The Tampa Bay Lightning got what it needed in a big way Monday night, taking on the Toronto Maple Leafs. The team had been lacking secondary scoring and regulation wins in previous games, but the Air Canada Center cured all that ailed the Bolts, as they rolled to a 6-2 win on the second game of a four-game trip. The win also secured a season sweep of the Maple Leafs, something the Lightning accomplished for the first time in franchise history.
One of the big issues facing this Lightning squad of late was the evaporation of secondary scoring. Against the Leafs Monday night, Nate Thompson kicked off the scoring on a centering pass from Teddy Purcell to make it 1-0.
In the second, after a Dion Phaneuf goal that Dwayne Roloson would probably like to have back, it was the Mattias Ritola show, as he scored two consecutive goals to give the Lightning a 3-1 lead. The Leafs would get the game back within reach less then 4 minutes later when Nikoli Kulemin beat Roloson, making it 3-2. The Lightning reestablished the two-goal lead right before the second frame expired when captain Vincent Lecavalier knocked home a loose puck sitting in the crease off of a Simon Gagne shot.
This article appears in Mar 10-16, 2011.