Lightning vs. Rangers: Vincent Lecavalier Nets Winner as Bolts Take Season Sweep

If the Tampa Bay Lightning are going to make a deep playoff run they appear to be positioning themselves for this spring, they're going to have to make more efforts like the one Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.

Captain Vincent Lecavalier continued his hot steak as he took a feed from Martin St. Louis and blasted a one-timer past Rangers net minder Henrik Lundqvist for his seventh goal and 12th point in the last nine games. Veteran goaltender Dwayne Roloson made 22 saves, and the Lightning took a 2-1 win over the New York Rangers who were coming off a 6-0 dismantling of the Washington Capitals.

Roloson nearly recorded a shutout if not for a defensive breakdown on the power play by the Bolts. It allowed Brandon Prust an unchallenged, shorthanded breakaway; where he scored off his own rebound while charging into the crease and colliding with the veteran goalie. The goal was reviewed, but was allowed to stand.

Too often this season, the Lightning have squandered a third period lead and allowed opponents to force overtime. Here, Dwayne Roloson and the guys in front of him; buckled down, blocked shots, cleared pucks and took the two points in regulation. Considering a matchup with John Tortorella's Rangers is not an unlikely scenario for the first round of the playoffs for the second-seeded Bolts, it is encouraging to know that the Lightning can finish out close games while on the road and protecting a lead.

The Bolts also finished off a four-game season sweep of the Rangers with game-winners from four different players—Brett Clark, Ryan Malone, Nate Thompson and Vincent Lecavalier. They have also managed to best the Rangers in three ways: regulation, overtime and shootout.

THE GOOD

Lately the Lightning have played much better in their own zone, limiting their turnovers and effectively moving pucks up to the neutral zone. Let's hope this type of improvement continues through the remaining 20 games of the season.

Martin St. Louis continued his magical season with a goal and an assist, and has lately thrust himself into the fringes of the Hart and Art Ross trophy discussions. On his current nine game scoring streak, he has four goals and nine assists.

Against defensively sound teams like the Rangers, the Bolts have been able to lean on their power play and transition game to carry the offense. They continued that against the blue shirts as Martin St. Louis scored off a give-and-go with Steve Downie in a 3-on-2 situation, and Lecavalier scored on a two-man advantage.

Dwayne Roloson has been hit or miss since joining the Lightning at the new year—but in the last two games against the Devils and Rangers he has been consistently good, stopping breakaways and limiting rebounds. The Bolts took 2-1 victories in both games as a result, and keep a lead over the Washington Capitals for the Southeast Division lead, draw closer to the Philadelphia Flyers for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, and stay ahead of the Boston Bruins for the No. 2 seed.

THE BAD

Zone entry on the power play remains a problem, as the Bolts were only able to connect when they had a 5-on-3 advantage after Brian Boyle cleared the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty. Once the Lightning gain the zone, their power play is deadly—but teams that defend their own blue line well, can effectively neutralize it.

The Lightning defensemen took a few too many penalties, most of which were unnecessary "touch" penalties. Luckily, the penalty kill remained strong in this matchup.

THE UGLY

The Marc-Andre Bergeron experiment continues in Tampa, and so far his contributions offensively; especially as a power play specialist, have outweighed his notoriously bad defensive play. But he can be a liability as he showed in this game, failing to square to Brandon Prust and falling down as the Ranger penalty killer skated in alone to score a shorthanded tally, the 11th given up by the Lightning this season.

The Bolts need to find a way to be more secure with the puck when they're on the man advantage or they will end up on the wrong side of these one-goal games come playoff time.