• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Kuba's power-play goals lift Lightning past Islanders

Nov 7, 2006 - 3:13 AM UNIONDALE, New York (Ticker) - Tampa Bay Lightning coach John Tortorella said his team gave 60 minutes. New York Islanders coach Ted Nolan coach said his team gave far less.

Filip Kuba scored a pair of power-play goals, the first tallies by a Tampa Bay defenseman this season, in a 5-1 rout of the New York Islanders.

Martin St. Louis extended his points streak to nine games with a power-play goal for the Lightning, who swept all four games against the Islanders last season.

"We've been close to playing a complete game. We've been talking about dictating a game rather than see what happens within a game," said Tortorella, whose team had lost four of its previous five games. "I thought for the most part we did that tonight."

Nolan, in his first season with the Islanders, had a far different take on his team, which allowed three goals in five power-play chances.

"That was worse than a clunker. The worst part is we seemed to quit," Nolan said. "That's probably the toughest thing. It's one thing when you're outskilled, but when you quit, it's a different story."

Tampa Bay was far more aggressive, including a 28-11 advantage in blocked shots.

Kuba's goal in the second period made it 3-1 and he broke open the game with another in the third to stretch the lead to 4-1. On both goals, Kuba was alone in front of the net and the recipient of perfect crossing passes.

"We're pretty aggressive and that opened plenty of space for me in front of the net," said Kuba, who is in his first season with the Lightning after five seasons with the Minnesota Wild. "I just happened to be in the right place at the right time."

The Lightning were the last NHL team to get a goal from a defenseman.

"We're always looking to create opportunities and we got that from the blue line," Tortorella said.

Andreas Karlsson tipped home a cross-ice pass from Ruslan Fedotenko to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 12:26 of the first.

The Islanders tied it with 56 seconds left in the period when defenseman Alexei Zhitnik's slap shot went off the glove of goaltender Johan Holmqvist and into the net.

Tampa Bay broke it open with power-play goals by St. Louis and Kuba in the middle session. St. Louis one-timed a slap shot from between the circles off a pass from rookie Eric Perrin at 12:38, giving him goals in five straight games vs. New York. He has 10 tallies and six assists in his last nine contests.

Vincent Lecavalier had an assist on St. Louis' tally to run his points streak to nine games.

Almost five minutes later, Kuba directed a behind-the-net pass from Vaclav Prospal past Mike Dunham to give the Lightning a two-goal cushion.

Holmqvist made 25 saves in picking up his second NHL win.

"I felt really comfortable," Holmqvist said. "I just went out and did my thing."

Perrin added a goal and an assist for the Lighting, who complete a four-game road trip Wednesday in Pittsburgh.

Dunham had 22 stops for the Islanders, who were 0-for-3 on the power play.

"I felt good out there, but I still gave up five goals," Dunham said. "They were clicking."