Still Taking It Bolt by Bolt

Tampa, where the sun shines, the Buccaneers set last NFL season and the Devil Rays never seem to rise, has a new sport to latch onto: hockey.

The Tampa Bay Lightning, an expansion team in the 1992-93 season, begins its first appearance in the Eastern Conference finals today against the Philadelphia Flyers, and Stanley Cup fever has descended on the Tampa Bay area.

“I think it’s third-round fever here,” Lightning Coach John Tortorella said in an NHL conference call Wednesday. “We don’t like to get ahead of ourselves.

“Our building has been fantastic in the first couple of rounds. It’s about an organization making its own bed.”

Even if it has been done undercover. The Lightning, in the playoffs for only the third time, finished with the Eastern Conference’s best regular-season record. Still, there were nonbelievers around the NHL, mainly in cities where hockey tradition oozed.

The Lightning has silenced most, beating the New York Islanders in five games in the first round, then sweeping the Montreal Canadiens in the second round.

“I think we’re climbing the ladder to respectability within the league,” Tortorella said. “I still think most teams in our conference want to play us in the playoffs because they’re not sure if we’re battle-tested, and rightfully so.”

Of the eight expansion teams in the 1990s, six have made appearances in the conference finals, including San Jose, which opens the Western Conference finals against Calgary on Sunday.

None has yet won the Stanley Cup.

Tortorella is wary of being a one-time wonder, as the Florida Panthers and the Mighty Ducks are viewed after successful runs in past playoffs.

“I think you gain respect if this goes on for seven, eight, nine, 10 years, as some established franchises in this league have,” Tortorella said. “We don’t expect immediate respect. We’re not whining about getting respect. We’re just going to go about our business and try to find our way.”

Business, thus far, has been booming. Forwards Martin St. Louis, Brad Richards, Fredrik Modin and Vincent Lecavalier have all excelled in the playoffs. Goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin has been the backbone, giving up only nine goals in nine playoff games.

The Flyers are a considerably more talented, and more physical, team than those the Lightning faced in the first two rounds. Philadelphia eliminated New Jersey, the defending Stanley Cup champion, in the first round, and defeated Toronto in the second round.

It is the fourth time in the last 10 seasons that the Flyers have reached the Eastern Conference finals.

The Lightning is also fighting a trend. Only once in the last nine seasons has the Eastern Conference’s top-seeded team reached the Stanley Cup finals.

“We don’t have a clue what it’s about yet,” Tortorella said. “We played two rounds. The last two rounds are ones that we have to turn it up even another notch. I’m anxious to see how we handle just the third round.”