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Bolts Still Winless On The Road

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 25, 2007

Updated: 10/25/2007 12:44 am

WASHINGTON - Tampa Bay got victimized by a Capitals' offense Wednesday that had been stuck in a filibuster during a recent four-game losing streak.

Washington scored twice in a one-minute span late in the second period to break open a tight game and went on to beat the Lightning 5-3. Chris Clark scored his first two goals of the season and rookie David Steckel scored the first of his career for the Capitals, which came into the game with the second-least goals scored (14) in the league and had just seven during the losing streak.

Tampa Bay remains winless on the road this season and has dropped the first three road games to start the year for the first time since the 2000-01 season, when they finished 7-28-6 away from home. And since starting the season 3-0, the Lightning have lost three of four.
Paul Ranger and Jason Ward each had a goal and an assist while Marty St. Louis scored his second of the season to make it close, but it wasn't enough to overcome the early-season road woes or the mental mistake that led to Washington's third goal on an icing call that led to a bad line change and two quick Capitals goals.

'That last few minutes of that second period really hurt us with the two goals and it just puts you into an uphill battle in the third period,' Lightning coach John Tortorella said.

After trading momentum and goals through the first 30 minutes of the game - including a shorthanded goal by Ranger 7:27 into the second period - Washington swung things in its favor in what turned out to be the decisive two minutes of the game.

Tampa Bay failed to convert on consecutive power-play chances in the middle of the second period, giving back the momentum to Washington. The Capitals took advantage when, following an icing call, Tampa Bay tried to change the lines without getting the puck in deep in the Washington zone.
Shaone Morrisonn took advantage with a pass from his own blue line to Matt Pettinger at the opposite blue line. Pettinger then fed Brooks Laich near the top of the crease with a three-on-one advantage with 2:19 left in the period for a 3-2 lead. The Capitals scored 61 seconds later when Marc Denis, making his first start of the season, made the save on Brian Pothier's shot from the right circle but the rebound hit Clark in the pants and deflected into the net.

'A couple of missed assignments in the second really hurt us and in the end it kind of sucks that the flukiest goal of the night ends up being the game-winner,' said Denis, who made 24 saves but fell to 0-2 on the season. 'But what we've learned about this hockey team is that it never gives up and even when we don't play our best hockey, we knew we had to calm the game down and we'd have a shot.'

St. Louis gave the Lightning that shot with a goal with 5:54 left shortly after killing off a four-minute power play when Vinny Lecavalier was given a slashing call and instigator for a fight with Morrisonn. That gave the team a spark, but Alex Ovechkin sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with four seconds left.

In the end, The Lightning simply weren't consistent.

'We were sloppy through minutes in that game and I thought we were dead-on through some of the minutes of that game,' Tortorella said. 'But the end of the second period put us into a major, major spot to try to get out of.'

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

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