1ST PERIOD NOTES;
Martin St.Louis gets a scoring chance in the first minute after Steven Stamkos steals the puck and feeds St.Louis behind the Toronto defense. Not much action either way after the first minute. Steve Downie gets hit around the hip and close to the knees, on a hit by Garnet Exelby, and he left the ice slowly on his own. Nicolai Kulemin picks up a loose puck on a rebound in front of the Tampa net and scores at 6;45. Steve Downie gets a retaliation penalty for charging at 7;00. Vinny Lecavalier feeds St.Louis on a rush into the Leafs zone, but he can’t reach the puck. Nicklas Hagman scores on a feed from from Francois Beauchemin getting in behind the Tampa Bay defense and shooting high on Antero Niittymaki to make the score 2-0 at 11;54 . The Lightning seem to be in a fog, other than their top line, as Tampa go on the power play,at 13;28, with Ian White sent off for tripping , and Andrej Meszaros scores on the power play on a nice passing play in front of the Maple Leafs net at 14;14. Lecavalier scores to tie the game as Tomas Kaberle gives the puck away on a lazy clearing attempt at 14;44, a short 30 seconds after the first Lightning goal. Christian Hanson takes a bad penalty for roughing at 15;04.The Lightning get a close chance on the power play and miss an empty net. Schenn nearly gives the puck away at the Tampa blue line. Steven Stamkos gets hit by a puck on the leg and leaves the ice slowly on his own, but is back for the second period,
2ND PERIOD NOTES;
Nicklas Hagman scores early in the period on a very sloppy turnover by the Lightning in their own end at 1;20. They basically gave the goal away. The Lightning waste a 3 on 1 rush and shoot wide of the net. Grabovski misses on a scoring chance, shooting high of the top corner about 10 feet to the right of the Tampa goal. Ryan Malone scores on a setup from Steven Stamkos to tie the game at 7;51 on a good passing play. Vinny Lecavalier takes a good shot from a side angle that Jonas Gustavsson has to freeze, as it was an accurate shot right on the net.Carl Gunnarsson with a bad giveaway in the Leafs zone, which could have been costly. Mike Lundin hits the post on a shot from the blue line near the 11 minute mark. Victor Hedman gets called for tripping as he got behind Hagman and pulled him down with his stick, at 15;43. Ryan Malone loses a great scoring chance while short handed, as he gets checked from behind on a breakaway, before he gets his shot off. Matt Stajan scores on a breakaway at 18;13, on a sloppy play and giveaway by Mike Lundin, as Stajan easily picks the open corner on Niittymaki, giving Toronto a 4-3 lead. The Leafs with a sloppy own zone turnover, which gives the Lightning a scoring chance if front of their net.
3RD PERIOD NOTES;
The Lightning fail to take advantage of a 3 on 1 rush after a bad line change by Toronto in the first two minutes of the period. Hagman hits the goal post on another sloppy turnover by the Lightning, another one of many that they’ve made in this game. The Lightning’s defenseman Kurtis Foster, misses a wide open net. Alex Tanguay takes a penalty for tripping in the offensive zone at 7;57. Niittymaki makes a great save on Hagman. Lee Stempniak hits the post. Nikolai Kulemin penalized for tripping at 9;21, ending the Leaf power play. Lundin flattened by Jamal Mayers on a clean hit near the Tampa net area. Lee Stempniak hits the post on a wrist shot on a 2 on 1 break. Tampa pulls their goalie for the extra player, but the Maple Leafs hang on for the win.
GAME SUMMARY;
The Tampa Bay Lightning had a successful road trip with a 2-1-1 record, before coming home to face Toronto, but in this game, they put on a clinic on poor defensive play. The Maple Leafs did some of that as well in the first two periods, but were more effective at taking advantage of their scoring opportunities. Carl Gunnarsson with 3 assists and Niklas Hagman with two goals, stole the spotlight in this game. Hagman could have easily had a hat trick with any luck, and was dangerous around the Tampa Bay net on several occasions. Steven Stamkos had 2 assists for the Lightning. Until this game, Tampa Bay had no home losses in regulation time.