TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- All that mattered to Lightning coach John

Tortorella was that his team won its fifth straight game.

He wasn't worried about Tampa Bay's sluggish play after a

five-goal first period or a near collapse by struggling goaltender

Nikolai Khabibulin.

"Wins are tough to come by in this league. You take the two

points and go," Tortorella said Thursday night after a 5-4 victory

over the Carolina Hurricanes.

"The second period we hit the wall. ... It happens. The

positive thing out of it is we found a way to finish the game and

get the two points."

Tampa Bay forward Martin St. Louis had the second hat trick of

his career and Dave Andreychuk got his 1,300th point.

St. Louis scored all three of his goals during the Lightning's

five-goal first period against goaltenders Kevin Weekes and Jamie

Storr, matching the three-goal performance the All-Star forward had

against Carolina on Jan. 30, 2003.

Andreychuk scored the 622nd goal of his 22-year career in the

period, making him the 25th player in NHL history with 1,300

points. Brad Richards scored just 35 seconds into the game, and

Carolina coach Peter Laviolette yanked Weekes when St. Louis scored

on Tampa Bay's second shot, less than three minutes later.

Storr wasn't much better at first, giving up two goals to St.

Louis in a three-minute span before Andreychuk got his ninth of the

season on a power play to give the Lightning a 5-1 lead.

It turned out that Khabibulin needed every bit of the cushion.

Carolina scored three straight goals, pulling to 5-4 on Josef

Vasicek's shot from the lower left circle with 10:23 remaining.

Carolina didn't take solace in making it close.

"It really doesn't even matter. It's a loss," Laviolette said.

"Am I supposed to, or are they supposed to say: `Well, good

effort. Good try. We fought hard.' Do you think we're in a position

to do that? We're not in any position to do that. We're in a

position to come out fighting right off the bat."

Pavel Brendl scored his first goal for Carolina since being

recalled from the minors to bolster the Hurricanes' offense. Ron

Francis added a goal against Khabibulin late in the first period,

and Carolina trimmed its deficit to 5-3 when Erik Cole added a

power-play goal with 1:22 left in the second.

Khabibulin stopped 20 shots in his first start since a 5-2 loss

at Ottawa on Jan. 6, the first game on Tampa Bay's road trip. The

Lightning won the last four, with John Grahame giving up one goal

each in victories over Montreal, New Jersey, Pittsburgh and the New

York Rangers.

"He was OK," Tortorella said of Khabibulin. "A game like

this, we knew it was going to be a struggle. We knew it was going

to be an interesting game."

After dominating the opening period, Tampa Bay managed just two

shots in the second and 11 in the third.

Laviolette pulled Weekes just 3:54 into the game, but the

Hurricanes didn't blame their poor start on the goaltender.

"That's what happens when we leave him hanging out to dry,"

Cole said. "No goalie is going to stop the two goals that went

in."Game notes
Vasicek had assists on Carolina's second and third goals.

... Richards had two assists for Tampa Bay, which also got three

assists from Cory Stillman. ... NHL commissioner Gary Bettman

attended the game. ... Lightning C Vincent Lecavalier returned from

a one-game suspension for kicking Darius Kasparaitis during last

Sunday's victory over the Rangers. ... Carolina D Danny Markov

played after sitting out two games with an injured left shoulder.

He had an assist on Brendl's goal in the first period. ... Stillman

has a four-game point streak with two goals and six assists.