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Notebook: Prospal Quick To Put Struggles Behind Him

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Carter Gaddis/The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 7, 2007

TAMPA Foremost in Vinny Prospal's mind coming into his 11th NHL season was to get off to a good start. After a drop in production to 55 points last year from 80 in 2005-06, it was imperative that he not allow the downward spiral to begin again.

"I just didn't want to go through what I went through last year," Prospal said after scoring two goals in Tampa Bay's 5-2 victory Saturday against Atlanta. "Everybody struggles, but it's always easier when you get to that point in the season when you have something to look back to. And last year, from the beginning, I really didn't have anything to look back to."

Prospal — who has entered the final year of his contract with the Lightning — didn't score his third goal last season until the team's 18th game on Nov. 15. Through two games, he has three goals.

His first Saturday gave the Lightning an early 1-0 lead. His second broke a 1-all tie in the second period.

The difference, he said, is approach — he realizes, he said, that nothing is going to come easy. It also helps that he plays on a line with two of the NHL's best forwards, Vinny Lecavalier and Marty St. Louis.
But perhaps the biggest difference between this year and last so far has been the distinct absence of bad luck.

"It's actually going into the net," he said, "instead of being denied every time I have a chance."

PERRIN RETURNS: Thrashers C Eric Perrin, who spent last season with the Lightning, grew up with Tampa Bay's Marty St. Louis in Quebec. They played together and set records at the University of Vermont.

Perrin left the Lightning as a free agent for a three-year contract that pays him $750,000 this season, so it was inevitable they would meet as opponents (eight times this season, in fact).

Saturday, though, was the first time the former teammates and childhood buddies took the ice against one another.

"No, we never played against each other," said Perrin, who alternated between Atlanta's top two scoring lines. "It'll definitely be weird, but you have to expect it, maybe, at some point. We don't see it that way, I don't think. We still talk. We'll just go out there and play our games and not even think about that part of it. But, for sure, it's going to be weird seeing his face on the other side."

NUTS AND BOLTS: Lecavalier took three stitches on his right eyelid after taking a high stick in the second period. … C Brad Richards' second-period short-handed goal was the seventh of his career, tying him with Mikael Andersson for fourth in franchise history. St. Louis leads with 23. … The defending Southeast Division champion Thrashers are 0-2 for the third time in team history (1999-2000, 2002-03).

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