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Comeback Goes Up In Flames

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 14, 2007

TAMPA - The last time Calgary basked in the Florida sunshine, it got burned by the Lightning in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals more than three years ago.

But had the roles been reversed that June night in 2004 and Tampa Bay came out on the short end of the series, the mood in the locker room Thursday night might have well rivaled that type of disappointment.

In a game that received little hype in Calgary's first trip to Tampa since losing the Finals, the Lightning got torched by the Flames 9-6 in front of a less-than sellout crowd of 19,026.
Kristian Huselius and Jarome Iginla each recorded hat tricks for Calgary, and defenseman Dion Phaneuf set a career high with five assists. Marty St. Louis had two goals and an assist for the Lightning, while Vinny Lecavalier and Vinny Prospal each had a goal and two assists.

The nine goals allowed are the most by Tampa Bay since the New York Rangers put up 10 on Nov. 10, 1998. It also marked the second time in franchise history in which the Lightning have lost while scoring six or more goals, the other coming in a 9-7 loss to Detroit at Expo Hall on Dec. 5, 1992, during the inaugural season.

There were not many words to describe what went on during a game in which the Lightning - who scored a home-record two goals in 10 seconds by Lecavalier and Andre Roy to wipe out a 1-0 deficit in the first period - battled back from four different deficits, including a two-goal hole 13:05 into the game when Calgary scored its fourth goal on six shots and chased Johan Holmqvist from the net.

"Everything was going in, it seemed," said Lightning defenseman Shane O'Brien, who finished with three assists and was plus-4 but watched the final 12 minutes from the penalty box after taking a misconduct penalty for making a move toward Owen Nolan while each player made their way to the penalty box. "The puck was bouncing around and I felt so bad for Homer. We let him down. He's been too good for us all year and we kind of hung him out to dry a little bit."

But it likely wouldn't have mattered who was in goal as Marc Denis took the loss in giving up four goals on 25 shots. With as much as time as Calgary spent in the crease and around the net, the Flames were like that annoying neighbor everybody complains about at homeowner association meetings but nobody takes action to protect their property. Of the nine Calgary goals, three came directly with players right in front of the net or with their skates in the crease.

"It's really tough to describe," said defenseman Filip Kuba, who along with Paul Ranger finished minus-6. "We didn't play a good game, and we still had a chance to win the game. But with the way we played, we didn't deserve to win."

Each time Calgary took the lead, Tampa Bay seemed to have an offensive answer starting with Prospal's goal at 9:38 of the second period - his first goal in 10 games - and St. Louis' power-play goal with 2:04 left in the second that sent the game to the third period tied at 5.

Even after Iginla scored his first goal 25 seconds into the third period, Brad Richards pulled the Lightning even at 6-6 with 10:13 to play. Yet Iginla capitalized on a Ranger giveaway just inside the blue line and fired a wrist shot past Denis with 5:19 left. Iginla completed the hat trick a minute later that snuffed out any chance of another comeback.

"We did a lot of good things in tonight's game but we definitely had our mistakes and our breakdowns," St. Louis said. "I thought that we were resilient, we fought back and stayed with it. We kept scoring that goal and kept coming back, but you can only do that so many times."

Reporter Erik Erlendsson can be reached at (813) 259-7835 or eerlendsson@tampatrib.com.

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