TORONTO (AP) ― Joffrey Lupul had a goal and three assists, and the Toronto Maple Leafs killed four early power plays ― including a two-man advantage ― in a 7-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.
The Maple Leafs, who own the NHL’s worst penalty-killing unit, worked on short-handed situations in practice on Monday, and it paid off.
Carl Gunnarsson, Mikhail Grabovski, Darryl Boyce, Matt Frattin, Dion Phaneuf and Phil Kessel added goals for Toronto (19-15-5).
Vincent Lecavalier, Steven Stamkos and Pavel Kubina scored for the Lightning (17-18-3).
It was the beginning of an important stretch for the Maple Leafs, who will play nine of 11 at home heading into the All-Star break.
Tampa Bay, 5-1-1 in its previous seven games, took a 1-0 lead when Lecavalier found the puck in traffic and beat Jonas Gustavsson 58 seconds in. But the Lightning were unable to sustain that momentum after getting thwarted on multiple power plays. Lupul and Gunnarsson scored for Toronto before the first period ended.
A wild second period helped seal the Leafs’ victory. Stamkos scored his NHL-leading 27th goal to make it 2-2, but Grabovski and Kubina traded goals in the next 91 seconds, and Boyce put Toronto ahead for good just 17 seconds later that.
