Lightning struck quickly

For the last 10 years, there was no room for the little guys in the Stanley Cup finals.

The list of champions was a familiar mix of big-budget and top-talent teams: Detroit (three times), New Jersey (three times), Colorado (twice), Dallas and the New York Rangers.

There were plenty of stars and familiar story lines, but not much unpredictability. Can the Devils win again with their trap? Is this Scotty Bowman’s last Cup? Is Patrick Roy the best goalie ever? Brett Hull, are you here again?

The newly minted champion Tampa Bay Lightning changed all that, and in an interesting bit of timing, did so just as the other small- and midmarket teams head into the NHL’s labor talks looking for a much better deal.

Under general manager Jay Feaster, just three years removed from running a minor league team in Hershey, Pa., and coach John Tortorella, who was passed over by bigger franchises, the Lightning developed a plan to compete and stayed with it.

The only surprise was how fast it all came together, just a year after the Lightning won a playoff series for the first time.

“I still can’t figure it out, how quickly it happened for us,” Tortorella said after a Cup-clinching 2-1 victory over Calgary in Game 7 Monday night.

Goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, once so erratic he was seen as more of a problem than a solution, thinks he knows what did it: doing nothing.

Rather than dismantling the team when they took over, Feaster and Tortorella made a few moves, such as acquiring Ruslan Fedotenko in a much-criticized trade with Philadelphia.

Mostly, they waited for players such as Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavalier, Fedotenko, Pavel Kubina, Khabibulin and Brad Richards to gain confidence and grow comfortable with one another.

When they all arrived about the same time, the Lightning did, too.

St. Louis was the regular-season scoring champion and won the pivotal Game 6 in Calgary with an overtime goal. Lecavalier made a dazzling pass that led to the second of Fedotenko’s two goals in Game 7. Richards, Lecavalier’s teammate since they were 14, won the Conn Smythe Award as the playoffs MVP.

“The most important thing was that the core of the players stayed the same,” said Khabibulin, who finally lived up to his nickname of the Bulin Wall with five playoff shutouts. “A lot of the guys matured and became very good players.”

The Lightning’s reign may last more than one season if the anticipated labor impasse shuts down the NHL for the entire 2004-05 season. The current contract expires Sept. 15.

Before the finals, commissioner Gary Bettman warned that medium- or small-market teams could compete only infrequently for the Cup because they could not economically sustain themselves once they did.

Unless the new labor deal changes that, the Lightning may be ready to test Bettman’s theory.

Their $34 million payroll ranked close to the league’s bottom third until they picked up Darryl Sydor’s $3.5 million salary late in the season. Now, Lecavalier’s salary is due to go up $1.7 million and the team must decide whether to pick up Khabibulin’s $6.5 million option. St. Louis ($1.5 million), Kubina ($2.5 million), forward Fredrik Modin ($1.85 million) and Fedotenko ($950,000) also need new contracts.

The runner-up Flames must decide how much they can add to their $35 million payroll, especially with Jarome Iginla ($7.5 million) and goalie Miikka Kiprusoff ($800,000) needing new contracts.

Until the current labor contract expires, the Lightning will have a few months to celebrate.

“We’re going to enjoy this for as long as we can,” Dan Boyle said.

Weary Flames arrive home

A weary and subdued Calgary Flames team returned to Calgary to grateful fans.

About 400 fans greeted the team at the airport. Many shivered in the cold for hours outside a private terminal awaiting the charter flight that touched down in pre-dawn darkness. One fan carried a sign that read, “Thanks for the memories.”

Enforcer Krzysztof Oliwa had tears streaming down his face when he saw the fans. Rookie defenseman Mike Commodore waded into the crowd and signed autographs for more than a half hour, waving off offers of a police escort.

“We had a great run,” he said. “We needed one more win and it was tough for all of us — very, very emotional.”

Police packed street corners and stood watch on rooftops the night of the game. A 20-year-old man was stabbed in the chest and was in critical condition. Police were investigating.

The Flames’ loss ended Canada’s dream of bringing home the Stanley Cup after an 11-year absence.

“This makes it a lot easier to come home to — all these people,” Commodore said.

A downtown rally is planned for today at Olympic Plaza to honor the underdog team that captivated a nation.

“I think it’s remarkable that this team put its heart, soul and spirit into really showing on ice what is reflected in this community,” Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier said.

Cup ratings low

Despite a relatively strong showing for Tampa Bay’s Game 7 win over Calgary on Monday night, the average rating for the five Stanley Cup final games on ABC was the lowest since the network began broadcasting the finals again in 2000.

The Lightning’s 2-1 win got a 4.2 rating with a 7 share. That’s down 9 percent from the 4.6 with an 8 for New Jersey’s 3-0 win over Anaheim in Game 7 last year — the highest-rated NHL game since broadcast networks began carrying the finals in 1998.

Still, the rating for Monday’s game was much better than the five-game average of 2.6 with a 5 share.

Senators hire Murray as coach

Bryan Murray was hired as coach of the Ottawa Senators, leaving as general manager of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks to run a team that was ousted in the first round of the playoffs.

Murray, who has spent 23 seasons in the NHL as a coach and general manager, replaces Jacques Martin. Martin was fired April 22 and has since been hired to coach the Florida Panthers.

“I wanted very badly to come back to coach,” Murray said at a news conference. “I wanted to come back to a hockey country where hockey meant something.”

Murray began his NHL coaching career in 1981 with Washington and was honored as coach of the year in 1983-84. He was also general manager of Florida from 1994-01 and Detroit from 1990-94. He became the Ducks’ coach in 2001 before moving to the front office the next year.

Murray resigned his Anaheim job and was replaced by Al Coates, who becomes the Mighty Ducks’ interim general manager.

Bourque, Coffey candidates for Hall

Ray Bourque and Paul Coffey are assured of being selected today to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

An 18-member Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee will announce this year’s inductees, and Bourque and Coffey are expected to be honored in their first year of eligibility. Glenn Anderson, Dino Ciccarelli and a handful of others passed over in recent years are also expected to be considered.