TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Martin St. Louis made his case for NHL MVP on

a night the Tampa Bay Lightning clinched the top seed in the

Eastern Conference.

St. Louis scored twice in the third period, helping the

Southeast Division champion Lightning past the Florida Panthers 4-3

Thursday night.

Tampa Bay won its first division title last season. The

Lightning had lost 50 or more games -- including overtime losses --

four straight seasons from 1997-98 through 2000-01.

"Good for them," Lightning coach John Tortorella said. "You

win your division and now you win your conference. Two or three

years ago, who would have thought that? The credit goes to those

guys in the locker room."

St. Louis scored his second goal of the game and 37th overall

from just below the left circle off a pass through the slot by Cory

Stillman to put the Lightning ahead with 2:20 remaining.

"St. Louis, he's got the confidence that he's going to score,"

Florida coach John Torchetti said. "That's what he does."

The Panthers had tied it at 3 on Lyle Odelein's goal from the

blue line at 14:14 of the third.

The Lightning took a 3-2 lead earlier in the period on goals by

St. Louis and Fredrik Modin.

After Modin tied it at 3:17, St. Louis put the Lightning ahead

with his eighth short-handed goal of the season at 9:23.

St. Louis stole a pass from Odelein near the blue line and beat

Steve Shields on the ensuing breakaway. The NHL scoring leader with

93 points, St. Louis snapped a six-game goal-scoring drought.

"I know my game hasn't been where I want it to be," St. Louis

said. "But I'm looking for this game and this third period

hopefully get it to the level I know I can play."

After the game, Lightning defenseman Brad Lukowich was chanting

"St. Louis, MVP" as he walked down a hallway outside the locker

room.

Brad Richards also scored for the Lightning, who claimed the

conference's top spot when the Boston Bruins finished Thursday

night's game with Washington in a tie.

Around 100 fans remained in the stands watching end of the

Boston game on the scoreboard. They stood and cheered as that game

ended.

"No one thought we would be where we're at," Lukowich said.

"We basically closed the door and started leaning on each other,

pushing each other to go harder. We knew we had something

special."

Olli Jokinen and Donald Audette had the other Florida goals.

Jokinen, who also had an assist, has scored a goal in three

consecutive games.

Tampa Bay backup John Grahame turned aside 29 shots. He stopped

Jokinen on a short-handed breakaway late in the second.

Shields had 21 saves. He made a point-blank glove save on Eric

Perrin midway through the second. Panthers starter Roberto Luongo,

who has made an NHL record 2,277 saves in 71 games this season,

served as the backup.

Jokinen put the Panthers up 1-0 at 4:31 of the first. He was

left alone near the crease and scored on the rebound of his own

shot after a pass from Mikael Samuelsson.

After Richards tied it from the low slot at 12:50, Audette made

it 2-1 with 15.4 seconds left in the period.

Audette's power-play goal from in-close came after Odelein's

shot rebounded off the end boards.

Odelein has five assists and nine points in his past 10 games.

He has 12 assists and 16 points overall in 81 games this season.Game notes
Stillman had three assists. He has eight assists and nine

points during a five-game point streak. ... Richards has four goals

and seven points over the past five games. ... Panthers D Pavel

Trnka missed his second consecutive game with back spasms. ...

Lightning D Pavel Kubina was given the night off.