Road trip a confidence builder

The Lightning roll into Boston tonight, strengthened by a solid first period Sunday in Washington.

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By DAMIAN CRISTODERO

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 21, 2000

BOSTON -- The Lightning is feeling pretty good about itself right now.

Yes, it took a 5-2 punch to the chin from the Capitals on Sunday. But the players and coach Steve Ludzik were buoyed by a dominating first period, in which it outshot Washington 16-7, and a solid third period, in which it out shot the Caps 10-3.

That second period, when the Lightning saw a 2-1 lead turn into a 4-2 deficit, well, it's all part of the learning curve for the NHL's youngest team.

"It's a matter of confidence," center Vincent Lecavalier said. "We have to start to learn how to win, and we started that on this road trip."

That's why tonight's game against the Bruins at the FleetCenter is so important.

Tampa Bay is 2-1-1 so far on its five-game trip. A tie (regulation or otherwise) would give it six of a possible 10 points. A win, seven. Any way you slice it, that's a success.

It also would make all the good work that resulted in victories over the Canadiens and Devils and a tie with the Rangers stand out even more.

So, what's tonight's lesson plan? Lecavalier said to combat the team's tendency to get down when things don't go exactly right.

It is something the team has struggled with all season and was evident when a goal by Washington's Chris Simon cut into Tampa Bay's 2-0 lead.

"We went down a little bit on the bench," Lecavalier said. "We stopped talking. But we went into the room (after the second period) and said, "We have to keep going.' When they score a goal, it doesn't mean we have to stop."

"Part of it is because they're young," Ludzik said. "What happened is, they came out and dominated and thought they should have been up by three or four. Instead we were up by one."

Tampa Bay was indeed frustrated by Washington goaltender Olaf Kolzig. And a cross-checking call on Todd Warriner gave the Caps a 5-on-3 advantage that led to Simon's goal.

That Tampa Bay regrouped for the third period shows resilience; a resilience Lecavalier said will grow with a few more victories.

"The more you start winning, the more you have confidence," he said. "Sometimes, a month or two ago, when we were losing a lot, we would go up 3-1 and the other team would score and our confidence level would drop and we'd lose. The more we get to win, we will do better than that."

"We've got 11 games left in the year, and we really need to take something positive out of this season," left wing Bruce Gardiner said. "If it takes the last 15 games to be the team that we want to be, then we'll have something positive to go into the summer with."

The Lightning could take a big step in that direction tonight against the Bruins, who, going into Monday night's games, were six points out of the final playoff spot.

"When we lose, we should have something to prove," Ludzik said. "It's something to build on to come back the next night. That's hockey, and you have to do that to be successful."

FLETCHER LEADS CANADA EFFORT: Cliff Fletcher, a Lightning senior advisor, was named general manager of Team Canada for the Men's World Hockey Championship, April 28-May 14 in St. Petersburg, Russia.

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