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CALGARY, Alberta (Ticker) -- Down two key players, Nikolai Khabibulin and the Tampa Bay Lightning refused to fall further down in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Khabibulin stopped 29 shots and made Brad Richards ' early power-play goal stand up as the Lightning squared the best-of-seven series at two wins apiece with a 1-0 blanking of the Calgary Flames .

Coming off Saturday's 3-0 loss, Tampa Bay was in danger of falling into a three games to one hole from which only one team has been able to escape. The Lightning also were without All-Star defenseman Pavel Kubina and leading goal-scorer Ruslan Fedotenko , both of whom were injured in Game Three.

"You suck it up and you bond a little bit," Lightning coach John Tortorella said. "You band together and just try to get it done."

Tampa Bay has not lost consecutive games in the postseason, a trend Khabibulin helped continue. The 31-year-old Russian tied Calgary counterpart Miikka Kiprusoff for the league lead with his fifth playoff shutout and improved to 6-0 with a 0.83 goals-against average following the Lightning's six postseason defeats.

"I never really thought about it," Khabibulin said. "Every game, I try to improve from my previous game. I guess I had a better game than last game."

Khabibulin got some help from the Flames, who outplayed Tampa Bay but missed the net with some of their best scoring chances.

"We had the chances, but we shot wide or shot into him," Calgary right wing Chris Clark said. "He did make a big save here or there, but we didn't give him as big a test as we need to."

Two nights after he was stopped on a shorthanded breakaway that he called a turning point in Game Three, Richards provided the Lightning's offense.

During a two-man advantage 2:48 into the opening period, Richards got a pass from Dave Andreychuk at the top of the left faceoff circle and blasted a one-timer over Kiprusoff's left shoulder for his 10th playoff goal.

It held up as Richards' seventh game-winner of the postseason, breaking the NHL record shared by Joe Sakic and Joe Nieuwendyk . The Lightning are 8-0 in the playoffs and 30-0-2 dating to the regular season when Richards scores.

"I have no control over whether it is a game-winner or not," Richards said. "I think it was just a big goal to get on a 5-on-3. They kill that off, it might be a different game."

Tampa Bay was going to get a power play after Calgary defenseman Mike Commodore took down Fredrik Modin in front of the net. It became a two-minute, 5-on-3 advantage when Clark was penalized for cross-checking Lightning defenseman Nolan Pratt .

"I have to control my emotions and keep my stick down," Clark said. "That's it."

While Tampa Bay registered a power-play goal for the ninth time in its last 10 games, some of the Flames' best scoring chances came while shorthanded.

Khabibulin made a left pad stop on Ville Nieminen 's blast from low in the left circle 3 1/2 minutes into the game, denied his short backhander with 2 1/2 minutes to go in the first period and stopped Jarome Iginla 's slap shot from the top of the right circle less than a minute later.

The Lightning had a couple of anxious moments in the first period. Martin Gelinas could not get off a shot on a 2-on-1 with Iginla and Khabibulin nearly mishandled a dump-in that wobbled to the net in the final minute.

Calgary had trouble hitting the net in the second period, with Iginla, Gelinas and defenseman Jordan Leopold failing to cash in scoring chances.

Gelinas came agonizingly close twice. While on his knees at the top of the crease, he could not get his stick on a bouncing puck off a rebound of Iginla's shot. And he was stopped by Khabibulin at the right goalpost after a puck caromed off the end boards.

The Flames' comeback attempt was hamstrung when Nieminen rammed Vincent Lecavalier head-first into the boards and received a boarding major with 4:13 left in the third period.

"I was battling for the puck, Lecavalier turned at the last second, I finished my check and unfortunately, he was two feet away from the boards and lost his balance," Nieminen said.

Lecavalier avoided the media, but teammate Dan Boyle suggested the NHL review the hit. Nieminen was suspended one game during the Western Conference semifinals for barreling into Detroit Red Wings goaltender Curtis Joseph .

Game Five is Thursday at Tampa.