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Another Tough Break

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 25, 2007

TAMPA - Time stood frozen on ice after arms were raised in celebration and horns blared in triumph. But New Jersey coach Brent Sutter snapped his fingers and pointed to the scoreboard, wanting the referees to take a second and third look at Michel Ouellet's would-be tying goal.

And yet with each frozen frame on the replay Sutter was looking at - and considering Tampa Bay's luck this week - it became clear the apparent third-period goal, allowed on the ice, would be waved off by the time officials in Toronto got a look at the play.

After hanging up the telephone with the direct line to the league office, the goal was disallowed, and the Lightning ended up dropping their fourth consecutive game (0-3-1) with a 3-2 setback Saturday.
Brian Gionta scored twice during a three-goal second period that featured a pair of goals 42 seconds apart, and Martin Brodeur made it stand with 34 saves - many of them highlight material - including 13 in the third period.

Yet it ended up being a shot that slipped past Brodeur but was waved off - the third reviewed goal in three games to go against Tampa Bay - that could have been the difference.

On the play, Ouellet fired a wrist shot from the slot with 4:49 left in the game. The puck slipped through Brodeur and trickled toward the goal line. A scramble ensued, and New Jersey defenseman Mike Mottau dived for the crease at the same time as Ouellet. As Mottau tried to push the puck forward - and knocked the net off its moorings, which usually results in a penalty shot - Ouellet appeared to keep the puck from going into the net with his skate.

"From where I was, when I looked back, I saw that it was in front of the goal line, and one of their skates, I think one of the Lightning skates, kind of stopped it right on the goal line, and after that, the net was off," Brodeur said. "I saw it, but you never know when it's in the hands of other people, you never know what they're going to see."

It's the second time in the past two home games that a Tampa Bay goal has been disallowed in the third period. The other came Wednesday, when Brendan Shanahan swiped a puck off the goal line with his glove - another play that normally results in a penalty shot, although it is not reviewable - in a 2-1 Lightning loss to the Rangers. A reviewed goal Thursday in Carolina gave the Hurricanes their first goal.

"I personally think that puck was in, and if it isn't in, their D-man comes running in and knocks the net off, and it was going in if it wasn't in," Tampa Bay defenseman Shane O'Brien said. "Some guy in a booth somewhere is watching the game and it costs us a point or two, so it's frustrating."

While Marty St. Louis, who picked up his 22nd assist on Vinny Lecavalier's second-period goal, believes the breaks even out, he said it doesn't make it easy when a stretch like this occurs.

"It is frustrating because it changes the outcome of the game," he said.

Lightning coach John Tortorella wasn't commenting on the disallowed goal - he was fined this week for comments on officiating - and has his mind on other areas, especially after coming up short while outshooting New Jersey 14-1 in the third period.

"I'm just concerned about the hockey club," he said. "You play that hard and you don't get any reward, we've just got to make sure that we keep it together here, just stay the course.

"We've just got to continue going about our business and certainly not get down about anything. We have a few things to correct, but if we have the work habit that we had tonight, things will turn around and we'll win some games that we don't deserve."

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

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