Flames Back in the Penalty Box, Lightning Back in the Series

Defense wins at playoff time. Even the supposedly high-flying Tampa Bay Lightning can slow the third period down to a crawl if a victory in the Stanley Cup Final is at stake. The Lightning scored a 5-on-3 power play goal less than three minutes into the game on Monday night. It was the only goal in a 1-0 Tampa Bay win over Calgary, tying the championship series at two games apiece.

Goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin made a handful of excellent saves, most of them in the first 40 minutes. The Flames helped by shooting high or wide on their best scoring chances, including several two-on-one breaks that ended without shots on goal.

Calgary also contributed to the Tampa Bay effort by taking a few brain dead penalties - beginning with Chris Clark's cross check that led to the only goal, and ending with Ville Nieminen's five-minute boarding major with less than five minutes remaining in the game.

Brad Richards was the goal scorer, giving him seven game-winning goals in these playoffs, a new NHL record. Tampa won without forward Ruslan Fedotenko and top defenseman Pavel Kubina. Fedotenko sat out after being run face-first into the boards in game three. Kubina is believed to be suffering from a concussion.

Game five will be played Thursday night in Tampa Bay. Here are complete scores and recaps from the 2004 Stanley Cup Final.