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Malone notches shootout winner as Lightning top Panthers

Dec 27, 2008 - 5:14 AM By Rick Menning PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SUNRISE, Florida (Ticker) -- Defenseman Steve Eminger recorded a goal and two assists and Ryan Malone netted the shootout winner to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 4-3 win over the Florida Panthers on Friday.

Veteran Mark Recchi and Evgeny Artyukhin also scored in regulation for the Lightning, who have won back-to-back games for the first time since November 1.

Jussi Jokinen and Adam Hall were also successful in the shootout for Tampa Bay.

"It feels good. Any win's a win," Malone said. "Guys are doing a good job of working as a unit of five on the ice, feeding off each other and helping each other out. Things are coming together now."

Defenseman Bryan McCabe scored for the Panthers with 14 seconds remaining in the third period to force overtime.

"(Stephen Weiss) made a great play and (the puck) just happened to bounce out at my wheelhouse and I got it on net," McCabe said. "We had some opportunities. We stuck with it and got a big point. We'll take it."

The Lightning struck for a pair of goals late in the second period to break open a 1-1 deadlock.

"I thought we had a real disappointing second period from an effort point of view. I wasn't real happy," Florida coach Peter DeBoer said. "I didn't think our forwards put enough pressure on (Tampa Bay). I thought we sat back too much in the second period for my liking."

But despite the negatives of that period, DeBoer found a big positive in the never-say-die attitude at the end.

"We're going to look at the bright side - we found a way to get a point," DeBoer said. "We know we have to do better. We dug deep inside and got a point. This is no easy league and there are no easy teams."

Lightning interim coach Rick Tocchet had a different perspective on the outcome.

"Letting a two-goal lead (go) at the end kind of leaves a sour taste in your mouth, but (we) grinded it out and got the win," Tocchet said. "When you have a wounded snake, you have to kill it. We didn't. We let it bite us and you can't let that happen."

Recchi tipped in a shot from Eminger for his eighth goal of the season and Artyukhin followed 90 seconds later with a backhander that slid past Tomas Vokoun for a 3-1 advantage.

Weiss said the Panthers broke down in a number of areas in the second period.

"They trapped all night and we turned the puck over too much," Weiss said. "They had a lot more time of possession in our zone than we would have liked, but we turned that around in the third. We have to make sure we go out there and play hard for 60 minutes."

Vokoun's streak of stopping 55 consecutive shots over two-plus games ended when Tampa Bay capitalized on a rare misplay by the Finn midway through the first period.

The Florida netminder attempted to kick aside Eminger's blast from the blue line, but wound up deflecting the puck off his stick and into the net at 11:24 of the first period.

"That's huge, that's just huge," Eminger said. "We've got to find some way to build on (this effort)."

The Panthers tied it with just under two minutes left in the period. With goaltender Mike Smith out of position on a clearing attempt, the puck found its way to the top of the right

circle where defenseman Keith Ballard drilled home a one-timer.

Cory Stillman cut the deficit to 3-2 with 6:23 left in the third period when he tipped in a pass from blue-liner Jay Bouwmeester while parked in from of the crease to Smith's glove side.

"Both our teams play hard. They're battling for their lives and we're battling for a playoff spot," said Florida goaltender Craig Anderson, who replaced Vokoun in the third period. "(The shootout) is a crap shoot. You put individuals out there and anything can happen."

Artyukhin was involved in two fights, one with Nick Tarsasky late in the first period and another with defenseman Nick Boynton at the end of the second.