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Lightning aim to shake off distractions versus Jets

Feb 23, 2012 - 3:42 PM (Sports Network) - The Lightning aren't letting the selling off of a few a parts impact their playoff push. Tampa Bay opens up a three-game road trip on Thursday night looking for a fourth straight victory as it takes on the Winnipeg Jets.

The Lightning bring a three-game winning streak into this meeting and each victory has come on the same day that the club has made a trade. Tampa Bay snapped a two-game slide with a victory over San Jose last Thursday, trading forward Dominic Moore to the Sharks right before the game, and then dealt defenseman Pavel Kubina to the Flyers on Saturday before besting Washington by a 2-1 score.

The trend continued on Tuesday, with the Lightning trading forward Steve Downie to the Avalanche in exchange for Kyle Quincey, then flipping the defenseman to the Red Wings for a minor-league player and a 2012 first-round draft pick.

Fortunately, Tampa Bay still has Steven Stamkos on the roster and he went out and scored twice and added an assist in a 3-2 victory over visiting Anaheim. Stamkos leads the NHL with 42 goals and is tied for second in points with 70.

"Obviously it was an emotional day for a lot of us," said Stamkos. "We lost (Downie), a guy we were all so close with in this room and everyone respects and loves. It's the business side of hockey, sometimes it's not always pretty and we don't have control over it. He was a great friend and a great teammate and you just wish him the best of luck.

"We'll try to move on the best we can and we were able to do that with a big win tonight."

Teddy Purcell added a goal and two assists and Mathieu Garon made 28 saves to help the Lightning pick up a win despite playing without captain Vincent Lecavalier. The club announced on Tuesday that he will be sidelined indefinitely due to a non-displaced fracture in his right hand.

Following a four-game homestand, the Lightning play their next three on the road and sit just five points back of a playoff spot. That is the same margin separating from the top spot in the Southeast Division currently shared by Florida and Winnipeg.

"This was huge for the team and huge for a lot of the players," said Stamkos. "We wanted to get this win for us and the fans before we headed out on the road."

The Jets staked their claim to first place by getting a point in Tuesday's 5-4 overtime setback to the Flyers. Winnipeg got a career-high 50 saves from Ondrej Pavelec, but gave up the game-tying goal with 10 seconds to play in regulation and the overtime winner with 43.6 ticks remaining on the clock.

Pavelec matched the 50-save outing he first posted back on Oct. 31, 2009 versus Ottawa.

"He's been playing like that all year. I think it's pretty spectacular but I don't think we're too surprised by it," noted Jets forward Evander Kane. "There's a lot of pucks that go towards the net that not a lot of goalies would be able to stop but he's so athletic he's able to do that."

Winnipeg went a perfect 3-for-3 on the power play, getting goals from Dustin Byfuglien, Kane and Andrew Ladd, who totaled two goals in the game. Tim Stapleton added a career-high three assists for the Jets, whose three-game win streak came to an end as they fell to 2-0-1 on an eight-game homestand.

The Jets have won back-to-back games versus the Lightning following a 12-game series losing streak. After dropping the first of six meetings this year, Winnipeg snapped the slide with a 5-2 home win on Nov. 14 and then followed that up with a 2-1 overtime triumph in Tampa on Feb. 2.

Kyle Wellwood netted the game-winner and Pavelec made 30 saves in the recent encounter.