Lecavalier Sends Series To Tampa Even at One
by: Tom Liodice | Staff Writer - NY Sports Day | Sunday, April 15, 2007
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier did it again.
St. Louis and Lecavalier each score a goal apiece and Johan Holmqvist notched 34 saves as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the New Jersey Devils 3-2 in front of 18,321 fans at the Continental Airlines Arena to even the best of seven playoff series at one.
Tampa's dynamic duo is proving to be a thorn in the Devils side, as they have scored a combined five out of Tampa's six goals in this series, all which can seemingly come from anywhere on the ice. Devils winger Jay Pandolfo is aware of their limitless talent, "Those two guys are great offensive players. They do not need many chances to score goals as you can see. The couple of chances they had they went in the net."
Lecavalier's early third period goal proved to be the deciding tally for the Bolts to send the series back to Tampa Bay. Lecavalier tipped a Paul Ranger slap shot from the point in front of Martin Brodeur for his third of the playoffs at the 1:42 mark.
"I saw Ranger there and the puck was going to our defense and I just wanted to go in front of the net," said Lecavalier on his game-winning goal. "The shot came towards me and I kinda got lucky and tipped it. Obviously I was pretty happy that went in and get the lead."
The series now moves back to Tampa Bay as the Lightning now have home-ice advantage in their favor, something that Devils captain Patrick Elias isn't worried about, "They may feel good about the way they play at home, but at the same time we feel about the way we play on the road."
"It's going to be exciting games. We just have to be smart and do a good job on matchups again, which is going to be tougher for us, but it's the playoff atmosphere and you got to enjoy it."
Special teams were the name of the game for the Bolts and Devs early on.
For a change, someone else other than St. Louis and Lecavalier helped the Lightning get on the board first, as Filip Kuba notched his first of the playoffs on a shorthanded goal. Brad Richards led a 3-on-2 rush into the Devils zone made a nifty feed to Eric Perrin. Perrin avoided a Martin Brodeur pokecheck and slid it Kuba who lifted it over a sprawling Brodeur for the 1-0 lead.
Zach Parise continued his hot playoff play on the powerplay at the 18:11 mark for his third goal of the playoffs. Parise took advantage of a healthy Brian Raflaski rebound that Holmqvist kicked right onto his stick and potted it into the open net.
New Jersey would then take the lead 16:13 into the second period on a 5-on-3 powerplay with Jamie Langenbrunner's first of the playoffs when he one-timed a Brian Gionta pass in the far corner past Holmqvist.
The lead would not last long as St. Louis scored his second of the playoffs from the goal line with just 48.7 seconds left. Brand Richards was in on the fun again by dishing the pass to St. Louis who fired a one-timer past Brodeur from a seemingly impossible angle.
The Devils will travel to Tampa Bay for Game 3 on Monday night against the Lightning. Face-off time at the St. Pete Times Forum is 7:00pm.
Notes: Three Stars of the Game: 1.) Vincent Lecavalier, TB; 2.) Johan Holmqvist, TB; 3.) Zach Parise, NJD. Parise led all players with seven shots on goal. Brad Lukowich took a high stick to the face late in third period from Martin St. Louis and immediately left the ice but no call was made. Lukowich would not comment after the game about the missed call.
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