Stamkos scores 10th goal, Lightning top Leafs 4-2
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) Steven Stamkos and the Tampa Bay Lightning chased a hot goalie with a solid performance.
Stamkos scored his 10th goal, Benoit Pouliot had three assists and the Lightning beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 on Tuesday night.
Vincent Lecavalier, Alexander Killorn and Matthew Carle also scored for the Lightning, who have won two in a row after an 0-5-1 skid.
Toronto goalie Ben Scrivens had his bid for a third consecutive shutout thwarted midway through the first period on Lecavalier's goal.
``Hot goalie or not, every night is a different night,'' Lecavalier said. ``We played patient and it paid off. We took advantage of they played last night.''
Scrivens keyed the Maple Leafs' 3-0 win at Florida on Monday.
``It seems like I was getting some fortunate bounces the last couple of games, and today they bounced the other way,'' Scrivens said. ``That's the nature of the game. Those are the breaks.''
The Maple Leafs, 7-3-0 on the road this year, got goals from Mikhail Grabovski and James van Riemsdyk.
``I don't know if we demonstrated enough determination or desperation until the last 7 minutes of the hockey game,'' Toronto coach Randy Carlyle said. ``It seemed like we were a flat group for a good period of the game, but at one point I looked up, it was 2-1 after two periods, and we'd only given up 10 shots. If it wasn't for the lopsided number of power plays, I don't know if we would have given up 15 shots in the game.''
The Maple Leafs, 0 for 3 on the power play, outshot Tampa Bay 25-19. The Lightning converted one of six man-advantage opportunities.
``They've got a lot of skill, so they can make a ton of plays happen,'' van Riemsdyk said. ``They're a good team, and they were the better team today.''
Stamkos put the Lightning up 2-1 from just outside the crease off a pass from Cory Conacher at 4:56 of the second.
Killorn made it 3-1 when his bouncing shot trickled past Scrivens 2:49 into the third. Carle ended Scrivens' night on a power-play goal with 13:02 to play.
``We're battling. That's the thing that got away from us the six games we lost in a row,'' Pouliot said. ``Everyone played hard, and we come out with wins if we play that way.''
Jussi Rynnas replaced Scrivens, and van Riemsdyk cut the Toronto deficit to 4-2 late in the third.
``We played 55 solid, solid minutes,'' Tampa Bay coach Guy Boucher said. ``I didn't like the last 5 minutes.''
Lecavalier opened the scoring at 9:25 of the first on a wrist shot from the low left circle that stopped Scrivens' shutout streak at 154 minutes, 16 seconds.
Grabovski tied it at 1 on a rebound goal after goalie Anders Lindback got his glove on Nikolai Kulemin's shot from the slot with 2:01 left in the first.
Toronto entered tied for the NHL lead in fighting majors, and right wing Mike Brown fought Tampa Bay forward B.J. Crombeen just 7:56 into the game. Brown also received a 10-minute misconduct.
Both teams received two fighting majors in the third, which included a pair of scuffles.
NOTES: Stamkos has nine goals and 20 points in 17 games against the Maple Leafs. ... Toronto G James Reimer missed his fourth straight game because of a knee injury. ... Lecavalier has two goals and five points during a five-game point streak. ... Grabovski stopped an 11-game goal drought. ... Carle's goal was his first against Toronto, in his 19th game.