just got to bounce back and bounce back quick."

The Lightning had been superb at home, but it has lost four of its past five at the Forum, the latest coming to the traveling road-show Canadiens in a game that was broadcast nationally in Canada.

"We had a couple of good shifts earlier in the game to start and then they score the first goal and you see us sink," Tortorella said. "That isn't physical. It's a mental toughness."

Montreal scored at 10:20 in the first, when Michael Komisarek found Maxim Lapierre alone at the Lightning blue line for a breakaway. At 12:48, the Canadiens went up by two when Guillaume Latendresse rebounded a puck that hit off the far post.

Meanwhile, the Lightning went without a shot for a span for 13:35 in the first period.

Ten seconds into the second period, Alex Kovalev's 4-on-4 goal put Montreal up by three and prompted Lightning starting goalie Johan Holmqvist's departure. It didn't get much better, as Montreal scored two more goals before the Lightning scored its first goal 6:15 into the third.

"We've got all the ability, but we're just not doing it on the ice," forward Jason Ward said. "We're making little mistakes that are turning into goals and huge momentum swings. Momentum swings are what ride the game. We're very frustrated. We want to win games. We're working hard to win games. We're just not finding ways to win games."

[Last modified December 28, 2007, 01:20:28]