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Reward Finally Comes For Lightning

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON

eerlendsson@tampatrib.com

Published: November 22, 2008

Updated: 11/22/2008 12:27 am

TAMPA - After coming up nearly empty despite two solid efforts under interim coach Rick Tocchet, the Lightning received a just reward on Friday.

Vinny Lecavalier scored twice and Mike Smith turned aside 34 shots to help Tampa Bay snap a five-game winless streak with a 4-1 victory against Nashville. Ryan Malone had three assists despite not playing in the third period to rest his injured leg.

The win gives Tocchet his first victory as a head coach.

"It feels pretty good, you know. It's almost like scoring your first goal in the NHL a little bit," Tocchet said.

But it certainly wasn't easy for the Lightning to put that first "W" on Tocchet's resume despite the lopsided score. The Predators held a 35-24 shot advantage, with 14 of those shots coming on seven power-play opportunities. And for good stretches, Tampa Bay was outplayed by Nashville, albeit most of that time came after the Lightning built a two-goal lead that extended to three in the second period.

"I think we were due for this one," Smith said. "With the coaching change it's not going to happen right away, but you can see it slowly coming. We're doing the right things, making the little plays that matter so much in games and every game we're learning more and more. They outshot us tonight, but they really didn't have that many scoring chances."

Most of the quality chances the Predators did get were the result of the Lightning taking too many penalties after building the lead.

"When you get in control sometimes you have a tendency to lay back and we've got to make sure we don't lay back too much," Tocchet said. "I'm still not happy about the penalties. We've got to cut the penalties off because it can hurt us."

For a team that went into Friday's game in the bottom third in penalty killing, it can be a recipe for giving away leads. But as he has been throughout the early part of the season, Smith was strong and was able to keep Nashville off the board, with the exception of an exceptional shot from Jordin Tootoo.

"The power play had lots of chances. We had opportunities to inch back in the game, but Smith stood tall," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "I understand he's been playing really well all year with them."

Tampa Bay built the early lead when Lecavalier pounced on a rebound at the end of a two-man advantage 4:57 into the game. The Lightning captain struck again when Jerred Smithson sent an errant pass into the slot area, where a waiting Lecavalier lined up a slap shot that zipped past Dan Ellis at 7:05.

Tootoo cut the lead in half, but Mark Recchi finished off a nice play by defenseman Marek Malik, who saved the puck at the blue line before weaving his way to the net, to regain the two-goal lead.

After coming close in the first two games under Tocchet - both shootout losses - the Lightning found a positive result and were rewarded for the effort.

"When you lose a couple of shootouts, you can get dejected," Tocchet said. "But the one thing I like with this team, at practice, their spirits are still good. I credit the guys coming to practice and staying together; we have a lot of work to do still, but it's nice to see that. To be successful in this league, you have to have everybody together and I think this week was really a good sign."

Reporter Erik Erlendsson can be reached at (813) 259-7835.

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