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Prospal powers Lightning past Bruins

Feb 23, 2009 - 1:53 AM TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- Vaclav Prospal scored a power-play goal to snap a tie with 93 seconds remaining as the Tampa Bay Lightning snapped a four-game losing streak with a 4-3 triumph over the Boston Bruins on Sunday.

Jeff Halpern and Adam Hall scored 15 seconds apart in the first period and veteran Mark Recchi also tallied for Tampa Bay, which entered the contest 0-3-1 in its last four games.

Karri Ramo turned aside 40 shots for the Lightning.

"I think it's the toughest time for a hockey player," Ramo said. "You are kind of out of the playoff race and we decided, as a team, that it's not fun if somebody quits and we have to stay as a group. Everyone has to play for each other, so it's not a miserable month and a half."

"To me, you don't play for nothing," Tampa Bay interim coach Rick Tocchet said. "I don't care how far you're in it or how far you're out of it. You never play any type of game for nothing. Nobody can tell me any different. If you play for nothing, who wants to be in this business."

Phil Kessel and defensemen Zdeno Chara and Andrew Ference scored for Boston, which fell to 1-4-2 in its last seven games.

"The only two things I'm disappointed in is obviously the outcome and that we took some bad penalties at bad times," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "If the effort is like that night after night, we'll get back on track and that's what we're looking for. If anything, it was a step in the right direction."

"We worked hard out there," Kessel said. "You want to get a win, we just have to keep battling and keep trying to improve. Do the little things to get back on track."

Marc Savard notched two assists and Manny Fernandez finished with 14 saves for the Bruins, who feel that they are getting every team's best punch lately.

"We all realize that teams are playing us really hard," Chara said. "They all measure themselves against us and especially now, with 20 games left, going into the playoffs, everybody wants to have a strong finish.

"We just have to be ready for every team and make sure we're playing our game and not adjusting to other teams."

With the game tied at 3-3 late in the third period, Ference was whistled for a delay of game penalty after wristing the puck into the crowd.

Prospal then accepted a centering feed from Halpern and quickly shoveled the puck past Fernandez for his 15th goal of the season.

"We have the logo on (the front of) the jersey and our name on the back, and we're all playing for something," Prospal said. "If a team like Boston came into our building and wasn't a challenge for us, then maybe we should get a new job.

"Like a couple of guys said last night, we're all professionals. We get paid and we have to show up for us, for our fans and for whoever else is in the locker room."