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Lecavalier scores twice as Lightning down Bruins

Dec 2, 2007 - 5:17 AM TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- With an ominous warning from the general manager hanging over their heads, the Tampa Bay Lightning responded behind Vincent Lecavalier.

Lecavalier scored two goals and set up another to lead the Lightning to a 4-1 win over the Boston Bruins on Saturday.

Martin St. Louis and Mathieu Darche also tallied for Tampa Bay, which snapped a six-game losing streak while netting more than three goals for the first time since November 16.

"We're trying to concentrate on our team concept," coach John Tortorella said. "It's what we have to do. You have to get back to all the little details of the game and try to be better and more consistent out there."

The six-game skid - the team's second such string of futility this season - prompted general manager Jay Feaster to suggest that if Tampa Bay's fortunes did not reverse soon, major changes could be on the horizon.

"Being sub-.500, being 13th or 14th out of a 15-team Eastern Conference isn't cutting it, given the money we lose, to think we're going to keep payroll where it is and not make changes," Feaster said prior to the game, suggesting the team could unload one or more of the "big four" of Lecavalier, St. Louis, Brad Richards and Vaclav Prospal.

The comments seemed to be motivation enough for Lecavalier, who notched his 250th career goal in the first period when he picked off a pass by Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara and fired a wrist shot from six feet out.

Boston netminder Tim Thomas made the initial save, but the rebound bounced right back to Lecavalier, who did not miss on his second attempt, wristing it in for an unassisted goal 5:45 into the game.

"We all know that in this room, Vinny's a warrior," Lightning defenseman Shane O'Brien said. "He'll fight, he'll hit, he'll do whatever it takes to win hockey games. I've only been here for about a year now, but it takes more than (a puck to the face) to get him out of a game."

Lecavalier made it 251 career tallies 10 minutes later with a one-timer from the right faceoff circle.

"He's the best player in the game right now, that's for sure," Boston's Marc Savard said. "He's proven it on most nights."

With Tampa Bay enjoying a 5-on-3 advantage and working the puck around the perimeter, Richards found an open Lecavalier, who skimmed it off Thomas' glove for a 2-0 advantage with 4:07 left in the opening period.

Glen Murray brought the Bruins back within one late in the second.

With Boston on the power play thanks to an interference penalty on defenseman Paul Ranger, blue-liner Dennis Wideman skated down the right side and threw a perfect cross-ice pass to the middle of the left circle, where Murray slapped in a one-timer for his second goal of the season with 2:13 left in the period.

The Lightning restored their two-goal advantage less than two minutes later, when defenseman Filip Kuba's slap shot from the blue line was tipped past Thomas by Darche with 59 seconds to go in the session.

"Obviously, it's a big shift after a goal against," Darche said. "So we got right back in. Maybe we killed their momentum a bit. We did get the win, but in the second, we got sloppy for about five minutes, like we have the past two games."

Lecavalier earned another piece of individual history in the third period, when he assisted on St. Louis' ninth goal of the season at 6:13. The assist gave Lecavalier 300 for his career.

"Any offensive guy will tell you there is pressure on them to produce," Lecavalier said. "That's what I'm here for. It was just a big game for us. Everyone played well, including Homer (goaltender Johan Holmqvist), who made some pretty big saves. It was definitely a confidence booster tonight."

The Lightning improved to 9-3-1 on home ice with the win, compared to just a 2-10-1 mark away from the St. Pete Times Forum.

"We knew what we had to do to win," Kuba said. "We just couldn't do it in the last games, and today, we played like we wanted to."