Darche, Mathieu

Unforced errors cost the Lightning the game.

TB-3
WSH-5

Marc Denis allowed 4 goals on 28 shots in the loss.

First Period
Washington 6:33, Chris Clark 1 (Alexander Ovechkin)
Tampa Bay 16:40, Jason Ward 1 (Brad Richards, Paul Ranger)

Second Period
Washington 4:43, Dave Steckel 1 (Alexander Ovechkin, Viktor Kozlov)
Tampa Bay 7:27, Paul Ranger 1 (shorthanded) (Brad Richards, Jason Ward)
Washington 17:41, Brooks Laich 2 (Matt Pettinger, Shaone Morrisonn)
Washington 18:42, Chris Clark 2 (Brian Pothier, Michael Nylander)

Third Period
Tampa Bay 14:06, Martin St. Louis 2 (Vaclav Prospal, Mathieu Darche)
Washington 19:56, Alexander Ovechkin 5 (empty net) (Brian Pothier)

3-0-0 is a great start. However, I was not impressed with the team's play tonight.

FLA-1
TB-2

Make no mistake about it, Johan Holmqvist stole the win tonight with a 30 saves on 31 shots effort that included multiple odd man rushes and breakaways. He got the win despite the Lightning being outshot 31-23 by an inferior opponent.

First Period
Tampa Bay 9:03, Chris Gratton 1 (shorthanded) (Mathieu Darche, Jason Ward)

Second Period
Florida 4:04, Ville Peltonen 1 (Olli Jokinen, Cory Murphy)
Tampa Bay 10:36, Chris Gratton 2 (power play) (Paul Ranger, Michel Ouellet)

Third Period
NO SCORING

Damian Crisdotero reports on his blog that forward Andreas Karlsson will not make it back for Wednesday's game against Florida. It was anticipated that Karlsson, suffering from an abdominal strain, might be back for the front end of the two game set against the Panthers but it does not appear to be in the cards.

Condolences to Admirals fans as it looks like Norfolk won't get Mathieu Darche back in time for their upcoming game this Friday against Bridgeport. Norfolk has three games in three nights this weekend, including a grudge match in Springfield on Sunday afternoon.

Tomorrow's headline should read: "Paper Champions Get Folded Up".

ATL-2
TB-5

Johan Holmqvist barely had to break a sweat stopping 13 of 15 shots he faced for the win.

First Period
Tampa Bay 3:40, Vaclav Prospal 2 (Vincent Lecavalier, Paul Ranger)

Second Period
Atlanta 0:57, Marian Hossa 1 (unassisted)
Tampa Bay 14:38, Vaclav Prospal 3 (power play) (Martin St. Louis, Filip Kuba)
Tampa Bay 15:49, Brad Richards 1 (shorthanded) (unassisted)

Third Period
Tampa Bay 5:22, Vincent Lecavalier 3 (unassisted)
Atlanta 8:58, Slava Kozlov 1 (Tobias Enstrom, Todd White)

Opening night wins are a good thing.

NJ-1
TB-3

First Period
New Jersey 9:06, Brian Gionta 1 (power play) (Zach Parise, Travis Zajac)

Second Period
Tampa Bay 9:35, Vincent Lecavalier 1 (Martin St. Louis, Filip Kuba)

Third Period
Tampa Bay 16:08, Vincent Lecavalier 2 (Vaclav Prospal, Martin St. Louis)
Tampa Bay 19:02, Vaclav Prospal 1 (empty net) (Martin St. Louis, Paul Ranger)