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Stamkos, Lightning welcome Leafs to Tampa

Jan 25, 2011 - 4:24 PM (Sports Network) - Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos has a great shot at being one of the top picks in this weekend's All-Star Fantasy Draft. First, the league's leading scorer will try to lead the Lightning to a fifth straight victory in this evening's matchup with the Toronto Maple Leafs at St. Pete Times Forum.

Stamkos netted his NHL-leading 38th goal and 67th point in Sunday's 7-1 victory over the Thrashers, giving the Lightning a sweep of the six-game series this season and an 11th straight victory against the club overall. Stamkos, the top pick of the 2008 draft, has seven goals and three assists over a six-game point streak and figures to be one of the first selections made by captains Nicklas Lidstrom or Eric Staal.

Teammate Martin St. Louis is an assistant captain for Team Lidstrom and he thinks Stamkos is worthy of the first overall pick.

"Well, obviously 38 goals so far. That guy, that's all I have to say," St. Louis said during a conference call on Monday. "But, you know, he's pretty good, too, for the skills thing, you know? He's got some good moves, and I don't know, obviously it would be nice to be on the same team. But we'll see."

St. Louis is having a solid season as well. He picked up a goal and an assist in Sunday's win and is second in the NHL with 40 points. Simon Gagne added a pair of goals for the second time in five games, while Dwayne Roloson ended with 21 saves.

Tampa Bay, which won a season-best five in a row from Nov. 17-24, is two points up on Washington for the top spot in the Southeast Division. Sunday's victory came in the opener of an NHL record-tying 12-game homestand that runs through Feb. 25.

"We have 30 games for the last push of the season and this was a good start," said Gagne after the Lightning won for the fifth time in their last six home games. "I'm just trying to contribute as best I can and help the team get a good seeding for the playoffs."

Toronto, which is 12 points out of a playoff spot, is running out of time to make a push as Monday's 6-4 setback to Carolina was the club's third straight at home and fifth in six games overall.

The Maple Leafs and Hurricanes combined for seven goals in the third period, but only three were scored by Toronto. Tim Brent had a pair of goals just 1:11 apart in the frame and also set up Mike Brown's power-play goal in the third.

"We took some penalties that seemed kind of borderline," said Brent. "It kind of killed our momentum when that happens. We didn't give it and can take some positives out of this. But at the end of the day we didn't get the two points."

Jean-Sebastien Giguere was charged with five goals on 27 shots in the loss.

The Lightning have won both matchups with the Leafs this season and have won two straight and five of the last seven played in Tampa Bay. Stamkos scored twice and Dan Ellis had a 28-save shutout in a 4-0 home victory on Nov. 9, while Gagne had the overtime winner and St. Louis notched two goals in a 4-3 triumph at Toronto on Nov. 30.