"The Lightning plays its most important game in four years tonight. It's not a must-win game, but it's about as close as you can get to must-win.

A victory against the Penguins knots their best-of-seven series at two games apiece. A loss and the Lightning falls behind 3-1 and needs to win three in a row, including two in Pittsburgh.

The trick for the Lightning is to figure out how to play such a crucial game.

It wants to have emotion but without being too riled up to focus. It wants to play with urgency but without a sense of panic. It wants to play like it's still just a hockey game but knowing full well the outcome is critical.

And the Lightning will play with only a handful of players who know what it's like to play in such a game.

"Let's not kid ourselves. We have a lot of players on this team with no playoff experience whatsoever,'' coach Guy Boucher said. "It's a learning process we knew we would have to go through. … You can talk as much as you want about it, but until you're on the ice (in the playoffs) … it's very different.''

That why the Lightning will continue to turn to its players who have been in vital games — players such as Vinny Lecavalier, Marty St. Louis, Simon Gagne and especially goalie Dwayne Roloson, 41, who will appear in his 37th postseason game.

In 2006, Roloson backstopped the eighth-seeded Oilers to the Stanley Cup final. In the second round of those playoffs against the Sharks, the Oilers were in the position the Lightning is now, trailing 2-1. Roloson and the Oilers not only won Game 4, they went on to win Games 5 and 6 to take the series, with Roloson pitching a shutout in the sixth game.

What Roloson learned during that postseason run: celebrate the victories, learn from the losses, forget the bad goals and quickly move on to the next game. "