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Lightning Put On A Show For Fans

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 1, 2008

TAMPA - For all the kicking pundits like to direct toward the NHL, we give you Thursday's tilt between a pair of teams 2,500 miles apart who see each other on the ice about once every presidential election year.

Tampa Bay's 4-3 victory against Vancouver had just about every element on display to provide an evening worth of entertainment even for casual fans. And if somebody is sitting on the fence wondering whether hockey should be their sport of choice, we give you Thursday's action.

Offense, breakaways, hits, fights, goals, saves, up-and-down action, comebacks, letdowns, knockdowns and pick-me-ups; they were all on the ice.

"It's not because we won, but that was probably one of the most enjoyable games to be in and to also watch," said Lightning coach John Tortorella, who earned his 229th career victory, tying Robbie Ftorek for second-most all-time by a U.S.-born coach. "I caught myself watching sometimes, not just coaching. That's the way hockey needs to be played."

It was the type of new-age hockey based in the old-school way of playing hard on every shift and establishing a presence on the ice.

"It's a mindset," Tortorella said. "I hope our team sees, and they will with the clips I'm going to show them today, how effective we are when we play that way. ... I thought both teams played very hard and I thought it was an entertaining game. It frustrates me, when I watch Thursday's game how we've turned it into a ballet versus that.

"That's hockey. That's North American hockey. I respect the way Vancouver played, I respect the way our team played, and I thought it was a good one to watch."

Tampa Bay fell down 2-1 after a first period where Vinny Lecavalier set an early tone with a fight against Alex Burrows in what was a buildup of things to come.

The second period featured 18 Tampa Bay hits (they finished the game with 33), an Andre Roy fight that fired up the crowd and the bench and Lecavalier making up for getting stoned by nemesis Roberto Loungo on a breakaway by putting the Lightning ahead with 3:31 left in the period.

The third period was anything but a drop-off after two more fights and a double-roughing call that could easily have been classified as a pugilistic act. In between, it was Brad Richards, who had his third three-point game this season, who tacked on an insurance goal at 8:34 for a 4-2 lead. The goal proved beneficial after Alex Edler beat Karri Ramo, who stopped 23 shots for his first win since Jan. 8, with 24.1 seconds left in the game to cut the lead to one.

"It was a fun game to be a part of, a lot of emotion," Richards said. "Both sides were really battling and I think throughout the game we played a lot of different ways and got it done."

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

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