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Lightning outlast Panthers in shootout

Feb 21, 2007 - 6:07 AM TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- Brad Richards and Martin St. Louis didn't allow Nathan Horton to victimize the Tampa Bay Lightning again.

Richards and St. Louis scored in the shootout to lift the Lightning to a 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers.

Tampa Bay avenged a 5-4 overtime loss to Florida on Saturday, a game in which Horton scored the winning goal.

"We feel real good about our chances anytime we can get a game into overtime and a shootout," St. Louis said. "We have a lot of weapons to throw out there."

Horton appeared primed to singlehandedly topple the Lightning again, scoring both of the Panthers' goals in regulation and giving his team a 1-0 lead in the shootout after Vincent Lecavalier was stopped by goaltender Ed Belfour.

Tampa Bay got a fortunate break when Richards appeared to lose control of the puck on his shootout attempt, only to see it slide between the pads of Belfour.

After Florida's Ville Peltonen shot high on his attempt, St. Louis beat Belfour for a 2-1 margin in the shootout, leaving it up to Steve Montador of the Panthers.

Denis denied Montador, sprawling out of his net to block his forehand attempt and give the Lightning their 16th win in their last 21 games.

"What makes it easier, of course, is great goaltending and we definitely had great goaltending tonight on a night when we needed it," Lecavalier said. "He made every save you could imagine."

Denis stopped 28 shots, including one on Horton on a first-period breakaway.

"Right now we are feeling pretty good because we're a little bit more consistent in our play in every way," Denis said. "We just have to keep going strong, especially in close games."

St. Louis scored the tying goal on a power play, his 36th of the season, in the third period and Ryan Craig tallied in the first for Tampa Bay.

"We had our chances tonight and kept on battling against a super goaltender," St. Louis said. "We like our chances anytime in overtime or a shootout. We definitely have a lot of confidence when we are in that situation."

St. Louis' goal with the extra skater was the Lightning's only tally in eight man-advantage situations.

"I just don't know how many penalties we can throw out there for the other team," Florida's Olli Jokinen said. "We played even with them 5-on-5, but we couldn't give away what we did."

Horton tied it at 1-1 with an unassisted goal in the first period and put Florida ahead midway through the second session with his 21st tally of the season on a breakaway.

Belfour made 34 saves and came up big with 12 in the third period and six in overtime.

"We played tough and definitely had our chances," Belfour said. "It would have been nice to come away with a win, but our effort was there for sure. If we get a couple of bounces, maybe the other way, we pull it out tonight."