Lightning strikes as Thrashers lose 8-0

Vincent Lecavalier had three goals and two assists, helping the Tampa Bay Lightning stop a four-game losing streak with an 8-0 victory over the Southeast Division-leading Atlanta Thrashers on Thursday night.

Lecavalier has four career hat tricks. He has scored a goal in five consecutive games.

The Lightning record for goals in a game is four, set by Chris Kontos in the team's first-ever game on Oct. 7, 1992, against Chicago.

Martin St. Louis had a goal and four assists as the Lightning beat Atlanta for the fourth time in five games this season. Marc Denis made 21 saves to end a personal seven-game losing skid.

Lecavalier and St. Louis set career highs with five points each.

Tampa Bay also got goals from Nikita Alexeev, Brad Richards, Dan Boyle and Ruslan Fedotenko.

Atlanta goalie Kari Lehtonen was pulled after allowing five goals on 30 shots over two periods. The Thrashers' franchise-record tying five-game winning streak ended.

Lecavalier put the Lightning ahead 1-0 after he picked up a loose puck and scored from the slot with 27.6 seconds left in the first. After scoring a power-play goal from the right-circle at 6:28 of the second, Lecavalier made it 3-0 after faking a shot from the top of the left circle and scoring on an in-close backhander with 7:46 left in the period.

Alexeev and Richards extended the Lightning lead to 5-0 later in the second. Boyle and St. Louis, who scored off a pass from Lecavalier during a 2-on-1 at 6:30, gave Tampa Bay a 7-0 advantage early in the third.

Notes:@ John Tortorella coached his 400th game with the Lightning. ... The Thrashers have played 17 road games this season, including four at Tampa Bay. ... Lecavalier's power-play goal in the second stopped an 0-for-26 stretch with the man advantage for Tampa Bay.