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Bolts Come Up Short

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 27, 2007

Updated: 12/27/2007 12:11 am

WASHINGTON - Karri Ramo skated behind his net during a stoppage of play, stuck out his stick and gave a quick pat to the shin of Washington center Tomas Fleischmann.

Ramo had just finished robbing the Capitals forward for the second time in the game with a highlight-reel save midway through the second period, and he put in an effort worthy of praise Wednesday in his third career start.

Too bad his teammates didn't come through for him.

Washington scored with 2:53 left for a 3-2 victory against Tampa Bay in what proved to be a controversial ending to a game in which the Lightning probably earned their fate. Tampa Bay is one point ahead of the Capitals for last place in the Eastern Conference.
Matt Bradley scored the winner when he got a stick on a loose puck in the crease, and NHL review judges ruled it crossed the goal line completely even though the net appeared to be knocked off its post before the puck cleared the line.

"The ruling is that the net has to be completely off its moorings before the puck crossed the line," NHL senior vice president Mike Murphy said. "Video review showed that the puck had crossed the line before the net came off its moorings."

Had it not been for Ramo's play earlier in the game - he made two terrific saves in the first, a sliding skate save across the crease on Alex Ovechkin and a jaw-dropping stop on Fleischmann alone in the slot - the end result would not have been in doubt.

With the 21-year-old Finland native putting on a show in net, the Lightning again fizzled in dropping its fifth game in the past six. In the past 10 games, Tampa Bay has failed to score more than two goals in a game.

And with Ramo's play since being called up - a .939 save percentage in three games - the goaltending can't be used as a crutch to explain why the results are piling up in the loss column.

"I don't know what to tell you ... there are a lot of things we need to get better at," Lightning coach John Tortorella said after Tampa Bay fell to 5-9 in one-goal games this season.

For the second consecutive game, a full effort seemed nonexistent. In Saturday's loss to Carolina, Tortorella expressed frustration at the lack of effort in the third period. He said it was "two-fold" after Wednesday's game, in which the Lightning had 11 shots on goal over the final two periods and they never trailed until the winning goal.

Why there was no momentum built with Ramo's play on Wednesday is a mystery that Tortorella said needs to be solved.

"It better start," he said. "Everybody says don't panic, don't panic, but there better be some panic within this club to get this thing turned around or it's going to spiral to where you have no look at the playoffs at all. Ramo was the only reason we were in the game at that time, so don't talk to me about net off or this and that. It could have been 8-2."

Vinny Lecavalier gave Tampa Bay leads of 1-0 and 2-1, but late-period letdowns came back to bite the Lightning. First, it was David Steckel - who has three career goals, all against Tampa Bay and has registered five of his six career points against Tampa Bay - scoring with 3:59 left in the first period. Then, Brian Pothier fired a slap shot from the right point into the far top corner with 2:18 left in the second period.

"It's a tough loss and I feel bad, two of those goals I should have had," Ramo said. "Of course, losing a close game like that, it's tough. But all we can do is keeping working hard in the next game and forget about this one."

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

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