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Saturday, Dec. 4 11:00pm ET
Drulia's late power-play goal ties Kings | |||||
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LOS ANGELES (AP) -- All the verbal sniping the Tampa Bay bench directed at referee Lance Roberts during the first period might have had a delayed effect on his judgment in the third period. Roberts let a lot of apparent penalties by both teams go unpunished during Saturday night's 3-3 tie between the Lightning and Los Angeles Kings, including interference by Rob Blake. But Roberts whistled the Kings captain for high-sticking with 4:01 left in regulation and Tampa Bay converted the ensuing power play into a goal by Chris Gratton that ignited their comeback. "Rob's been such a great leader for us," Kings coach Andy Murray said. "Of course he'd prefer to have been on the ice at the end. But he's played hard for us all the time. So he wasn't the problem." Gratton also set up the tying goal by Stan Drulia with 24 seconds remaining in regulation. Drulia had to sweat out a two-minute penalty in overtime for holding, before the Lightning could escape Staples Center with their hard-fought tie. "It looked like the game was out of reach, but the guys never quit," Drulia said. "We weren't going to be denied tonight. "Everyone paid the price, and I got the results. They took all the hits and all the bumps, and I got the goal. But you have to take advantage when you get the opportunities. The key was that we managed to keep control of the puck." Todd Warriner also scored for Tampa Bay and Dan Cloutier made 34 saves, including point-blank glove stops on Luc Robitaille and Jason Blake less than 20 seconds apart in overtime. But the tie was officially credited to backup goalie Kevin Hodson, who replaced Cloutier for only a few seconds after Gratton's goal and did not face a single shot. Hodson sprinted to the bench for an extra attacker in the final minute of the third period, and it paid off when Drulia lifted the puck over Jamie Storr during a goalmouth scramble. Cloutier played the rest of the game and made five saves for the Lightning during the five-minute overtime, the 100th in club history. "When you're up 3-1 with four minutes left, you're supposed to win a game," said Murray, whose team is 11-0-2 when they take a lead into the third period. "It's not a matter of not playing hard or working or having pride. It was a matter of being smart. We took bad penalties, stayed too long on the ice and weren't being what I would call solid team players." Los Angeles' Glen Murray scored twice for the third time in five games and Vladimir Tsyplakov recorded his fifth goal in nine games. Robitaille had an assist in his first home game since Oct. 28 and second game overall, after missing the previous 10 with a broken foot. But Ziggy Palffy, who leads the Kings with 12 goals and 27 points, didn't play because of back spasms -- the first game he has missed since joining Los Angeles in a trade with the New York Islanders. The Kings opened the scoring during a two-man advantage, following a boarding call against Reid Simpson and another penalty 57 seconds later against the Tampa Bay bench for verbal abuse of Roberts on the non-call against Blake. Bryan Smolinski's long shot from the middle of the ice glanced off Murray and past Cloutier's glove at 4:46 of the first period. The power-play conversion was only the third in 41 opportunities by the Kings, who are 9-3-2 when they've scored with a man advantage. Cloutier's poor clearing pass off the side boards led to Los Angeles' second goal less than 5½ minutes later. Jason Blake got a cross-ice pass from Robitaille to the left of the net and found Tsyplakov cruising down the slot. Warriner trimmed the Kings' lead to 2-1 at 7:24 of the second period, getting a backhanded cross-ice pass in the middle of the right circle from Dan Kesa and beating Storr between the pads for his fourth goal. Murray restored the Kings' two-goal margin with 4:37 remaining, as he intercepted a clearing pass just inside the Tampa Bay blue line and took a 45-foot slap shot that went off Cloutier's pads for his 11th goal and sixth in five games. But Gratton began Tampa Bay's comeback with a long slap shot that eluded Storr with 2:38 remaining -- the first goal Storr surrendered in the third period in his last five games. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Tampa Bay Clubhouse Los Angeles Clubhouse RECAPS Chicago 9 Boston 3
Tampa Bay 3 AUDIO/VIDEO   Vladimir Tsyplakov beats Dan Cloutier for the goal.avi: 691 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1   | |||||