Think of all the adjectives you can for the word "awful."
That is how badly the Lightning played Saturday night in an embarrassing 6-0 loss to the Panthers in Florida's home opener at the BankAtlantic Center.
Florida scored four times - three in three minutes, 50 seconds - in a first period in which Tampa Bay was outshot 19-9.
And consider this: The Panthers had scored all of five goals in their previous three games.
The loss kept the Lightning (3-1-0) from starting a season with four wins for the first time since the 2003-04 Stanley Cup season. It also continued Tampa Bay's inexplicable ineptitude in South Florida, where it is 6-14-2 since 2003-04 and 13-26-4, with four ties, overall.
There also has to be concern for captain Vinny Lecavalier, who briefly left the game late in the second period after being hit in the right hand or forearm by a shot from Florida defenseman Bryan McCabe.
Lecavalier returned for one 10-second shift in the second and played sparingly in the third, though that could have been because the game was out of hand.
Tampa Bay, outshot 38-29, did the opposite of everything coach Guy Boucher preaches. Players were not first on the puck and did not skate with speed or show the fire of the previous three games.
Goaltender Dan Ellis was lifted for Mike Smith with the score 3-0. And center Steven Stamkos did not score for the first time this season and for the first time in eight games going back to 2009-10.
Cory Stillman started the scoring 1:50 into the game off a rush sparked when Lightning defenseman Randy Jones was too deep in the offensive zone. Jones could not get back, and the wing scored from the slot.
Wing David Booth scored with 5:35 left when he smacked in a puck that deflected to him off the skate of Tampa Bay defenseman Mike Vernace.
Center Steven Reinprecht scored 48 seconds later on a rebound of a shot from center Mike Santorelli, who received the puck via a horrible pass from Lightning defenseman Pavel Kubina. That was all for Ellis, who allowed three goals on 15 shots. Smith stopped 20 of 23 shots, and defenseman Dennis Wideman greeted him with a goal with 1:45 left in the first period on a slap shot that hit Stamkos' stick shaft and deflected over the goalie's right shoulder to make the score 4-0 .
The Lightning had a scare with 4:11 left in the second period, when Lecavalier left the ice. But the captain played the third period.
He will be re-evaluated before Monday's game with the Stars.
