Tampa, FL (Sports Network) - Former Flyers Vinny Prospal and Ruslan Fedotenko
each scored a goal against their old team and Marc Denis made 34 saves as
Tampa Bay extended its winning streak against Philadelphia to nine games with
a 4-1 victory.
"I think it's gone a little unnoticed," said Tampa head coach John Tortorella
about the play of Denis. "There's not a bunch of movement, there's not a bunch
of panic in his play, and I think it's good for our team to see that."
Ryan Craig and Nikita Alexeev added goals, while Vincent Lecavalier and Brad
Richards each had two assists for the Lightning, who have outscored
Philadelphia 43-16 over the nine-game streak.
Sami Kapanen scored the lone goal for the slumping Flyers, who have dropped
four straight contests overall. However, Philadelphia received even worse news
in the first period when team captain Peter Forsberg left the game with a
sprained left wrist.
The injury occurred midway through the period when Forsberg was hit from
behind near the boards by Tampa defenseman Paul Ranger. Forsberg raised his
hands to brace the hit, jamming his left into the boards.
"It (the wrist) got stuck against the boards," said Forsberg. "It got
squeezed. Hopefully it's just a sprain and will just be a week or so."
Things couldn't appear more grim for the Flyers, who on Wednesday waived
forwards Petr Nedved and Niko Dimitrakos and defenseman Nolan Baumgartner
after an embarrassing 9-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday.
In an effort to add some energy to the lineup, Philadelphia recalled forwards
Stefan Ruzicka, Ben Eager and defenseman Alexandre Picard from the Flyers' AHL
team, the Phantoms.
After a scoreless first period that saw quality scoring chances for both
teams, the Lightning seized control with a two-goal second period.
Tampa drew first blood 7:38 into the second period on Craig's fifth tally of
the season. From behind the net, Richards wrapped the puck in front of the
goal to Craig, who swiped the disc from mid-air past goaltender Antero
Niittymaki to light the lamp.
"I thought the first goal was a mistake on our part," said Flyers forward
Simon Gagne. "Everything is happening down low in our zone and that is what is
causing us problems right now. We need to find a way to stop it, or it's going
to cost us a lot of games this year."
Then, with 6:12 left in the middle stanza, Lecavalier collected the puck
behind the net and found Fedotenko in the slot. Niittymaki stopped Fedotenko's
initial shot, but the former Flyer stuffed the rebound into the back of the
net.
"Had we capitalized on some of the chances that we had during the first and
second periods, it would have been hard for them to chase us," said Flyers
head coach Ken Hitchcock. "Both teams played hard and were desperate and
hungry."
Prospal made it a 3-0 game 7:48 into the final period when he one-timed a feed
from Lecavalier past Niittymaki for his first goal of the season.
Kapanen's shorthanded tally with 4:12 regulation broke up the shutout but less
than two minutes later, Cory Sarich fired a shot from the point that Alexeev
redirected past Niittymaki to ice the game.
