Bolts' resolve on display in tough time

Two streaking teams come together tonight hoping to write storybook endings to their respective seasons.

The Anaheim Ducks make a visit to The Forum with a 15-2-4 record in the past 21 games. They have crept into the playoff conversation in the Western Conference. The resurgent Ducks have turned things around under new head coach Bruce Boudreau, whose last visit to Tampa came when the Lightning finished off a four-game sweep of the Washington Capitals in the playoffs last season.

The Lightning are also undergoing a bit of a resurgence, entering on a 9-3-2 stretch that has brought Tampa Bay as close to a playoff spot as it has been since Dec. 31. Climbing back into the playoff picture came somewhat unexpectedly after the Lightning fell 10 points out of a playoff spot last week following a loss to Ottawa. Two days later, Tampa Bay general manager Steve Yzerman announced his intentions to trade defenseman Pavel Kubina (which happened on Saturday) and dealt center Dominic Moore to San Jose.

That was followed by a pair of character victories against San Jose and Washington that has the Lightning thinking the playoffs could indeed be in the picture.

"We've talked all last year and this year about being totally focused, about reloading after good or bad moments and that's very easy to say but difficult to do,'' head coach Guy Boucher said. "I think our players have taken the action and shown the actions that lead to a focused team and we want to stay that way.''

For Boucher, seeing the locker room come together is just a sign of what type of players remain in the room.

"I just think that we have been in survival mode for a long time now and whether we get one more, three more or five more adversities it just falls into the same kind of attitude that we've had for a long time that no matter what comes at us we have to take a slap and get up and bounce higher,'' Boucher said. "We had less of an intense practice but more of a thinking one and the players were very, very focused, you could see it in their eye that they are ready to get better and I thought we got better again.''

With four games remaining before the trade deadline on Feb. 27, should the team continue to win games, it might alter the thinking of management. While that doesn't mean Tampa Bay would reverse its thinking and suddenly become a buyer at the deadline, perhaps it might mean there will be no more selling.

"If this group continues to win and play, I'll let them keep going,'' Yzerman said. "But I'm not going turn around and go and trade a pick for an unrestricted free agent to help us get in the playoffs now. That would be going around in circles.''

But no matter the decisions management makes, those in the locker room know they can control only one thing and that's how they perform on the ice.

"For us to put all that stuff (Kubina and Moore) aside and really focus on the task at hand shows a lot of character and a couple of big wins are huge,'' center Nate Thompson said. "I still think we just have to have the mentality of taking things one game at a time. If we get caught looking too far ahead past the next game or the whole week ... you want to keep it in isolation and just worry about one period at a time and really simplify things and try to build off each game.''

Lecavalier leaves practice

Captain Vinny Lecavalier is the latest Lightning player to suffer an injury.

Lecavalier left practice early on Monday to undergo unspecified testing for what the team is calling an upper-body injury. Lecavalier was injured at some point during Saturday's victory against Washington. He did attempt to practice but had to leave less than halfway through the 70-minute on-ice session.

When asked about Lecavalier's status for Tuesday's game against Anaheim, Boucher said, "We'll see, we're waiting on more information.''

Yzerman said via text message they were still awaiting the result of whatever test Lecavalier underwent.

Lecavalier has appeared in all 58 games to this point in the season and is second on the team with 21 goals and is third with 46 points. If he is unable to play, the Lightning would need to make a call-up from Norfolk as the team currently has only 20 healthy players on the roster, including Lecavalier.