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Maple Leafs 5, Lightning 3
Comeback kids rally to beat Tampa
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Wendel Clark gave a performance reminiscent of his past times in a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater.
Clark, who rejoined the Maple Leafs as a free agent Jan. 14, had two goals, including the go-ahead tally with 5:45 left in the third period, as the Maple Leafs rallied from a three-goal deficit to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 Tuesday night.
"It's always nice to get a couple, but it's always better to go out and get the win," Clark said. "Going into the third period, we didn't know what was going to happen. It always nice to help out in more than a physical presence."
Clark scored his first Toronto goal since Apr. 4, 1998 on a 3-on-1 break at 9:23 of the third that got Toronto within 3-2.
"He's that kind of guy ... he can probably look like he's not doing much for much of the night," Toronto coach Pat Quinn said. "His history has been that he has a great shot and knows where to put the puck."
After Mats Sundin's backhander tied it, Clark put the Maple Leafs ahead with a waist-high deflection of Tomas Kaberle's shot.
"It got to 3-2, and it just seemed like they kept coming," Tampa Bay goalie Dan Cloutier said. "We knew they'd come out in the third period and they took it to us."
Igor Korolev added an empty-net goal to complete the Maple Leafs four-goal third-period.
"They showed why they're a great team," Tampa Bay coach Steve Ludzik said. "I know our guys are probably disappointed and shocked ... like they were hit with a sledgehammer."
Sundin also had two assists and has 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) during a seven-game point streak. Jonas Hoglund had three assists and has nine points in five games.
Maple Leafs goalie Curtis Joseph stopped 21 shots, and improved to 13-2-2 against Tampa Bay.
Toronto has beaten the Lightning nine straight times overall and the last nine meetings at Tampa Bay.
Mike Sillinger picked up his team-leading 16th goal in the first period for the Lightning, who have won just twice in the past 22 games (2-18-2).
Second-period goals by Pavel Kubina -- on the power-play -- and Chris Gratton gave the Lightning a 3-0 lead.
"We were sloppy, we were outworked early on ... we were in a fog out there," Quinn said. "They pressed and got caught for that 3-on-1, and you could see something happen to them."
Steve Thomas extended his goal-scoring streak to four-games -- totaling six goals -- with a second-period score that made it 3-1.
Tampa Bay went 91/2 minutes without a shot in the first period before getting three -- including Sillinger's goal -- in a 21-second span.
Toronto enforcer Tie Domi returned after missing seven games with a rib injury.
Summary
-----------------------------
Toronto 0 1 4--5
Tampa Bay 1 2 0--3
-----------------------------
FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Tampa Bay, Sillinger 16 (R Petrovicky,
Clymer), 9:41. Penalties: Cross, Tor (holding), 5:01; Ekman, T.B.
(interference), 13:31.
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 2, Tampa Bay, Kubina 5 (power play)
(Lecavalier, Svoboda), 6:25. 3, Tampa Bay, Gratton 13 (P Mara), 14:13. 4,
Toronto, Thomas 14 (Sundin, Hoglund), 14:36. Penalties: Modin, T.B. (high
sticking), 1:52; Korolev, Tor (tripping), 1:59; Markov, Tor (high
sticking), 6:11; B Berard, Tor (roughing), 7:11; Clymer, T.B. (roughing),
7:11; R Petrovicky, T.B. (roughing), 7:11; Sundin, Tor (hooking), 11:27;
Clymer, T.B. (interference), 17:43.
THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 5, Toronto, Clark 3 (Markov), 9:23. 6, Toronto,
Sundin 24 (Hoglund, B Berard), 13:46. 7, Toronto, Clark 4 (Kaberle),
14:15. 8, Toronto, Korolev 15 (empty net) (Sundin, Hoglund), 19:22.
Penalties: Cross, Tor ( double high sticking minor), 2:42; Kubina, T.B.
(interference), 5:41.
Shots on goal:
---------------------------------
Toronto 8 7 8--23
Tampa Bay 9 9 6--24
---------------------------------
Power-play Conversions: Tor - 0 of 5, Tam - 1 of 6. Goalies: Toronto,
Joseph (24 shots, 21 saves; record: 25-11-6). Tampa Bay, D Cloutier (21,
17; record: 8-22-2), Hodson (17:46 of 3rd period, 1, 1), D Cloutier (18:30
of 3rd period). A:10,073. Referee: Gregson. Linesmen: Dapuzzo, Racicot.
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER STATISTICS
Toronto Tampa Bay
G A +/- Shots G A +/- Shots
Adams 0 0 -1 0 Clymer 0 1 -2 1
B Berard 0 1 even 0 Drulia 0 0 even 3
Clark 2 0 +1 3 Ekman 0 0 +1 0
Cross 0 0 even 1 Gardiner 0 0 even 2
Di Yushkevich 0 0 +1 0 Gratton 1 0 -1 2
Domi 0 0 -1 0 Ja Cullimore 0 0 -1 1
Hoglund 0 3 +3 5 Kubina 1 0 even 5
Johnson 0 0 +1 2 Lecavalier 0 1 -4 1
Kaberle 0 1 +2 1 Modin 0 0 -4 0
Karpovtsev 0 0 +2 0 Muir 0 0 -1 1
Khristich 0 0 even 0 P Mara 0 1 -1 0
Korolev 1 0 +1 3 R Petrovicky 0 1 even 1
Markov 0 1 +1 2 S Martins 0 0 +1 1
Mccauley 0 0 even 0 Sillinger 1 0 -1 4
Perreault 0 0 +1 0 Svejkovsky 0 0 even 0
Sundin 1 2 +2 4 Svoboda 0 1 -1 0
Thomas 1 0 +2 1 Tucker 0 0 -2 2
Valk 0 0 even 1 Warriner 0 0 even 0
Antropov Healthy Guolla Healthy
K King Healthy Mcalpine Concussion
Mcallister Healthy Kesa Groin
S Berezin Hamstring
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