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Win Snatched From Lightning

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 21, 2008

Updated: 02/21/2008 12:11 am

BUFFALO, N.Y. - A year's worth of frustration might finally be brewing to the top as Tampa Bay remains at the bottom.

The Lightning saw a two-goal lead evaporate in the final minutes and Thomas Vanek finished off a natural hat trick with a power-play goal 2:25 into overtime to give Buffalo an unexpected 4-3 comeback victory. Vanek also scored twice in 36 seconds, with the second goal coming with 1:45 left in regulation, to snatch victory out of Tampa Bay's hands.

Tampa Bay may have earned a point in its 10th consecutive road game (7-0-3) with the overtime loss and moved to within eight points of the division lead, but it certainly didn't help matters after the game as a 42-save effort from Johan Holmqvist went by the wayside.

Lightning coach John Tortorella didn't hide his feelings in the locker room after the game as he came out of the coach's office and rattled the sinks in the restroom, knocked into the players' sticks at the opposite end of the room and slammed the door to the coach's office shut. But before he made it back to the office, he looked over in the general direction of his core players stating, "You better get it figured out, because I'm not going to be around it."

Following the game, Tortorella calmed his emotions while talking to the media, but he still let his feelings be known following another late-game collapse, which happened with some of the team's top players on the ice.

"This is why we are in this situation in the standings, because this has been a weakness of ours all year long, other than for the last little bit," he said. "We don't have that mental toughness to handle the situations. You can see our game change, and we've lost major points."

After Vinny Prospal scored his ninth goal in 10 games with 6:48 left in the third period to make it a 3-1 game, the Sabres turned up the heat and made the Lightning pay.

Vanek finished off a double-deflection when a Toni Lydman shot first bounced off Tim Connolly in front then hit Vanek at the side of the net at 17:39 to make it a one-goal game. Then 36 seconds later, Vinny Lecavalier lost coverage on Vanek, who streaked toward the net down the right side to tap in a Connolly pass to tie the game.

"It's embarrassing," right wing Marty St. Louis said. "We have guys on our team that know how to get it done, and that's why it's embarrassing. We aren't playing like we have that on our resume at the end of games."

After spending most of the opening minutes in their own zone, including having to kill off an early penalty, the Lightning struck first on Chris Gratton's 10th goal of the season. After Craig MacDonald had a shot blocked, the puck went to Filip Kuba, who slid a backhand pass through the crease that Gratton tapped in at the 4:02 mark of the period.

Brad Richards made it 2-0 early in the third on his 150th career goal, but Derek Roy answered two minutes later to cut the lead to one. But when Prospal scored his 28th of the season, the game appeared to be in hand, especially with the way Holmqvist was playing.

The season high in saves, however, wasn't enough. And none of the four goals could be blamed on the goaltending.

"All year long we have talked about goaltending with this team, goaltending," Tortorella said. "Play for him the last six or seven minutes. You know, and that's what I'm ticked off about, we didn't play for the guy. He kept us in there and gave us a chance and we got squat from main people in our lineup. And it's inexcusable ... that's why we sit where we sit."

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

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