Lightning's Smith shines in shutout

As Mike Smith returned to the ice on Saturday to take his turn for a celebratory circle of the ice to deliver a souvenir puck to the crowd after his first star selection, the Lightning goaltender let out his loudest impersonation of wrestler Rick Flair.

After turning aside all 30 shots he faced for his ninth career shutout - and first since Dec. 23, 2008 - in Tampa Bay's 4-0 victory against the New York Islanders, the "Woooo" emanating from Smith as he returned to the bench for a post-game interview was as much a sense of relief for the team as it was about self-gratification.

"Personally, I've been working really hard lately and I haven't been rewarded for it. I've played some good hockey, but pucks have gone in the net and ultimately we've been losing hockey games that we need to win," Smith said. "I think more importantly it's big for our team. We've been sliding a little bit right now in the standings and it's important to stay close to the pack at this time of year and not separate yourself too far."

The victory snapped a four-game winless streak for the Lightning, which received the first career goal from defenseman Victor Hedman as well as goals from Ryan Malone, Steve Downie and Jeff Halpern. Vinny Lecavalier, Marty St. Louis and Andrej Meszaros all had two assists.

In the past week, the Lightning had gone through a power outage on offense, scoring four combined goals in the past three games while the power play fizzled through 1-for-17 stretch. But against the Islanders, Tampa Bay converted a pair of power play goals, one from Downie in the first and by Halpern in the third.

The penalty kill, meanwhile, had allowed seven power play goals in the previous four games heading into Saturday as Tampa Bay had plummeted to 28th overall in the league rankings. Against the Islanders, however, the Lightning killed off all six chances, including a five-on-three advantage for 1:21 in the first period in which New York got one shot on net.

"That was huge, we had some big blocks in there and the (defense) played really well in front of me, they let me see the puck and for the most part there weren't too many second opportunities," Smith said. "There were I think two or three key, key blocks in that sequence which you have to do if you are going to win hockey games."

Malone opened the scoring with his 16th of the season when he poked a puck loose that was under the glove of goaltender Dwayne Roloson, and likely should have been blown dead. The Islanders, meanwhile, had a pair of goals taken off the board - one for contact with the goaltender, another for a hand pass - that helped preserve the shutout for Smith.

"To have two goals called back, to have their first goal go in that was clearly tied up ... it's just not our night," Islanders coach Scott Gordon said. "I thought we spent most of the third period in their zone, but Smith was obviously on top of his game."

Hedman's goal with 9:29 left proved to be the icing on the cake as he joined the rush up ice on the left wing side and took a Lecavalier cross-ice pass for what amounted to a tap-in. Hedman crashed into the corner boards, but quickly got up for a celebratory fist pump he promised to his friends back home when he finally scored one.

"My first ever NHL goal feels pretty awesome," Hedman said. "Let's hope it doesn't take 28 games to get the next one."

From that point it was about protecting the shutout for Smith, who has seen his share of bids evaporate with late goals against.

"He was big in net for us," defenseman Matt Walker said. "I think we've blown up a couple of those for him, so it was nice for him to get that. He definitely deserved that tonight."