Avalanche 5 - 6 Lightning
Final
  for this game

Lightning hold off a late Colorado rally

Dec 5, 2010 - 5:56 AM Tampa, FL (Sports Network) - Simon Gagne and Martin St. Louis both registered a goal and two assists to help the Tampa Bay Lightning outlast the Colorado Avalanche, 6-5, at the St. Pete Times Forum.

Sean Bergenheim's tally at the 15:55 mark of the third period gave Tampa Bay a 6-3 lead, but the Avalanche recorded a pair of goals with the goaltender on the bench to make things interesting.

Ryan Malone scored a goal and set up another for the Lightning, who snapped a six-game losing streak to the Avalanche. Dan Ellis made 19 saves in the win.

Matt Duchene and Milan Hejduk each had a goal and an assist for Colorado, which has dropped three straight and is 1-3-2 over its last six games. Peter Budaj surrendered all six goals on 39 shots.

"For 60 minutes, we need to be better. There's no question," said Avalanche head coach Joe Sacco.

Brandon Yip found the back of the net while on a power play 1:54 after Bergenheim tipped Mike Lundin's shot behind Budaj. Hejduk then pushed home a pass from newcomer Tomas Fleischmann with 1:06 remaining.

Budaj was lifted for an extra skater again, but the third time proved not to be the charm as the rally came up short.

"Didn't like the ending," St. Louis said. "We have to rectify some mistakes, but I thought we did a lot of good things, too."

After the teams traded goals in the first period, St. Louis flicked a backhander between the pads of Budaj 1:52 into the middle stanza. Mattias Ritola deposited a rebound 52 seconds later to give Tampa Bay a 3-1 lead.

Duchene lit the lamp at the 7:18 mark of the second period, but Gagne's power- play goal made it 4-2 at 11:07 of the frame.

Colorado drew within one at 1:24 of the third on a tally by Paul Stastny off a nice feed from rookie defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk.

Malone then beat Budaj with a wrister on the short side while on a power play, increasing the Bolts' advantage to 5-3 at 9:06.

Game Notes

Tampa Bay notched its first win over Colorado since March 1, 2004...Stastny played in his 300th career game...Shattenkirk had two assists to extend his point streak to nine games. It's the longest by a rookie defenseman in franchise history.






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