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Lecavalier leads Lightning past struggling Capitals

Apr 1, 2007 - 5:17 AM TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- With their closest pursuers putting on the heat, the Tampa Bay Lightning relied on Vincent Lecavalier to lead the way.

Lecavalier scored his league-leading 51st goal and added two assists as the Lightning posted a 5-2 victory over the Washington Capitals, who have lost six straight.

Martin St.Louis and defenseman Dan Boyle each had a goal and an assist and blue-liner Cory Sarich set up a pair of tallies for Tampa Bay (43-32-4), which maintained its one-point lead over the New York Rangers (40-29-9) for sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

"I think right now, we're playing as good as we can," Lecavalier said. "We're playing hard, we're playing desperate. A desperate hockey team can be pretty dangerous. Right now, we're playing like that, and it's great."

The Lightning also remained three points behind the first-place Atlanta Thrashers (41-27-11) in the Southeast Division.

"I thought we played another great game tonight," Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella said. "Washington is a team that's not far away, and I know they've got some quick people. But we were ready to play tonight."

Lecavalier, who moved one point ahead of San Jose's Joe Thornton (105) for second in the league, gave Tampa Bay an early lead, beating goaltender Olaf Kolzig from the doorstep just 36 seconds into the contest.

"It was a good game for us, and I felt pretty comfortable, too," Lecavalier said.

Matt Pettinger drew Washington even at 11:16, but Ryan Craig restored the lead for the Lightning just over two minutes later with a wrist shot off a pass from Andreas Karlsson.

Boyle made it 3-1 with 1:56 left in the second period. During a power play, Lecavalier fired a cross-crease pass to the defenseman, who punched in a shot from the left side.

"The Lightning got off to a quick start, but overall, I think we hung in there until we started taking penalties," Capitals coach Glen Hanlon said.

St. Louis also recorded an assist on the play, giving him 100 points for the first time in his career.

The 2004 Hart Trophy winner, St.Louis scored a shorthanded goal at 7:35 of the third to give the Lightning a 4-1 bulge. After Matt Bradley tallied for Washington with 54 seconds to go, Jason Ward scored into an empty net with two ticks remaining to seal Tampa Bay's sixth win in eight meetings this season.

Kolzig made 24 saves for the Capitals, who have lost nine in a row on the road.

"I thought our goalie battled hard tonight," Hanlon said.