Martin St. Louis big-time for Lightning again

he Tampa Bay Lightning pushed the Bruins [team stats] to a Game 7 last night and, as you might expect, Martin St. Louis had a big hand in the 5-4 victory.

St. Louis scored the equalizer in the second period and then scored the eventual game-winner at 10:15 of the third.

The Hart Trophy candidate said he relishes the big moments.



“I think that’s what you play for, whether it’s as a kid in the driveway and pretending to be in a Game 7,” said St. Louis, who also had an assist for a three-point night. “Those are the games you watch as a kid. Those are the games that get your fire going and those are the ones you want to play in.

“The do-or-die games, our backs against the wall, you want to leave it out there, and I was fortunate to get a couple of good bounces today. And guys made good plays. But I felt like in those games, I said I like to give myself a chance to help my team.”

St. Louis is one of the two leftovers in the lineup from the Lightning’s Stanley Cup team in 2004 along with captain Vincent Lecavalier.

But the rest of the Bolts got some valuable playoff experience when they came back from a 3-1 series deficit to beat the Penguins in Game 7 in Pittsburgh.

“We knew it was going to be a long series,” said St. Louis. “This is a good team. It comes down to one game. Luckily, all our team has been through a Game 7. Some of us have played more but we’ve had that experience. So we know what to expect.

“The fourth win is always the toughest one to get and we know both teams will battle hard to get it.”

Top line tops

The B’s first line of David Krejci, Nathan Horton and Milan Lucic carried the B’s last night, accounting for all four goals. While Krejci had the hat trick, Lucic seemed particularly determined.

“He was skating (last night). It’s as simple as that,” said B’s coach Claude Julien. “When he skates and comes at you hard, it certainly puts everybody on their heels. . . . It made a whole lot of difference. . . .

Brad Marchand was forced to miss the last couple of minutes of the game when part of the blade on his skate broke and the repair could not be done in time.

“It was pretty frustrating. It’s a tough time for that to happen. You want to be able to help the team, but it’s just bad luck,” said Marchand. . . .

Patrice Bergeron had a rare sub-.500 night in the faceoff circle as he won nine of 20 draws. . . .

The Lightning didn’t have forward Sean Bergenheim at their disposal last night. Bergenheim, who has nine power-play goals, suffered a lower body injury in Game 5 and was not able to go last night.