Sports: Lightning finally enjoys one

Lightning finally enjoys one

Kevin Weekes has 25 saves, Andrei Zyuzin scores twice and Tampa Bay routs the Islanders 6-0.

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- There was no waiting to get into the Lightning locker room. No cooling-off period. No time needed to vent the frustrations of another loss.

Tampa Bay embarrassed the Islanders 6-0 Saturday night in front of an announced 12,542 at the Nassau Coliseum in what was arguably the biggest blowout in Lightning history.

Tampa Bay tied its largest margin of victory, but won by six goals for the first time in a shutout.

"And I really don't care about it," Lightning coach John Tortorella said. "It's one game. Again, it has to be consistent and that's the message."

Spoil sport.

"It's a breakthrough game," defenseman Adrian Aucoin said. "A game like this is a game a young team can gain some confidence from."

Much better. As was the effort from a team that won for just the third time in 12 games and, with its 43 points, climbed out of the league cellar and pushed in the Islanders with their 42 points.

The Lightning outshot New York 26-25 and chased rookie goaltender Rick DiPietro in the second period after he allowed four goals on 13 shots. It scored three power-play goals in 3:35 of a four-goal second and killed off four five-on-threes.

Kevin Weekes had 25 saves for his third shutout and fifth of his career. Aucoin had a career-best four assists. Defenseman Andrei Zyuzin had his first two-goal game.

Vinny Lecavalier and Mike Johnson each had a goal and two assists (Johnson had one goal in his past 35 games). Matthew Barnaby scored his fourth -- third with the Lightning -- and defenseman Jassen Cullimore had three hits and a game-best six blocked shots.

Speaking of blocks, Tampa Bay knocked down 26 to New York's 10 while earning its first road victory since Jan. 10 and improving its league-worst road record 5-25-3-3.

The bad news: Lightning forwards Fredrik Modin and Todd Warriner are day-to-day with strained groins. And Islanders forward Brad Isbister might be out the rest of the season with a knee injury.

Still, Weekes (14-26-3) could barely be heard over the blasting locker-room stereo.

"This is most important," he said of the victory. "As you can see, the atmosphere is happy and upbeat and that's the way it should be. We have to realize this is a little better than coming in and hanging our heads. I'll take this any time."

So would the Islanders, who have lost 10 of 13 and spoke as if they had packed it in for the season.

"There's not a lot to say about it," goalie John Vanbiesbrouck said. "We need to take a more professional attitude."

Dare we say an attitude like the Lightning's?

"It's unacceptable to just be playing it out," Tortorella said. "I don't think our guys have ever thought about that."

"We're two struggling teams," Aucoin said. "But I think we're showing some serious improvement over the last few weeks. It probably won't make up much the rest of the season, but we're trying to gear up for next season."

Help from the special teams and good goaltending, especially in the third when the Islanders pushed back some and outshot the Lightning 12-5, made that much easier.

Tampa Bay, which had three goals in 71 previous chances with the man advantage, was 3-for-9 on the power play, with Zyuzin, Lecavalier and Nils Ekman scoring on three consecutive chances to make it 6-0.

And in a game that had 31 penalties, including 29 minors, the Lightning went 11-for-11 on the penalty kill.

"It's a big win but we can't be satisfied," said Lecavalier, who has three goals, five assists in nine games since coming back from a fractured left foot. "We have to play (the Devils today) and stay on an even keel. We can't say we won a game so we're so great."