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Lawton lays into Bolts following loss to Pittsburgh

The Associated Press

The loss at Mellon Arena was just the second in the past 11 trips to Pittsburgh and kept Tampa Bay winless on the road in nine games (0-6-3) dating back to March 14 of last season.

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 18, 2009

Updated: 10/18/2009 12:34 am

PITTSBURGH - Three weeks into a season of what is supposed to be renewed hope around Lightning land, Tampa Bay is out of sync as much as Jekyll and Hyde and far from being in tune.

Through seven games this season, when the Lightning play well they look like a playoff team. When they play poorly the world looks like it's crashing in on them.

On Saturday, it was the latter for the third consecutive game as Pittsburgh handed the Lightning a 4-1 loss, leaving Tampa Bay winless on its two-game road trip in which the Bolts were outscored 11-2.

The latest set back resulted in a post-game, tongue-lashing from Lightning general manager Brian Lawton who expressed his displeasure in the team's showing in a not-so-subtle manner. Lawton declined to discuss what he told the team.

"I don't want to get into the specifics of what he said, but he has the right to do so after the last two efforts and now we have to respond," center Steven Stamkos said.

The loss at Mellon Arena was just the second in the past 11 trips to Pittsburgh and kept Tampa Bay winless on the road in nine games (0-6-3) dating back to March 14 of last season.

After starting the season with four consecutive strong showings, the Lightning looked dominant on occasions, registering 39-or-more shots three times. But after a lackluster effort in a win against Florida on Monday, the Lightning have looked like anything but a playoff caliber team, getting blitzed by Ottawa on Thursday, outshot 35-17.

On Saturday, the shot margin was 33-23, with a chunk of Tampa Bay's shots coming in garbage time.

"I just think our awareness, our desperation . . . I thought we were tentative tonight," right wing Marty St. Louis said. "I don't think we're scared to lose, we're just not hungry to make a difference. So we have to get back to that."

Bill Guerin put Tampa Bay in an early hole on a sharp-looking Penguins power play that saw Pittsburgh put six shots on net, the last one put in by Guerin off a rebound 4:57 into the game. At the time Pittsburgh had a 7-0 shot advantage.

But Tampa Bay started to build up some momentum, getting back some territorial ground in the offensive zone and keeping Pittsburgh off the shot clock for a span of 12 minutes, 13 seconds. The next Penguins shot, however, ended up in the net off the stick of Sergei Gonchar on a low shot from the right point to the far post at 17:10 for a two-goal lead.

Stamkos cut the deficit in half on a rebound of a St. Louis shot at 6:18 of the second period while on the power play. The goal was the fourth of the season for Stamkos, a mark the sophomore didn't reach last season until Dec. 27.

The Penguins got the goal right back just under two minutes later when a wrist shot by Gonchar from the center point was deflected by Pascal Dupuis past Niittymaki, who was brushed into by Evgeni Malkin as he crossed through the top of the crease at 8:15.

Toward the end of the second, a parade to the penalty box on Tampa Bay's part gave the Penguins 3:51 of consecutive power play time, including two consecutive minutes with a two-man advantage. Tampa Bay managed to survive the entirety, including 1:43 of which carried over to the start of the third period, but failed to build any momentum.

Any momentum built up in the early part of the season has evaporated as well.

"We've got a few guys that are struggling, really struggling," Lightning coach Rick Tocchet said. "We got one goal, again, and it's tough to win games."

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