Tyler Bozak scored two goals and added an assist and Tim Connolly had a goal and two assists to lead the Maple Leafs to a 7-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.
“There were some moments, but we pretty much negated their forecheck for the most part,” Toronto coach Ron Wilson said. “And we wanted to push the pace and I thought we were really effective doing it.”
Clarke MacArthur , Joe Colborne , Joffrey Lupul and Joey Crabbe also scored for the Maple Leafs, who had lost four of five.
Vincent Lecavalier scored for Tampa Bay, which has lost four of five.
“We’re not as consistent as we want to be,” Lecavalier said. “In this league, to be a playoff team, you’ve got to be consistent. We’ve got to be better at it.”
Toronto went ahead 3-1 when Connolly (17:56) and Bozak (19:22) scored first-period power-play goals. Connolly scored after Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman received a four-minute penalty when his high-stick struck MacArthur in the face.
“It’s nice to have a bunch of guys contributing,” Bozak said. “We had every line going tonight, and that’s how we want to play.”
Bozak and Lupul scored 1:21 apart early in the third as Toronto took a 6-1 lead. Crabbe had a goal later in the period.
“Our attitude in the face of adversity wasn’t good. … It usually is,” Tampa Bay coach Guy Boucher said. “I’m certainly not one to get discouraged. There are solutions.”
Lupul has two goals and five assists during a four-game point streak.
MacArthur put the Maple Leafs up 1-0 just 41 seconds into the game. The left wing had missed the previous three games due to an undisclosed upper body injury.
“Obviously, scoring the first goal on the first shift got us in the right frame of mind,” Wilson said.
The Lightning had a couple strong scoring chances shortly after MacArthur’s goal, but Maple Leafs goalie Jonas Gustavsson made a pad save on Lecavalier’s shot during a 2-on-1 and Brett Clark had a drive from the top of the right circle that hit the post.
“The guys are playing great, scoring a lot of goals, and they work hard in both ends,” said Gustavsson, who made 27 saves. “So that’s good for the team and it feels good to play when you see them score goals.”
Lecavalier did convert his next chance, tying it at 1 from the right circle during a power play at 8:38 of the first.
Colborne got his first NHL goal to make it 4-1 with 2:15 remaining in the second. The center, playing in his fourth NHL game, scored on goalie Dwayne Roloson from the slot off a back-hand pass from Matt Frattin .
Roloson was pulled after allowing six goals on 21 shots. Lecavalier and teammate Martin St. Louis both were minus-4 for the game.
NHL scoring leader Phil Kessel had an assist, giving him 30 points this season. The Toronto center has league-leading 16 goals.
In St. Louis, Mike Richards had a goal and an assist and Willie Mitchell scored the winner on his first goal of the season.
The Kings got a team-leading 10th goal from Anze Kopitar, and Jonathan Bernier stopped 23 shots in only his fourth start of the season as the Kings won in St. Louis for only the third time in 11 tries.
Alex Steen and Vladimir Sobotka scored for the Blues, who only lost for the second time in regulation in 10 home games. Jaroslav Halak stopped 25 shots.
In Nashville, Tennessee, Jordan Eberle had two goals and an assist and Shawn Horcoff scored twice for Edmonton.
Ales Hemsky and Jeff Petry also scored, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins , Taylor Hall and Ryan Smyth each added a pair of assists and Devan Dubnyk made 30 saves for Edmonton.
Jordin Tootoo and Jonathon Blum scored for the Predators.
Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne gave up three goals on 13 shots in the first period and was replaced by Anders Lindback to start the second.
