CALGARY, Alberta, 7 June 2004 — Martin St. Louis scored 33 seconds into the second overtime period to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 3-2 win over the Calgary Flames in Game Six of the Stanley Cup finals Saturday. St. Louis converted a rebound from the side of the goal to tie the best-of-seven series 3-3 and spoil the planned party in hockey-mad Calgary. Game Seven will be in St. Petersburg, Florida Monday.
Calgary had a chance to lift its second Stanley Cup, and first since 1989, but the Lightning disappointed the raucous sell-out crowd at the Pengrowth Saddledome.
“We were fortunate tonight and now we go to Game Seven,” a relieved Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella told reporters after the goal by St. Louis ended the game in sudden and dramatic fashion.
All four goals in regulation time came in the second period as the teams played tight-checking, scoreless hockey for the first and third sessions before another tense and scoreless first overtime. The Flames can take solace from the fact they have been much better on the road than at home in the postseason. Calgary is 10-3 on the road and 5-7 at the Saddledome in the playoffs.
The two teams each managed only six shots on goal in the first period before the game opened up offensively in the second session. Richards made it 1-0 on a Tampa Bay power play 4:17 into the second period, slipping a shot from a bad angle past Miikka Kiprusoff. Chris Clark equalized for Calgary at 9:05 when he took a pass from a falling Ville Nieminen and slapped a shot from the side of the net past Nikolai Khabibulin.
Richards put the Lightning back in front with another power-play goal at 10:52. He walked in and snapped a wrist shot past Kiprusoff when the Flames failed to clear the zone.
But Marcus Nilson tied the game again at 17:49, finishing off a 2-on-1 by taking Oleg Saprykin’s pass and beating Khabibulin cleanly. Calgary outshot the Lightning 13-5 in the second period.
