Steven Stamkos may be the face of a franchise in Tampa but he still has a long way to go before getting the questionable calls set aside for the elite stars in the league. Stamkos was stopped by Atlanta’s Kari Lehtonen on a penalty shot midway through the third period with a chance to tie the game in Tampa on Tuesday, giving Atlanta a 3-1 victory. The fans thought Stamkos was robbed by the officials who twice said no-goal, once on the ice and again after an extended replay.
“I was going to the bench for a TV timeout, and then [Stamkos] is in center with the puck and they said it was a penalty shot,” said Lehtonen to the SportSouth crew after the game. “He made a nice move and I was just lucky to get a piece of it. It looked worse than it was because the puck was never in my pocket, in my glove, it was kind of next to my wrist.”
Lehtonen did more than get lucky, he contorted his body in just the right fashion to stop the almost assumed goal. Moving from Lehtonen’s right to left, Stamkos got the Thrashers goalie to his knees by faking a shot before attempting to go around near post. Lehtonen fell on his back, extended his glove hand and then rolled into the net, without ever allowing the puck to cross the crease. After a moment to check the puck, the referee motioned “no-goal”.
Along with the penalty shot Lehtonen stopped 40 Tampa Bay shots, while controlling rebounds throughout the night.
Helping out Lehtonen on offense were Slava Kozlov and Colin Stuart. With Atlanta trailing 1-0 in the first and on the penalty kill, Stuart got free on a breakaway before blasting a backhanded shot past Lightning goalie Mike McKenna. Kozlov then scored the game winner 2:02 into the second period when he one-timed a pass from Rich Peverley. The goal was Kozlov’s second in two games, after going 14 games without a goal. Captain Ilya Kovalchuk added an empty-net goal, his team-leading 23rd of the season, to secure the two-goal victory.
While the performance was one of Lehtonen’s best all season, he still had his uncomfortable moments. “I felt good, but the one thing was a little different, it was hot out there. I’m from Finland and used to saunas but this was something else.”
The Thrashers’ next game is Wednesday at home against the Chicago Blackhawks at 7 p.m.
Boral can be reached at jboral@scoreatl.com.
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