A dim view of stars

CALGARY, Alberta -- Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella said his top players have not done enough in this Stanley Cup finals, and if the club is going to rebound from Saturday night's 3-0 loss, which put the Lightning down, two games to one, in the best-of-seven series, the stars are going to have to pick it up.

"It's not a criticism, it's not calling them out," said Tortorella. "As each game goes by in a finals, in the fourth round of the playoffs, you're damn right they'd better raise their level. It's not one particular guy. Each one of our offensive people has to do a better job in raising their level."

In the game the Lightning won -- Game 2 -- they received dominating performances from their best forwards. Vincent Lecavalier, Ruslan Fedotenko, Martin St. Louis, Dave Andreychuk, and Brad Richards combined for 18 shots on net, 3 goals, and 6 assists.

In the other two contests, the Lightning have generated only one goal.

"We're trying to create some offense," said Tortorella. "I thought we did some good things, but we're simply not creating enough offense. The way Calgary plays and the way they are playing as each game goes by, you are not going to get much off the rush. So it has to be created through your forechecking and through holding on to the puck. That's where we have to do a better job."

Tortorella said he is confident his players will answer the bell in Game 4 tonight. As strong as the Flames have looked, in terms of their physical play and defensive execution, Calgary coach Darryl Sutter believes they certainly can up the ante.

"I want the perfect game," said Sutter, half jokingly. "I don't like taking a penalty in the first 20 seconds [as Martin Gelinas did for elbowing at the 21-second mark]. I thought our special teams were really good. I thought [goalie Miikka Kiprusoff] was really good. I think we have some wingers who have to play better. Our young players, there's a lot being put on them in terms of demands and who they are playing against and they have to be able to raise their level of game."

The Lightning lost Fedotenko with 5:47 left in the third period when Calgary defenseman Robyn Regehr checked him face-first into the dasher. Fedotenko landed hard on the right side of his face. Andreychuk said he had breakfast with Fedotenko yesterday and expects him to be OK.

"He seems fine to me," said Andreychuk. "He feels good. Obviously, he took a blow there and he went down. I think he was more scared than anything else, but he seems fine to me."

Calgary captain Jarome Iginla has received the lion's share of publicity for his outstanding play, but he's not the only one who has stepped up. The Flames got a strong contribution from forward Chris Simon, who scored their first goal in Game 3. It was his fifth goal of the postseason in 12 games and the fourth on the man advantage. Though Simon is known as a fighter, he has shown scoring touch as well.

"He has got a reputation as being a tough guy and an enforcer over the years," said teammate Stephane Yelle. "I played with him in 1996 in Colorado and that was pretty much his role. But over the years, you've seen in Washington and where he's been, he can score goals. He has got a lot of skills for a big guy and his hands are really good. He's been getting the job done."

So far, the team that has scored first has won. Andreychuk said that's more important than it's ever been.

"It's tougher to score goals now," he said. "Penalty killing is so much better. Now there are so many shutouts and chances are down, so that's why the first goal is pretty much key now."

But Tortorella said he doesn't want his players pressing too hard to get on the board first.

"The first goal comes," he said. "I know the stat is out there. But we always go about preparing our team for each and every game the way we always do. Sure, you'd like to score the first goal.

"But as far as the emphasis and all the talk about it, no, it's not really in our meetings. Our meetings are about how we're going to play. We need to play our game. It's a matter of doing it better. We simply have to do a better job offensively than they do defensively and we didn't [in Game 3]."