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Ramo, Malone Lift Bolts Past Anaheim

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 10, 2009

ANAHEIM, Calif. - One day after Rick Tocchet called for more determination to win the close ones, the Lightning managed to do just that.

Ryan Malone scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner in the third period, to lift Tampa Bay to a 4-3 victory against Anaheim. Marty St. Louis had a shorthanded goal and two assists while Karri Ramo – making his first start of the season – stopped 29 shots for the victory.

A day earlier, following a 3-2 loss in Phoenix that dropped the Lightning to 5-18 in one-goal decisions (including overtime and shootout losses), Tocchet said the culture of complacency in one-goal losses had to change. On Friday, St. Louis and Malone showed just the right kind of jam to find a way to pull out a victory when it could have been easy to close up shop.

Twice Tampa Bay had two-goal leads in the second period, first on a goal by Vinny Prospal 1:41 into the second period for a 2-0 lead and then on Malone's first tally on the power play with 2:09 left to goal.

But the Ducks didn't exactly fly south for the remainder of the game, answering Malone's goal 37 seconds later on a bad-angle shot from Steven Montador that eluded Ramo. Then 12 seconds later, Anaheim tied the score on a Chris Pronger goal with 1:20 left to make it an even game and give the Ducks all kinds of momentum heading into the third period.

"Marty said it on the bench, the word was composure," Malone said. "Everyone was running around a little out there but I think everybody pretty much took a deep breath and every started going hard to get back some confidence as a team that you need to either protect a one-goal lead or score the next goal and you know it's going to happen when you play the right way."

After giving up three goals on 17 shots in the second while getting into some penalty problems to give momentum to Anaheim, the Lightning calmed things down in the third and found a way to get that next goal when Malone scored his second on a loose puck at the side of the net with 9:10 left in the game for his first multi-goal game in a Lightning uniform.

"We caught our breath after the second period and I thought the guys showed some of the stuff we are looking for, the will to win, the character and that's exactly what we are looking to get from them," Tocchet said. "In the third, I thought the guys really stayed the course and showed that kind of bend-but-don't-break attitude."

That also showed in Ramo, who hadn't appeared in a live game since a Dec. 20 start with AHL Norfolk. But even after giving up a bad goal to Steve Montador and surrendering the lead in a span of 12 seconds, he looked in control in the third, stopping all eight shots he faced.

"You have to like what you saw. The second one he obviously would like back and the third one was a tough goal, but he never wilted," Tocchet said of Ramo. "He looked strong, and I was really impressed [toward the end of the game] when they dumped the puck in there in the last minute and he did a Mike Smith by getting it out on his own. That was pretty impressive. I didn't know he had that in him."

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

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