Stamkos, Lightning storm past Leafs
TORONTO -- -- Steven Stamkos scored twice and added two assists as the Tampa Bay Lightning thumped the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-3 Tuesday night at Air Canada Centre.
Alex Killorn, Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov, Vladislav Namestnikov and Jonathan Drouin also scored for the Lightning (5-1-0), while Ben Bishop made 40 saves.
With the four points, Stamkos now has 18 goals and 20 assists in 31 career games against the Maple Leafs.
William Nylander got the Leafs on the board in the second period. James van Riemsdyk and Auston Matthews pulled Toronto (1-2-3) to within two in the third, but that was as close as the Leafs would get.
Frederik Andersen stopped 17 shots in the loss.
Stamkos reportedly met with the Maple Leafs before re-signing with the Lightning in the offseason. On Tuesday, amidst boos from the 19,449 in attendance, the 26-year-old opened the scoring, beating Andersen on a partial break 1:19 into the first period.
After Killorn gave the Lightning a 2-0 lead, Stamkos found the back of the net for the second time in the period one-timing an Andrej Sustr feed past Andersen for his fifth of the season.
Hedman made it 4-0, picking up the rebound off a Stamkos centering feed and beating Andersen for his first of the season.
Bishop lost his two front teeth after taking a Peter Holland shot off the mask with 6:38 remaining in the second period. The Lightning goaltender was attended to on the ice by a team trainer and switched to a backup mask but remained in the game.
Nylander got the Leafs on the board, putting a Nazem Kadri feed past a sprawling Bishop for his fourth of the season at 19:03 of the second period.
At 6:45 of the third, Stamkos setup Kucherov, who beat Andersen glove-side with a rocket of a shot for his first of the season.
Van Riemsdyk redirected a Nikita Zaitsev point shot for his third of the season, and Matthews netted his team-leading sixth, pulling the Leafs to within 5-3.
However, with Mitch Marner serving a double minor for high-sticking, Namestnikov and Drouin scored 46 seconds apart, giving Tampa Bay a 7-3 lead.
NOTES: Maple Leafs LW Milan Michalek was assigned to the AHL's Toronto Marlies after clearing waivers on Tuesday afternoon. ... Lightning RW Ryan Callahan missed his sixth game of the season as he continues to recover from offseason hip surgery. ... Toronto C/RW Ben Smith made his return to the Maple Leafs after being claimed off waivers from the Colorado Avalanche on Monday. The 28-year-old appeared in 16 games with Toronto last season before signing with the Avalanche in the offseason. ... Tampa Bay D Andrej Sustr dressed in his 200th career NHL game on Tuesday night.