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Lightning's Road Woes (3-14-2) Continue With 6-3 Setback

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 4, 2008

MONTREAL - The schedule recorded Thursday's game against the Canadiens as the midway point in Tampa Bay's schedule.

But could it be the low point?

The Lightning gave up three goals in the third period of what was a tie game entering the final 20 minutes of what turned into a 6-3 loss. Tampa Bay has not won since Dec. 20, and is winless in six consecutive games. The Lightning fell to 3-14-2 on the road this season and has not won a game in regulation away from home since Nov. 10 at Washington.

The Lightning are in the middle of a third such winless streak of at least six games this season and remain in last place in the Eastern Conference. Tampa Bay, which has allowed six or more goals in a game seven times this season, stands in real danger of falling to the bottom spot in the league, two points ahead of Los Angeles, which hosted Columbus late Thursday night.

"We don't think we're at the bottom right now," Lightning coach John Tortorella said. "But if we keep on waiting to hit rock bottom, we don't have a chance and we'll be done very early in this year."

It's hard to imagine things getting much worse. After all, one game after Tortorella challenged his top players to be better players they responded as Vinny Lecavalier, Marty St. Louis and Vinny Prospal combined for three goals and seven points on the night and they lost again.

And for a team that has been fragile the past month, folding under adversity in games, Tampa Bay battled back from a 2-0 deficit after the first period and dominated the second period, outscoring the Canadiens 3-1 and firing 15 shots on goal to build momentum going into the third period, and lost again.

But for the first time since he was called up, rookie goaltender Karri Ramo let in the kind of momentum-deflating, game-changing goal when Andrei Kostsitsyn fired a slap shot from the far left circle that hit off Ramo's glove and found its way into the net for a 4-3 lead 7:54 into the third period. It was the second time Montreal scored from the left circle.

"I feel bad, I let my teammates down after we came back after the first period and what we did in the second period ... I let the team down," said Ramo, who finished with 24 saves and saw his save percentage drop from .909 before the game to .882. "I should have had it, I need to be more sharp on those shots."

The Canadiens would tack on two more goals to make what had been a tight game look like another blowout loss for Tampa Bay.

"We fight back in the game and were able to win that second period," St. Louis said. "It was a tough period in the third but I feel like we didn't really make them earn it."

Despite the latest setback, there were positives to come out of the game, namely the strong play of the team's top line after being called out following a shootout loss to Toronto on New Year's Day.

"I think we have to try to find some positives as we go through this rough ride here," Tortorella said. "I think our top players threw it right in my face after we challenged them the other day because they were the best players on the ice. I think we battled hard to come back. So we have to just keep on finding the positives and just keep on getting better."

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

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