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Loss Is Another Letdown For Bolts

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By CARTER GADDIS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 3, 2008

Updated: 02/03/2008 12:12 am

TAMPA - A loss like this at this time of year for a team still confident in its postseason destiny could, perhaps, be shrugged off as one of those unlucky games. But for the Lightning, whose playoff dream seems to fade a little each day, Saturday's 3-2 loss to the Florida Panthers was more than merely a stumbling block.

If a creeping sense of inevitability hadn't already begun to haunt the Lightning, it certainly began to do so after Richard Zednik's game-winning goal slipped past goaltender Karri Ramo with 1:05 to play.

Coach John Tortorella, never one to point out the "moral victory" aspect of any loss, could not have cared less that his team set a season high with 46 shots and got more than respectable play from the rookie Ramo.

No. With 29 games to go and a nine-point gap between the Lightning and a playoff berth, a loss like this at this time of year was a huge dose of reality.

"It's a hard one, because we just can't have many more of these," Tortorella said. "We're out of time."

Frustrating did not begin to describe the feeling for the Lightning. Those 46 shots were not a fluke; Florida goalie Tomas Vokoun was tested, and often, from start to finish.

Second-period goals by Chris Gratton and Vinny Prospal erased an early one-goal deficit, and Ramo made plays like stopping Florida's Nathan Horton on a breakaway in the final minute of the second to help the Lightning maintain momentum.

Even in the third period, the Lightning continued to apply pressure and came tantalizingly close a number of times to extending their lead. Once, Brad Richards gained control of the puck in the slot with his back to the net and flipped a blind backhand toward the goal mouth.

But Vokoun made perhaps his biggest save of the game by sticking out his left skate and deflecting Richards' shot clear with the toe of his boot. The score stayed 2-1 Lightning with 13 minutes to play.

Then, just as it started to seem as if the Lightning would finish their five-game homestand with consecutive victories, things fell apart.

"I thought we played a lot of good minutes," Tortorella said. "I don't look at Florida beating us there in the third period. I look at us self-destructing."

It started with a call against defenseman Dan Boyle for closing the hand on the puck. Boyle said it was a "questionable" call, that he held the puck longer than usual because of an approaching Florida skater, but Tortorella didn't fault the official.

"It's the right call," Tortorella said. "Danny simply can't do that."

On the ensuing power play, Florida defenseman Jay Bouwmeester (whose first-period goal had given the Panthers a 1-0 lead) threw the puck toward the net and created a rebound that bounced onto the stick of center Olli Jokinen.

Jokinen scored to make it 2-all with six minutes to play.

Three minutes later, Florida's David Booth had an open net in front of him with Ramo briefly out of position, but the puck struck the post and the game remained tied.

For a while, anyway. With 1:18 to play, Lightning defenseman Brad Lukowich, situated inside Tampa Bay's blue line, tried to hit a streaking Michel Ouellet.

The puck settled nicely onto the stick of Florida's Greg Campbell. Moments later, Jassen Cullimore's wide shot rebounded off the back board directly onto the stick of Zednik, who scored all too easily.

It was yet another case of the third-period letdowns that have plagued the Lightning all season. This time, Tortorella couldn't blame the goaltending and he couldn't blame the relative youth of the defense.

"It just eats at me, the thought process," Tortorella said. "I don't have a problem with the effort. I have a problem with the smarts."

Reporter Carter Gaddis can be reached at (813) 259-8291 or igaddis@tampatrib.com.

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