TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Martin St. Louis made his case for NHL MVP on
a night the Tampa Bay Lightning clinched the top seed in the
Eastern Conference.
St. Louis scored twice in the third period, helping the
Southeast Division champion Lightning past the Florida Panthers 4-3
Thursday night.
Tampa Bay won its first division title last season. The
Lightning had lost 50 or more games -- including overtime losses --
four straight seasons from 1997-98 through 2000-01.
"Good for them," Lightning coach John Tortorella said. "You
win your division and now you win your conference. Two or three
years ago, who would have thought that? The credit goes to those
guys in the locker room."
St. Louis scored his second goal of the game and 37th overall
from just below the left circle off a pass through the slot by Cory
Stillman to put the Lightning ahead with 2:20 remaining.
"St. Louis, he's got the confidence that he's going to score,"
Florida coach John Torchetti said. "That's what he does."
The Panthers had tied it at 3 on Lyle Odelein's goal from the
blue line at 14:14 of the third.
The Lightning took a 3-2 lead earlier in the period on goals by
St. Louis and Fredrik Modin.
After Modin tied it at 3:17, St. Louis put the Lightning ahead
with his eighth short-handed goal of the season at 9:23.
St. Louis stole a pass from Odelein near the blue line and beat
Steve Shields on the ensuing breakaway. The NHL scoring leader with
93 points, St. Louis snapped a six-game goal-scoring drought.
"I know my game hasn't been where I want it to be," St. Louis
said. "But I'm looking for this game and this third period
hopefully get it to the level I know I can play."
After the game, Lightning defenseman Brad Lukowich was chanting
"St. Louis, MVP" as he walked down a hallway outside the locker
room.
Brad Richards also scored for the Lightning, who claimed the
conference's top spot when the Boston Bruins finished Thursday
night's game with Washington in a tie.
Around 100 fans remained in the stands watching end of the
Boston game on the scoreboard. They stood and cheered as that game
ended.
"No one thought we would be where we're at," Lukowich said.
"We basically closed the door and started leaning on each other,
pushing each other to go harder. We knew we had something
special."
Olli Jokinen and Donald Audette had the other Florida goals.
Jokinen, who also had an assist, has scored a goal in three
consecutive games.
Tampa Bay backup John Grahame turned aside 29 shots. He stopped
Jokinen on a short-handed breakaway late in the second.
Shields had 21 saves. He made a point-blank glove save on Eric
Perrin midway through the second. Panthers starter Roberto Luongo,
who has made an NHL record 2,277 saves in 71 games this season,
served as the backup.
Jokinen put the Panthers up 1-0 at 4:31 of the first. He was
left alone near the crease and scored on the rebound of his own
shot after a pass from Mikael Samuelsson.
After Richards tied it from the low slot at 12:50, Audette made
it 2-1 with 15.4 seconds left in the period.
Audette's power-play goal from in-close came after Odelein's
shot rebounded off the end boards.
Odelein has five assists and nine points in his past 10 games.
He has 12 assists and 16 points overall in 81 games this season.
Game notes
Stillman had three assists. He has eight assists and nine
points during a five-game point streak. ... Richards has four goals
and seven points over the past five games. ... Panthers D Pavel
Trnka missed his second consecutive game with back spasms. ...
Lightning D Pavel Kubina was given the night off.