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Penalty-Shot Ruling Proves Costly For Bolts

Tribune photo by JASON BEHNKEN

Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos penalty shot looked to be in but was ruled no goal as Thrashers goalie Kari Lehtonen makes a glove save during the third period.

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 11, 2009

Updated: 02/11/2009 07:10 am

TAMPA - Steven Stamkos knows without a doubt his potential game-tying penalty-shot attempt beat Atlanta goaltender Kari Lehtonen.

The puck, however, was shrouded inside Lehtonen's glove, out of sight of both the referee and video replay, and wound up as one of 40 Tampa Bay shots that failed to beat Lehtonen in a 3-1 loss Tuesday night at the Forum.

Since winning seven of 10 games from Jan. 4-27, the Lightning have one victory in their past six games. Their offense has acted like a groundhog that has seen its shadow, as Tampa Bay has scored more than two goals once in those six games.

Stamkos' first career penalty shot with 8:09 left in the third period could have helped the Lightning overcome what interim coach Rick Tocchet called a "disinterested" start by some of the team's players.

The 19-year-old Stamkos was taken down on a clear path to the net. On his ensuing chance, he made a quick move to his backhand, which Lehtonen bit on, but the goaltender stretched his glove hand back to make the stop. While the entire web of the glove appeared to be behind the goal line, the puck was not visible.

"I think everyone in the building knows the puck's in his glove and his glove is past the goal line," Stamkos said. "But with the replay you have to be able to see the whole puck. I guess that's the rule and you can't see the puck ... you know it's over the line but you can't really see it."

Stamkos factored into the opening goal, helping set up Gary Roberts, who finished off a play with Steve Downie 1:24 into the game. But the Thrashers scored a shorthanded goal to tie the game, and the Lightning appeared to have regained the lead on a power-play goal by Cory Murphy that was waived off for incidental contact with the goaltender on Roberts. Atlanta then took the lead 2:02 into the second when Rich Peverley set up Slava Kozlov for the eventual winner before Ilya Kovalchuk added an empty-net goal with 10 seconds remaining.

Tampa Bay's sputtering offense finished 0-for-5 on the power play despite getting 10 shots on goal with the man advantage. The Lightning also had a pair of two-man advantages totaling nearly a minute but generated only one shot on net and failed to provide Mike McKenna, who stopped 21 shots, with much offensive support.

"Our goalie gave us a chance to win and we, as a team, dropped the ball," alternate captain Jeff Halpern said. "We had 41 shots and had a couple of good power-play chances; it's just you have to get results. Unfortunately, these games are crucial for us, especially a game like tonight and we choked, blew it, however you want to word it."

Tocchet wasn't going to pin Tuesday's set back on either the penalty shot or the waived-off goal. He was looking more at what happened at the start that led to the end.

"I think tonight there were a lot of disinterested players, which is kind of alarming to the coaching staff," he said. "We're pretty disappointed in some guys."

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

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