LIGHTNING 2, DEVILS 1: Brad Richards' pass deflects off a New Jersey forward for the winner and season sweep.
By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
Published March 26, 2004
TAMPA - Hey, Brad Richards, describe your perfect game.
"I'd score the winning goal and then go out there at the end to close the game down," the Lightning center said.
Gosh darn it if it didn't happen that way Thursday night.
Richards' goal with 4:58 left in the third period gave Tampa Bay a 2-1 victory over the Devils before an animated crowd of 19,013 at the St. Pete Times Forum.
He also was on the ice in the final seconds when New Jersey pulled goaltender Martin Brodeur for an extra skater.
"It was beautiful," Richards said.
The native of Prince Edward Island was speaking of watching his attempted pass from behind the Devils net to teammate Cory Stillman bounce off the left skate of New Jersey's Viktor Kozlov and past Brodeur to break a 1-1 tie. But it applied to the victory as well.
The team's 22nd at home tied a franchise record and gave the Lightning its first 100-point season.
With 101, Tampa Bay leads the Flyers by three and the Bruins by four in the East. It also tied the Red Wings for tops in the league, though Detroit has a game in hand.
The Lightning kept the season series with the Devils well in hand, for the first time sweeping four games from the defending Stanley Cup champs with four victories over Brodeur, who is 21-10-5 against Tampa Bay.
"They're playing very well," Devils defenseman Scott Niedermayer.
"There's no question they're a good team."
With many contributors.
Defenseman Pavel Kubina's second-period goal gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead. His 17th set a franchise record for defensemen (Roman Hamrlik had 16 in 1995-96) and put him ahead of all defensemen in the league.
Left wing Fredrik Modin played strong at both ends of the ice and had two assists for a career-high 27. Defenseman Nolan Pratt, filling in for injured Darryl Sydor, was plus-2 and assisted on Kubina's goal when he pinched from the point and outfought Niedermayer for the puck.
Goalie Nikolai Khabibulin made 18 saves for his 27th victory. But he put his teammates on the spot when he allowed Patrik Elias' stoppable shot from the faceoff circle to get by him on the short side and tie the score with 9:22 left in the third period.
Richards picked him up with his career-high 24th goal and sixth winner, which tied him for the team lead with Stillman and Martin St. Louis.
"It was kind of a fluky goal," Brodeur said. "He just threw it in front. It hit Koz, and the only reason why I knew it hit him was because he told me, "Hey, Marty,' and I looked up and it was right behind the goal line already.
"(The game) deserved to be tied and not decided on a lucky goal like that."
Richards said he will take it in a close-checking game that produced limited scoring chances and just 36 shots; 17 by the Lightning, its second fewest this season.
"It was just a lucky bounce," said Richards, who has goals in consecutive games after a 10-game drought. "In those types of games, with the amount of shots both teams had, you knew it was going to come down to something like that. It was one of those games that was grind it out."
Which puts defense at a premium.
The Lightning got much from the line of Dave Andreychuk, Tim Taylor and Dmitry Afanasenkov. And Tampa Bay was stout in the second period when it killed off a 3:36 Devils power play, including 24 seconds of five-on-three, to preserve a 1-0 lead.
Richards helped do the job at the end.
"We make a read throughout the game," coach John Tortorella said. "And when that last minute comes, you make a read as to who you feel is going at that particular time as far as who is going at that particular time both offensively possession wise and defensively, and you come up with a couple of things at the end."
"He's given me a lot more opportunities in those areas of the game," Richards said. "I think I deserve it because I'm playing a lot better defensively."
