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Bolts Show Some Fight Against Bruins, Win 4-3

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON

eerlendsson@tampatrib.com

Published: February 22, 2009

TAMPA - Before the Lightning hit the ice for a practice in preparation for Sunday's showdown with conference-leading Boston, the team held a meeting to address exactly how the final quarter of the season should be approached.

"To me, you don't play for nothing. I don't care how far you're in it or how far you're out of it, you never play any type of game for nothing ... nobody can tell me any different," Lightning interim coach Rick Tocchet said. "The past few games we started to slip in some small things that just drive me nuts ... and that kind of attitude can be like packing it in and if you do that, then you are already defeated."

Tampa Bay took that attitude to the ice Sunday and came out on top against one of the NHL's top teams, beating Boston 4-3 on Vinny Prospal's power-play goal with 1:33 remaining.

"We have the logo on the jersey and our name on the back and we're all playing for something," said Prospal, who scored his 15th goal of the season. "We're all professionals, we get paid and we have to show up for us, our fans and for whoever else is in this locker room. ... If a team like Boston came into our building and wasn't a challenge for us, then maybe we should get a new job."

Boston was a big challenge, firing 43 shots at Karri Ramo, who stopped 40. Though the Bruins, who are on a 1-4-2 skid, scored 1:38 into the game, Jeff Halpern and Adam Hall scored 15 seconds apart to give Tampa Bay the lead. After the Lightning squandered that lead and another on Mark Recchi's goal, they withstood a relentless Boston forecheck as Ramo came up big when he had to, stopping all 15 shots in the third period.

"We decided, as a team, that it's not fun if somebody quits, so we have to stay together as a group and everyone has to play for each other so it's not a miserable month and a half," said Ramo, who has a .939 save percentage in his past three starts, stopping 122 of 132 shots.

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

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