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Sundin leads Maple Leafs to comeback win

Mar 14, 2007 - 5:06 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Mats Sundin demonstrated why he is captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Sundin scored the tying goal late in the second period and set up Nik Antropov's winning tally early in the third as the Maple Leafs rallied for a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Chad Kilger also scored and Antropov added an assist for Toronto (34-27-9), which climbed within one point of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

"To get this win at home before we head out on the road was important," Maple Leafs center Kyle Wellwood said. "I think Tampa got a little tired in the third period, so we just sat back and made sure we did the right thing."

With the loss, the Lightning (39-28-4) remained two points behind the idle Atlanta Thrashers (37-24-10) for first place in the Southeast Division.

"It's very disappointing because we expect good things out of ourselves," Lightning center Eric Perrin said. "We had a great start, but we kind of let them back into that game. What's most frustrating is that we didn't play the whole 60 minutes."

After defenseman Dan Boyle scored a shorthanded goal at 4:36 of the second period to give the Lightning a 2-1 edge, Sundin went to work.

With 3:54 left in the session, Sundin recovered the puck along the boards, skated to the front of the net against two defenders and wristed a shot past goaltender Marc Denis to forge a tie.

It was his 388th goal as a Maple Leaf, leaving him one behind Hall of Famer Darryl Sittler for first place on the franchise list. The goal also was Sundin's first since February 24, a span of eight games.

"I felt great the last couple of weeks, but I hadn't scored any goals," Sundin said. "When you are 36, you are not too worried about the goals. However, it's a big part of my job to be productive. I'm more worried about the wins so we can be one of the top teams come April."

In the third, Sundin took a pass from defenseman Hal Gill and skated behind the net before finding Antropov, who skated in from the left side and beat Denis to the glove side at 5:51 for a 3-2 lead.

"I was able to beat my defenseman off the boards, and Mats set me up and I saw I had a second, so I took it in," Antropov said.

Andrew Raycroft made it stand, making 13 of his 19 saves in the final period.

"Raycroft made about three or four big saves, and the team sees that and we use it to help us make plays and score goals," Antropov said.

Brad Richards scored his 24th goal and Denis stopped 25 shots for Tampa Bay, which has lost four straight meetings with Toronto.

"I thought Marc Denis really gave us a chance," Lightning coach John Tortorella said. "Our top players weren't as effective as they have been, but we need some other people to pick them up in these situations, and we got squat."