Tampa Bay Lightning hammer Atlanta Thrashers 7-1
Simon Gagne lit the lamp twice and Dwayne Roloson stopped 21 shots, as Tampa Bay Lightning dismantled the Atlanta Thrashers 7-1, at St. Pete Times Forum on Sunday.
Pavel Kubina and Martin St. Louis both scored a goal and had an assist, while Nate Thompson tallied a short-handed goal for Tampa Bay, who have won four consecutive games. That string of results has moved them three points ahead of the Washington Capitals
in top spot in the Southeast Division. Dana Tyrell and Steve Stamkos also netted a goal apiece in their side’s win
Gagne said that his team needed more wins going into the tail-end of the season, "We have 30 games for the last push of the season and this was a good start. I'm just trying to contribute as best I can and help the team get a good seeding for the playoffs."
Rich Peverley was the lone scorer for Atlanta, who dropped their third consecutive contest, and lost for the seventh time in their last eight play-offs.
Ondrej Pavelec started the game between the pipes, surrendering three goals on 19 shots. He was then pulled in favour of Peter Mannino, who ended the game in net and allowed four goals on 20 shots.
After a goalless first session, the second period saw Tampa Bay score five goals to take command of the game.
The Lightning opened the scoring for a 1-0 lead just 14 seconds into the second period. The short-handed goal came from Thompson, who caused a turnover at the point, rushed down the other end and fired a wrist shot into the net from the right circle.
“It’s nice, and I think it’s a little overdue for us,” said centre Nate Thompson. “The last couple of games have all been really close games. I think we were doing all the right things. A lot of our goals were in front of the net, dirty goals.”
Less than two minutes later, Tampa Bay got two-goal cushion at 2-0, as Tyrell snatched the bouncing puck and ripped a wrist shot into the net from the left circle.
Stamkos then gave Tampa Bay a 3-0 lead in the sixth minute of middle stanza. Martin St. Louis banged a shot from the right circle that hit off of Stamkos, who buried the puck in from the left side of the net.
St. Louis further extended Tampa Bay’s lead to 4-0 midway through the second period. It started when Steve Downie tipped a nice pass to St. Louis, who blasted a quick shot from the low left side into the net.
Gagne then got in on the scoring to give Tampa Bay a five-goal advantage with two and a half minutes to play in the second period.
Kubina took the lead up to 6-0 just five minutes into the third period, as he let go a slap shot from the right circle which found its way through the traffic to the net.
Gagne added his second goal of the night on a 5-on-3 advantage with nine minutes left in the final period to give the Lightning a 7-0 lead.
Peverley scored the lone goal to put Atlanta on the board, making it a 7-1 game with just over four minutes left in the final quarter. He spoiled Roloson's shutout bid.
A disappointed Thrashers Coach Craig Ramsay said, “I don’t think they really think about that (previous games) much. I know I don’t. Each game is a different contest. You’re faced with adversity against everybody as you go through this thing, and you can’t
be looking behind you. You have to look ahead.”
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