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By ERIK ERLENDSSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 6, 2007

Updated: 11/06/2007 12:15 am

SUNRISE - It took the Lightning 366 minutes, 39 seconds to gain their first lead on the road this season. They held it for all of 179 seconds Monday and never got it back, dropping their seventh consecutive game on the road and losing their fifth consecutive overall with a 4-3 setback to Florida.

This one came in dramatic fashion as David Booth scored the game-winner with 1:19 left when he got hit by the puck in front off a Ruslan Salei shot from the right point.

In the run of bad luck, Tampa Bay keeps finding itself on the wrong side of the scoreboard no matter the effort it puts into the game.

"Most of the time when you work hard you get yourself out of these situations," defenseman Shane O'Brien said. "But lately is seems that the harder we work the less we get out of it."

The Lightning fell to 2-9-2 in their past 13 games in Sunrise and since starting the season 3-0, Tampa Bay is 2-8-1. Lightning coach John Tortorella said that despite the lack of results, the team can't feel sorry for itself.

"They are disappointed in losing, but this is the National Hockey League and you can't let that affect your next effort, you can't let that affect your next game," he said. "If you start thinking that we are not being treated correctly or feeling sorry for ourselves because of the lack of results, then it will mount even more on us.

"So we just have to continue to go about our business, try to find a way to get some bounces to go our way and try to get just one result, just get one win and then we'll see what happens from there."

The opportunity was there for Tampa Bay to find the result Monday, despite getting called for two major boarding calls - one by Vinny Prospal in the first and another by Nick Tarnasky in the second - and trailing heading into the third period.

In the third, the Lightning outshot the Panthers 11-6, but a goal in the final 90 seconds sent Tampa Bay to another loss.

"We keep coming up short, obviously," said Marty St. Louis, who gave Tampa Bay its only lead with a power-play goal 6:39 into the game. "There's that one minute or so of this game where we just have to play better and we didn't do that tonight. We have just that one letdown late in the game and they capitalize."

Trailing 2-1 heading into the second period, the Lightning fought back to tie it when Jason Ward dug the puck off the sideboards from two Florida defenders and found Brad Lukowich at the top of the slot for a wrist shot that found its way through a screen at 10:08.

The game stayed tied for 18 seconds before Steve Montador took a back pass from Mike Van Ryn and shelved a shot glove side high at 10:26 to regain the one-goal lead for Florida.

Tampa Bay built some momentum after Tarnasky was called for the Lightning's second major boarding call when he hit Van Ryn with 5:56 left in the period, limiting the Panthers to five shots on the five-minute power play.

"Can somebody explain to me the major," Tortorella asked the media after the game. "Was it not just a body check? I was told it was a violent hit from behind and I didn't even see the guy's back, I saw his side. The Prospal one yes, but that one ... that's why we kill it off because it never should have been called."

Michel Ouellet pulled the Lightning even early in the third when he finished off a strong individual play from Vinny Lecavalier behind the net. Lecavalier circled out from beyond the goal line and zipped a pass through the crease that found Ouellet's stick 3:40 into the period.

But Tampa Bay never could get back in the lead.

"The best thing we can do is continue to stay positive and play for one another," Lukowich said. "This has nothing to do with anybody but us and we will pull out of this."

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

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