Canes rally past Bolts

Sometimes the NHL schedule maker can look an awful lot like Ebenezer Scrooge, giving teams little leeway heading into certain games.

Playing a game on the West Coast, flying 4 1/2 hours cross country to be back east and on the ice less than 48 hours later qualifies as one of those times. And the weary legs and minds showed as the Lightning dropped a 3-1 decision to Carolina on Saturday, ending Tampa Bay's run of seven consecutive games without a regulation loss.

The Lightning remained winless in their past eight games (0-6-2) at RBC Center, a streak that dates to Nov. 9, 2007. Tampa Bay has one victory in the past nine meetings overall between the teams.

All in all, the team looked a step slow, which may have as much to do - if not more - with mental fatigue as opposed to physical.

"I think so," said goaltender Mike Smith when asked if the team played tired. "But I don't think you can use that as an excuse when we are on the road, having the travel from the West Coast back home. I don't think we've been playing that well of late, we've just found ways to get points."

The Lightning, which suffered their first regulation loss since a 6-2 setback in Philadelphia on Nov. 2, had a streak of points in five consecutive road games come to an end, dropping Tampa Bay to 3-5-3 away from home with a late afternoon game today in Atlanta that closes out the four-game road trip.

But in order to return home on a positive note, Tampa Bay is going to have to find a way to take its game to a higher level than shown against the Hurricanes.

"We knew that we had the flight in (Friday) and we wanted to be disciplined, take short shifts and we needed everybody going tonight," Lightning coach Rick Tocchet said. "You can't have passengers when you are on this kind of a road trip."

For the 10th consecutive game, the Lightning were outshot by their opponent, this time 27-21, and for the sixth time in the past seven games Tampa Bay failed to register at least 25 shots on goal.

"We're still a perimeter hockey club," Tocchet said. "A couple of our top guys didn't show up through the middle tonight. I'm disappointed in some of the top guys."

The formula for Tampa Bay in the past two weeks during the seven-game unbeaten streak was get solid goaltending and score timely goals. Saturday, only half the equation was there as Smith kept the game within reach until a Chad LaRose goal from the right wing side with 4:23 left to play.

"We have to clean up a lot of areas on the ice and different zones in order for this team to continue to win and continue to have success. You can get by for a little while, but sooner or later it's going to bite you," Smith said. "We are just not really pushing back that much and it seems we are giving up a lot more than we are getting. From my standpoint that's frustrating. I still have to make saves and keep the team in the game when it's needed. But at the other end of the spectrum it's frustrating when the pucks don't go into the net."

The Lightning managed to carry a one-goal lead into the second period on the strength of a Marty St. Louis power-play goal.

But after playing a penalty-free first, Ryan Malone took an interference call 1:04 into the second that Carolina cashed in on when Tuomo Ruutu zipped a one-timer past Smith from the slot at 2:35. It was the start of a poorly played middle frame by Tampa Bay, which had just five shots on goal in the period, the first coming at the 10:23 mark when Todd Fedoruk walked in on Manny Legace after Andrew Alberts lost the puck at the blue line.

By the time the second period was finished, Carolina had taken the lead when former Lightning forward Jussi Jokinen deflected just enough of a Joe Corvo wrist shot to slip the puck past Smith at 13:46.

While the Lightning regrouped early in the third, having to kill off a pair of Lukas Krajicek penalties five minutes apart midway through, it forced the team to use excess energy it clearly didn't have.