The Lightning road show opened with a rare victory on Tuesday.
Tampa Bay snapped a six-game winless streak at the Air Canada Centre with a 3-2 victory behind a 37-save performance from goaltender Mike Smith and a two-goal outburst from captain Vinny Lecavalier. Rookie Steven Stamkos, the No. 1 overall pick in this summer's draft, got his first career point with an assist on the winning goal.
The Lightning entered Tuesday 0-5-1 in their past six trips to Toronto and were 2-13-3 in the previous 18 visits. Tampa Bay's last win at Toronto came on March 23, 2004.
Despite being outshot 39-25, including 13-5 in the third period, Tampa Bay was able to protect a lead for the first time this season and got just the kind of effort the coaching staff was looking for.
"Every line contributed somehow, I thought the defense was solid," Lightning coach Barry Melrose said. "It was a good effort, a good road win and we came into a tough building against a team that had been playing pretty well, so it was a good win for us."
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