Chris O'Meara, Associated Press Lightning center Vincent Lecavalier puts the puck past Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury in the first period last night in Tampa, Fla.

By Shelly Anderson
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette TAMPA, Fla. -- The Penguins struggle to beat Tampa Bay. Their 3-2 loss to the Lightning last night at the St. Pete Times Forum was their 11th in a row against that team, dating to Jan. 17, 2003.

Against the rest of the NHL, though, the Penguins aren't half bad. At least, that's the case if you look at the first 41 games of the 2005-06 season compared with the first half of this season.

Even with the loss in their 41st game -- the result of a goal and two assists from Martin St. Louis, a goal and an assist from Vincent Lecavalier and 29 saves by Johan Holmqvist -- the Penguins' 18-16-7 record and 43 points are considerably better than the numbers from a year ago, when the team entered the second half of the season 11-21-9 for 31 points. That's a 39 percent improvement in points and leaves the Penguins tied for second in the NHL for the biggest improvement at the halfway point. Their 12-point increase ties them with Atlanta behind Anaheim, which improved by 19 points.

	Lightning goalie blocks Mark Recchi's potential game-tying shot with a helmet save last night. Click photo for larger image. More Coverage: Penguins Notebook: Parity will alter playoff mix Crosby top vote-getter in Eastern Conference, will start All-Star Game Barden: No more Plan B money, but development partnership possible TODAY Game: Penguins at Panthers, 7:30 p.m. TV/radio: FSN Pittsburgh/WXDX-FM (105.9).

"We want to be in the playoffs after the next 41, so we'll see where it brings us," said center Sidney Crosby, who had his only point of the game with an unassisted goal in the first minute.

Their 43 first-half points projects to 86 if they can do equally as well in the second half. That would be a 28-point improvement over the 58 points they earned last season, when they finished second-to-last in the league.

"If you look at the big picture, we've got to be satisfied with the increase," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. "We want to make sure we maintain that."

The Penguins' second half starts tonight at Florida.

In 2005-06, they had 11 wins in the second half, the same number as the first half, but fewer points, 27 -- although they went 4-4-2 in their final 10 games.

They will face Tampa Bay just once in the second half.

The game last night was played at two speeds -- normal and, when the top line for each team was playing, overdrive.

"It was sort of a game of momentum, and we could never grab it for a long period of time," center Erik Christensen said. "We're very young, and to make the sort of progress we've made so far is very big. We're not winning as many games as we think we should or we'd like to, but it's building experience."

Despite playing on just a half-inch of less-than-ideal ice that was made after a visit by a circus, the Penguins' trio of Crosby, Mark Recchi and Evgeni Malkin and Tampa Bay's line of center Lecavalier, St. Louis and Vaclav Prospal heated things up when they played -- and they faced each other all night.

Crosby got the Penguins off to a fast start with a goal on the first shift to push his league-leading point total to 65.

He wrestled the puck from Tampa Bay defenseman Dan Boyle in the slot, slid to one knee as he continued toward Holmqvist, and swept the puck under the goaltender 24 seconds into the first period. It was the Penguins' fastest goal this season and the fastest since Dec. 3, 2003, when Matt Bradley scored 20 seconds into a 5-2 loss at Philadelphia. But the quick goal was their only one until Colby Armstrong scored late in the third period.

Lecavalier got his 24th at 6:11. Prospal, set up along the right-wing boards, fed Lecavalier, who redirected the puck past Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury from the near edge of the crease for a 1-1 tie.

The Lightning took a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal at 6:26 of the second. St. Louis' shot from a nearly impossible angle along the goal line to the left of Fleury bounced in off the inside of Fleury's far leg pad. It was St. Louis' 27th goal.

St. Louis got his third point when he set up Andreas Karlsson at the right corner of the crease in the third period. Karlsson brought the puck with him around the top of the crease, hesitated, and slipped a shot in off of Fleury's outstretched leg to make it 3-1 at 3:15.

The Penguins got a four-minute power play when Paul Ranger cut Christensen in the face for a high-sticking double-minor, but Holmqvist stopped the four shots he faced.

"Our forwards are doing not such a good job producing. We're relying on one line. When you get one goal every four games from the other three lines, that's not normal," said Therrien, who delivered that message to his team during the second intermission.

"They reacted a little bit," he said.

Armstrong pulled the Penguins to within 3-2 at 17:19 of the third when he deflected in a shot from the point by Brooks Orpik that glanced off of the Penguins' Jarkko Ruutu on its way to Armstrong.