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Goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin is sharp in opener, but the Islanders score twice in the third period to rally.
By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 6, 2001
TAMPA -- The 2001-02 Lightning was supposed to be a new and improved model.
Kick the tires (more veterans in the lineup), slam the door (more responsible defensively), look at the redesign (the big easy-to-read jersey numbers).
Makes you want to take that baby for a test drive.
An announced crowd of 20,174 did just that Friday night at the Ice Palace. And while there were some improvements in performance -- goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin looked good making 31 saves -- too many of the problems that made last season's model a clunker still have to be worked out.
The 3-2 season-opening loss to the Islanders featured a 1 minute, 39 second span of the third period in which two defensive lapses led to two Mark Parrish goals, the second on the power play, and the quick erasure of the Lightning's 2-1 lead.
There were the missed opportunities, like the power play with 2:48 left that generated zero shots on goal.
But that just followed a pattern. New York outshot Tampa Bay 34-25, with the Lightning getting 13 shots after the first period and just six in the third.
Left wing Fredrik Modin, who has a 102.1 mph slap shot, had just one.
"It is frustrating," defenseman Cory Sarich said. "I know you can't let yourself get frustrated out there but I was."
The revamped Islanders caused some of Tampa Bay's problems.
Michael Peca had a short-handed goal and two assists. Alexei Yashin had a team-high six shots on goal, and Chris Osgood made 23 saves, two in the third period that might have saved the game. He is 10-0 against the Lightning.
Osgood stopped Martin St. Louis from point-blank range early in the period to keep the score 2-1. He stoned Brad Richards from in front with 4:18 remaining to keep the score 3-2.
"Don't get caught up looking at the Islanders' record from last season," Lightning coach John Tortorella said. "That's a good team right now."
It's not like the Lightning didn't do some good things. The team came out flying in the first period and outshot New York 12-7.
But even that backfired as Peca scored at 6:14 off a giveaway by Richards for a 1-0 lead. Jimmie Olvestad, playing in his first NHL game, tied it at 1 at 14:09. The Lightning took a 2-1 lead at 7:39 of the second period on Richards' power-play goal.
But the Lightning couldn't get No. 3 past Osgood -- "He was all over the net," Richards said -- and hit two posts as well.
Then came the critical mistakes.
On Parrish's first goal at 4:34 of the third, the right wing got behind Sarich and Glen Metropolit and had an open shot at Khabibulin that he buried in a top corner.
Sarich said the puck deflected off his skate to Parrish.
"A broken play," Metropolit said.
Tortorella's assessment was harsher.
"Everybody just watched the puck," he said. "We completely lost our defensive positioning. That's the tough one. It gives them life."
New York took a little more from the Lightning when Parrish tipped Roman Hamrlik's slap shot from the top of the slot for the winner on the power-play goal at 6:13.
Okay, so maybe the interference call on Dave Andreychuk that set up the power play was questionable. Tortorella said that was no excuse for allowing a clean shot from the slot.
"You can't allow shots from the middle of the ice," he said.
"We were more intense in the third period after weathering the storm in their home opener," Parrish said. The Lightning could only talk about working from the positives and learning from its mistakes.
"We have a good team here. We're going to be fine," Metropolit said. "There are 81 games left."
On this test drive, it spun its wheels.