• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Lecavalier nets game-winner for Lightning

Dec 21, 2007 - 4:58 AM TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- Vincent Lecavalier scored the game-winning goal with 41.6 seconds remaining in the third period as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-1, on Thursday.

Lecavalier took advantage of a turnover in the offensive zone and blasted a shot from the right faceoff circle past goaltender Vesa Toskala for the winner.

For Lecavalier, it was his 23rd goal and 20th multi-point game of the season. He also assisted on Jason Ward's second-period goal which tied the contest at 1-1.

The victory was Tampa Bay's first in its last seven games against Toronto, a streak which dates back to January 31, 2006.

"He (Martin St. Louis) made an unbelievable pass," Lecavalier said. "It's been real tough playing against these guys. It was a great game for us. It (the streak) is all over now."

Lecavalier's heroics earned Karri Ramo the victory in his first NHL start.

"I'm still kind of thinking about it," Ramo said. "It was a great game from us and there was that kind of desperation when we needed it in the third period, to win and score in the last minute.

"I just tried my best and we were good enough today to get a win. I felt good there and I felt I had a couple of good saves there."

Ramo, who was called up Wednesday from Norfolk of the American Hockey League, made 31 saves.

"He was good, he played good, he played sound," Toronto's Alexander Steen said. "I thought he moved well. He made some big saves for them as well."

Matt Stajan opened the scoring with 3:24 remaining in the second period.

Stajan's shot from the left faceoff circle deflected off defenseman Doug Janik's stick and past the Finnish netminder for his ninth goal of the season.

Tampa Bay answered two minutes later when Ward's one-timer from the slot beat Toskala for his fifth goal of the season.

"After Karri made a great save at the one end, it just came back the other way and Vinny had the puck wide and he's got great patience, so I knew he saw me and I just tried to get myself in the scoring area," Ward said.

"That was huge to come back in the same period, right after a bad goal like that, to rebound and get it back right away. That was a big key." Toskala finished with 19 saves.

"We could not have played any tighter or smarter or better than that," Toronto coach Paul Maurice said. "So we will try to keep the spirits up and get to Florida and get a win. We're playing well enough to do better, but at the end of the day, that's not happening for us."