Esposito expresses faith in Vinik

Before he even met Jeffrey Vinik, franchise founder Phil Esposito had a reason to believe in the new boss of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

"One thing I like is he's a single owner - no partners, no arguments," Esposito said after Vinik purchased the club, paying cash. "It's his way, and that's the way it's going to be. I like that.

"Quite frankly, that's the way it was under Palace Sports and Bill Davidson, and the franchise was well-run."

With Oren Koules and Len Barrie rarely agreeing on the team's direction, Tampa Bay struggled in the standings and in the arena. With Vinik looking on, Saturday night's game was a sellout.

"This is a great hockey market, and Jeff Vinik is determined to bring it back as a great hockey market," Esposito said.

No rest

Victor Hedman had been minus-6 in his previous four games, but Tampa Bay's prized rookie defenseman hasn't lost the confidence of his coach.

Rick Tocchet said there are no plans to rest the struggling blue-liner, who is third on the club in average ice time behind RW Marty St. Louis and fellow D Mattias Ohlund.

"He's 19 years old and he's played a lot for us," Tocchet said.

"Hedman knows he has to get better in front of our net, taking people, taking sticks, but he's going to be a heck of a hockey player. There's a couple of guys struggling right now, and he's one of them, but we'll give him his minutes."

Hedman hasn't scored since a Jan. 6 matchup at Buffalo, a span of 21 games.

Moving on up

The Thrashers have flourished since trading star winger Ilya Kovalchuk to New Jersey a month ago.

Atlanta was 4-0-2 coming into Saturday's game, and the new top line of Niclas Bergfors, Nik Antropov and Bryan Little had combined for 10 goals and 13 assists in that span. Bergfors opened the scoring Saturday with an assist from Little.

"They've got four or five puck-moving defensemen and they're a solid hockey club," Tocchet said. "I don't know why anybody would think they'd fall apart. They're a dangerous team."

Nuts and Bolts

The Lightning had been 0-for-3 on penalty shots this season before Teddy Purcell scored late in the second period. ... C Steve Stamkos (16 games) and linemate Steve Downie (10 games) each extended point streaks for Tampa Bay when they contributed on a first-period goal by St. Louis. ... RW Brandon Bochenski dressed for the Lightning, four days after his recall from Norfolk. ... LW Todd Fedoruk, C Zenon Konopka and D Matt Smaby were scratches for the Lightning. ... Tampa Bay hits the road for three games before returning home March 14 against Pittsburgh. ... The Stanley Cup was on display in the plaza before the game.