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Sundin, Toskala help Maple Leafs down Lightning

Dec 11, 2007 - 4:27 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- After a major injury, the Tampa Bay Lightning surrendered four quick goals and their road struggles continued with a 6-1 loss to the surging Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday night.

Captain Mats Sundin scored a goal and set up another and Vesa Toskala made 26 saves for the Maple Leafs, who have won five of six games.

With the contest still scoreless, the Lightning suffered a setback midway through the second period when Brad Richards crashed awkwardly into the boards after taking a hit from Maple Leafs defenseman Tomas Kaberle in front of the net. He did not return.

"He's a big part of the team, anytime you lose a key player, a leader, it's obviously tough," Vincent Lecavalier said.

Richards, who has missed just two games in his six-year career due to a death in the family, was down on the ice for an extended period of time. He appeared to be favoring his left leg while getting helped back to the locker room.

Reports from the locker room indicated that the injury might not have been nearly as bad as it initially looked. His status for the Lightning's next game against the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday is still uncertain.

After Richards' injury, though, momentum shifted to Toronto, which notched four goals in just over 4 1/2 minutes. Jason Blake started the scoring onslaught when he deflected Kyle Wellwood's blast from the high slot past Tampa Bay netminder Johan Holmqvist with 9:51 remaining.

The Maple Leafs grabbed a 2-0 edge when Sundin took a long outlet pass from Kaberle that sprung him on a breakaway. He deked and fired a backhander over Holmqvist's left pad for a power-play goal with 7:28 left in the middle session.

"Tomas made a good read, I was hoping he was going to see me because they gave me a big hole in the middle," Sundin said. "Tomas looked up - I told him before to turn the puck up right away because there are going to be plays up ice - and he made a perfect pass."

For Kaberle, it was his 303rd career assist, moving him past Ian Turnbull to third on the all-time list for a Toronto defenseman.

Less than two minutes later, the Maple Leafs struck again on a man advantage. Nik Antropov corralled a pass from Wellwood and launched a quick shot to the top shelf past Holmqvist to extend the advantage to 3-0.

"We haven't had very many set plays this year, so it was nice to get that goal by Nikky," Wellwood said.

Chad Kilger finished off the scoring flurry just 34 ticks later when his wrister from the blue line floated over Holmqvist's glove. That tally ended the night for Holmqvist, who was pulled for Marc Denis after giving up the four goals on 22 shots.

"We knew they were a real aggressive team, they skate hard and forecheck hard," Kilger said. "We needed to make plays and make them quick and if we could do that we could expose the holes behind them."

For Toronto, the four goals were the most in one period this season.

"If you look at the second period the last six or seven games, the second period has been our best," Antropov said.

Tampa Bay got on the scoresheet with a minute remaining in the second when Michel Ouellet deflected in Filip Kuba's shot to cut the deficit to 4-1.

It did nothing to turn the momentum as the Maple Leafs added two more goals in the third period to provide the final margin.

"It was a good old-fashioned (beating), let's just leave it at that," Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella said.

The Lightning have been struggling on the road all season, going just 2-11-1 away from St. Pete Times Forum.

"We've had a very tough time on the road this year," Lecavalier said. "We've got to get a win to get that confidence up for road games."