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Lightning squanders late rally

Tampa Bay suffers its fifth straight road loss as the Flyers rip off three goals in 90 seconds.

By KEVIN KELLY

© St. Petersburg Times, published December 7, 2000

[AP photo] The Lightning's Petr Svoboda, right, and Cory Sarich wrap up the Flyers' Mark Recchi as goalie Dan Cloutier covers the puck.

PHILADELPHIA -- The city was waiting. The team was waiting.

Tampa Bay was just passing through.

Five games after returning from a 20-game absence because of back surgery, Philadelphia left wing John LeClair erupted for three goals in a 6-3 win Wednesday at the First Union Center. It was the first hat trick of the season for LeClair, who has 11 in his career. The Flyers, losers of four of their past five, scored three consecutive goals -- two by LeClair and one by left wing Paul Ranheim -- in the final 4:20 to nullify a Tampa Bay comeback.

"We were missing a lot of players tonight, but we gave them holy hell for 40 minutes," Lightning coach Steve Ludzik said. "I'm very proud of my guys. I didn't find anybody who sat there and watched and said "We didn't play harder than Philadelphia tonight.' "

The Lightning, which has lost five straight on the road, tied the score at 3 with 9:40 remaining with two quick goals before the Flyers ripped off three straight. Goalie Dan Cloutier stopped 32 of 38 shots, and Flyers goalie Brian Boucher stopped 20.

Neither team looked particularly sharp in the first period.

Unlike its last game, when it outshot Detroit 20-0 and scored three goals in the first period, the Lightning started off sluggish and uninspired. It didn't register a shot for the first 11 minutes and finished with just five in the period.

Philadelphia wasn't much better until its second power-play opportunity.

Thirteen minutes into the game, Daymond Langkow idled in the corner until he spotted Simon Gagne streaking through the slot.

Gagne received Langkow's pass and snapped a wrist shot past Cloutier for his 10th goal of the season. Prior to that goal, the Flyers were 1-for-33 on power plays.

The long-awaited accomplishment seemed to ignite Philadelphia, which had been criticized for not playing with enough emotion lately.

Cloutier, in net for the second straight game, kept the Lightning close despite the Flyers spending more than nine minutes in Tampa Bay's zone in the first period.

The Lightning is 0-8-2-0 when trailing at the end of the opening period.

In the second period, Philadelphia wasted little time scoring its second goal. Justin Williams' shot from the faceoff circle found its way into the net through a fallen Sheldon Keefe and past Cloutier.

Lightning center Vinny Lecavalier had a chance soon after Williams' goal, but he waited too long to catch Boucher out of position.

However, it was a screen by Lecavalier that helped Tampa Bay cut Philadelphia's lead to 2-1 at 14:40 into the second.

Off a faceoff to the left of Boucher, who had saved 15 shots to that point, right wing Martin St. Louis passed to Pavel Kubina, who sent a slap shot through a screen and past Boucher.

The Flyers countered less than two minutes later. LeClair lifted a shot over Cloutier's left shoulder at 15:58 into the second period.

It was LeClair's third goal of the season and second since missing 20 games because of back surgery.

Lecavalier countered 2:42 in the third period when he tapped a pass from St. Louis past Boucher to make it 3-2. Lecavalier has five goals in the past five games, including three in the past two games.

Seven minutes later, Steve Martins fed Fredrik Modin, who scored his 13th goal of the season and tied the score at 3 with 10:20 remaining.

But the Flyers scored three straight in 1:16 to end Tampa Bay's bid for its second straight win over a traditional league power.

LeClair gave the Flyers a 4-3 lead with 3:40 left by directing a rebound off a shot from Rick Tocchet. Ranheim made it 5-3 just 17 seconds later, and LeClair got his third of the night on a slap shot with 2:24 left. LeClair has 29 goals in 36 games against the Lightning.

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