Sports: It's that darn 3rd period

It's that darn 3rd period

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO

ST. LOUIS -- The Lightning had a plan for the third period of Thursday night's game against the Blues.

"All we talked about," defenseman Andrei Zyuzin said, "was we need to score one goal to tie and one more to win it."

Instead, it was St. Louis that double-dipped to blow open what had been a well-contested game and cruised to a 4-1 victory in front 19,765 at the Savvis Center.

The loss continues a disturbing trend for Tampa Bay, which has lost 12 of its past 14 games while being outscored 24-3 in the third period.

Yes, 24-3 in the third period of "We seem to fall apart and lose our composure," center Brian Holzinger said. "That's a sign of a young team that scrambles a little in pressure situations."

But even Holzinger admitted it's time the team learned to overcome whatever demons are bungling up the works; demons that are worse than the ones that caused the Lightning to go 0-for-7 on the power play.

That is a story in itself.

Tampa Bay failed on a four-minute power play in the second period. It also botched a five-minute major power play in the third, two minutes of which were supposed to be five-on-three. But 40 seconds into the two-man advantage, Todd Warriner was called for hooking.

"The puck was there and I tried to hold him up a little bit and he goes down," Warriner said. "It was a bad decision on my part."

No argument from coach John Tortorella.

"At that point, the referees are just looking to try to even it up," he said. "We can't even attempt to take a penalty."

Holzinger said third periods would take on a whole different look if the Lightning could score the first goal to take the pressure off.

But the Blues, the NHL's best defensive team and the best at home at 22-3-3-2, put the pressure on 2:55 into the period with a power-play goal from Alexander Khavanov for a 3-1 lead.

Daniel Corso made it 4-1 at 6:19 off Khavanov's second assist. But ... "That third goal," Zyuzin said, "just killed us."

"It really took the wind out of their sails," Blues forward Tyson Nash said. "I'm sure it's frustrating for them. They were playing us tough. They played a great game. They're a good, young team."

Tampa Bay had its moments.

Warriner put the Lightning ahead 1-0 at 3:34 of the first. Brad Richards' assist gave him a Lightning rookie record 44 points, breaking Rob Zamuner's 1992-93 mark.

Though St. Louis was ahead 2-1 by the end of the second on goals by Pavol Demitra, his 20th, and Ladislav Nagy, the Lightning played the Blues straight-up.

Tampa Bay's 23 shots to that point (it would be outshot 36-27, including 11-4 in the third) were one more than the average the Blues allow.

"I thought we played very well for two periods," Tortorella said. "The third period, they came out and got the first goal and there was nothing after that."

Except another loss.