Buccs keep on keeping on

Matt Bryant had field goals of 39, 26, 29 and 26 yards, and BJ Askew scored the Bucs' lone touchdown on a one-yard run in the third quarter to help Tampa to a 19-13 home win over Minnesota. Gus Frerotte threw a 3-yard TD pass to Bobby Wade and Ryan Longwell kicked field goals of 43 and 37 yards in the first half for Minnesota.
38-year-old quarterback Jeff Garcia again starred for Tampa Bay, throwing for 255 yards without an interception and moving out to 4-1 since regaining his starting spot. Coach Jon Gruden said: ''He moves around and you don't know what he's seeing and what he's thinking. That's his game. He's a creative player, and his legs are his ally. I've tried to be honest with him the whole time. We need his legs and we need his scramble ability, his elusiveness in the pocket.''
The Buccaneers' defense was again key in restricting their opponents' ability to score, with Derrick Brooks and Co equal to the task of slowing down leading rusher Adrian Peterson.
Peterson was coming off a 192-yard performance against Green Bay and was trying to match the Vikings' franchise record for consecutive 100-yard games set by Robert Smith in 2000. He gained 85 yards on 19 carries up to the third quarter, but in the fourth Minnesota ran just eight times in chasing the game.

In hockey news, Rick Tocchet now knows the size of his task if he is to turn around the Lightning's season. Tocchet had just one practice session with the squad following the Friday sacking of former coach Barry Melrose in response to Tampa's three straight losses.
A veteran of 18 NHL seasons, Tocchet perhaps is best known for his role in a sports betting ring that led to a league suspension. He rejoined Phoenix Coyotes as an assistant coach in February, then was hired by Melrose in the offseason.
His first game as a head coach saw Tuomo Ruutu and Rod Brind'Amour score in the shootout and Cam Ward stop two shots to give the Carolina Hurricanes a 3-2 victory Sunday. Vincent Lecavalier and Jussi Jokinen both failed to score in the shootout, handing Hurricanes a second victory in six games.
Tocchet made a few subtle changes, including reuniting the line of Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and Vinny Prospal - and it soon paid off. Lecavalier and St. Louis scored in the same game for the first time this season to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead, but Carolina rallied in the second period, with Wade Brookbank and Brind'Amour pulling the scores back.
Undeterred, Tocchet is just looking forward to getting his first win under his belt. "The last thing I need to do is show the guys that I'm too anxious or stuff like that. I actually was very calm, so it was kind of surreal, kind of fun."

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