Lightning Makes It Right at Home

TAMPA, Fla. —  For days, every other player had stood in the shadows while the hockey world dissected and fawned over Calgary’s Jarome Iginla, with the Stanley Cup finals teetering on becoming a one-man show.

Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Lightning was practicing its lines. The Lightning took over production Thursday, making the finals less of a coronation and more of an endurance test.

The Lightning unveiled its cast in a 4-1 victory in front of 22,222 at the St. Pete Times Forum. Brad Richards, Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and Nikolai Khabibulin hit their cues and sent the series to Calgary tied, 1-1.

“It’s nice to see those guys get recognized,” defenseman Dan Boyle said. “I know it’s hard, because the media can only focus on one or two guys each game.”

The glare had clearly zeroed in on Iginla, whose play in the playoffs has been exceptional. But the Lightning muzzled Iginla and other storylines had to be fleshed out.

Richards scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal, his sixth of the playoffs, tying an NHL record, and had an assist. Lecavalier set up the Lightning’s first goal and St. Louis had a goal and an assist.

Khabibulin made a 1-0 lead stand up through two periods, making a handful of exceptional saves.

Even Boyle, whose house was damaged by fire while he played in Game 1, joined the act with a goal. Still, the Lightning claimed this had nothing to do with Iginla’s rocket-like rise to stardom.

“It doesn’t matter who people talk about,” Lecavalier said. “Jarome is a great player, and he has proven himself in the league and the playoffs. He plays hard every single night. I just play my game, and it doesn’t matter what people say.”

Well, it mattered a little, if only that Tampa Bay didn’t have to make the long journey to Calgary trailing in the series, 2-0. The Lightning put in a little extra work, something that was missing in a 4-1 loss in Game 1.

Lecavalier was the ramrod of that effort, playing with the brute force that makes him effective. Lecavalier passed to himself, chipping the puck off the back of the net to leave Calgary’s Stephane Yelle looking foolish. It resulted in Ruslan Fedotenko’s banging in a rebound for a 1-0 lead 7:10 into the game.

“Well, Vinny is a special player,” Boyle said. “He tries things that most players don’t and gets away with it.”

The Lightning scored three times in a 2-minute 17-second span in the third period, turning a 1-0 lead into 4-0. Richards got that flurry going, converting a pass from Dave Andreychuk.

When Richards scores, the Lightning wins. Things can be that simple. Tampa Bay is 7-0 in the playoffs when Richards scores.

A year ago, Richards was shut out in the playoffs, when the Lightning lost in the second round to New Jersey.

“Richie is one of those guys that would let that drive him crazy all summer,” Coach John Tortorella said. “I know he chews on the game. Richie has a different maturity about him. He doesn’t look for the spotlight.”

The spotlight, and Andreychuk, found him. Andreychuk had a shot blocked, but dived forward and managed to slip the puck to Richards, who chipped it into the net 2:51 into the period to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead.

A minute later, Richards found Boyle charging from the blue line, and it was 3-0. St. Louis followed with a power-play goal.

The game had 122 penalty minutes. Lightning General Manager Jay Feaster and Tortorella met with NHL officials to complain about officiating after Game 1, and both teams had more power plays early in Thursday’s game. But the bulk of the penalties were the result of the Flames working out their frustrations late.

“At that point, it’s game over, when it’s 3-0, 4-1,” Flame Coach Darryl Sutter said. “That’s hockey.”

Sutter did add that, “obviously there was a summit or something in the last 36 hours in Florida on something.”