• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Steen helps Maple Leafs past Lightning

Jan 17, 2007 - 5:37 AM TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- Alex Steen helped the Toronto Maple Leafs close ground on the Tampa Bay Lighting.

Steen scored the decisive goal and Alexei Ponikarovsky had the clinching tally as the Maple Leafs posted a 4-2 come-from-behind victory over the Lightning.

Nik Antropov tied the game early in the second period and John Pohl had the crucial tying goal with just seven seconds remaining in the session for Toronto, which has beaten Tampa Bay four straight times.

"Anytime you have a chance to get some momentum like that, especially with just a few seconds left, it is a definite boost," Pohl said.

With the score tied at 2-2 and the Maple Leafs on the power play, Matthew Stajan took a pass from defenseman Tomas Kaberle, skated in and tried to punch the puck past goaltender Marc Denis. Denis blocked the attempt and a second by Stajan before Steen slapped in the rebound to give Toronto a 3-2 advantage with 4:41 remaining.

"It was just a great look by Stajan and we got a great bounce," Steen said. "You need those bounces sometimes when things aren't going your way."

Ponikarovsky added an empty-net goal with 55 seconds left for the Maple Leafs, who closed within two points of the Lightning for eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

"Anytime you can come away with a win like this on the road and have the goalie play like he did, is huge," Antropov said. "We knew we needed a win like this and Raycroft got it for us tonight."

Raycroft, who had allowed 3.42 goals in his last 10 games, stopped 21 shots for Toronto, which has won three straight road games.

"Raycroft just made some huge saves for us tonight," Steen said. "It's a good start to this road trip."

"I would say Raycroft was the best player on the ice tonight," Maple Leafs coach Paul Maurice added. "The Lightning are on top of their game right now and have some of the best shooters in the world on their team and we needed him to come up big. He was bigger than big."

Vincent Lecavalier scored his 29th goal of the season and defenseman Dan Boyle gave the Lightning a short-lived 2-1 lead with 2:27 left in the second period.

"We had our moments and had some great looks against Raycroft," Lecavalier said. "He just stopped everything we threw at him tonight."

Denis made 24 saves for Tampa Bay, which saw its season-high five-game winning streak come to an end.

"We didn't skate enough in their zone in the third period like we did the first two periods and that hurt us," Lightning center Brad Richards said. "But we attacked the net the first two periods and their goalie just kept knocking us down."