The Tampa Bay Lightning showed they can play defense even on nights when it takes time to show off their flash and dash.
They've evened the Stanley Cup final because they did.
Ruslan Fedotenko ended Calgary's 10-game first-period shutout streak with a goal and the Lightning won what their captain called a must-win game, beating the Flames 4-1 on Thursday night.
PHOTO: AFP
Game 3 is tonight in Calgary, where the Flames are only 4-5. Tampa Bay is 5-2 on the road, but has lost its last two.
The Lightning capitalized on a deficient Calgary power play -- 0-for-5 in the first two periods -- and their own patience to break the game open with goals by Brad Richards, Dan Boyle and Martin St. Louis in the first six minutes of the third period.
Dave Andreychuk, the 40-year Tampa Bay captain who finally reached the Stanley Cup final in his 22nd NHL season, assisted on Richards' and St. Louis' goals in a game he said the Lightning absolutely could not lose. And they didn't.
Boyle's goal, off Richards' assist, came only about 48 hours after his Tampa house sustained US$300,000 damage in a fire that broke out late in Game 1. Boyle acknowledged being shaken up by the fire and seemed concerned about regaining his focus in time for Game 2.
He shouldn't have worried, just as the Lightning need not have worried whether sometimes-shaky goalie Nikolai Khabibulin would rebound from a poor performance in Calgary's 4-1 victory in Game 1.
Khabibulin, looking far more confident than he did on Tuesday, had a shutout until Ville Nieminen scored midway through the third period. Khabibulin improved to 5-0 following a loss, allowing only five goals in those five games.
Calgary, sixth-seeded in the Western Conference and one of the most unexpected finalists in years, hoped to win its sixth straight on the road. Despite the final score, it had chances do it.
Miikka Kiprusoff kept it to 1-0 through two periods with a succession of key saves. But the Flames never got their forecheck going like they did in Game 1. They had no odd-man rushes and didn't create any scoring chances by turning the puck over in the neutral zone.
Fedotenko scored the most important goal, his seventh in nine games, just over seven minutes in. He took Jassen Cullimore's rebound and pushed it toward the net, then swept the puck past Kiprusoff as it lay in the crease. The play started when Vincent Lecavalier, the Lightning's best player most of the night, skated the puck out from behind the net.
That goal, Fedotenko's 10th, held until Kiprusoff gave up three in just over three minutes.
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