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St. Louis tries to match hat trick in rematch with Hurricanes

Oct 28, 2006 - 3:29 PM Tampa Bay (5-4-0) at Carolina (4-5-2) 7:00 pm EDT

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Ticker) -- The Tampa Bay Lightning are hoping lightning can strike twice in three days for Martin St. Louis.

The 2004 Hart and Art Ross Trophy winner, St. Louis looks to build on Thursday's natural hat trick when the Lightning visit the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday in the second half of their home-and-home series.

St. Louis scored three times in less than seven minutes of the second period to lead Tampa Bay in Thursday's 5-1 triumph over Carolina. His third tally was his fifth of the season to cap his fourth career hat trick.

Ruslan Fedotenko opened the scoring with his fourth of the campaign and Vincent LeCavalier added his fourth in the third period as the Lightning avenged a 5-1 loss to the Hurricanes on October 16.

Playing his first season with Tampa Bay after five campaigns with the Columbus Blue Jackets, goaltender Marc Denis moved within a win of his 100th victory.

The 29-year-old Denis stopped 15 shots in the first two periods and was heading toward his 16th shutout before yielding a shorthanded tally to Eric Staal with 5:15 remaining.

The defending Stanley Cup champion Hurricanes are just 1-1-1 at home this season and have dropped three of their last four overall.