TORONTO - Phil Kessel impressed in his long awaited Toronto Maple Leafs debut, but it was more of the same for his struggling team Tuesday night as Ryan Malone scored at 2:21 of overtime for a 2-1 Tampa Bay Lightning victory.
Malone tapped home an awkward winner that bounced over Jonas Gustavsson moments after John Mitchell nearly won it for the Maple Leafs on a pretty rush, with the puck nearly taking another funny hop into the goal.
Malone's goal stood up after a video review.
Vincent Lecavalier also scored for Lightning (5-4-4), who won their first road game of the season (1-4-1).
Ian White replied for the Maple Leafs (1-7-5), who have lost four straight games in extra time and remained winless at home (0-4-2) before a crowd of 19,301. That came despite the best efforts of Kessel, who played over 23 minutes and had 10 shots.
White tied things up at 5:04 of the third period, when his shot from the slot slipped through Antero Niittymaki on a power play. The Maple Leafs, red hot with the extra man last week, wasted their first six opportunities, including a two-man edge for 49 seconds early in the middle frame, and another in the final minutes.
Kessel buzzed around the ice over the first two periods with seven shots -- bouncing back no worse for the wear after absorbing a wicked hit from Mattias Ohlund at the Lightning blue-line as he tried to dance into the zone in the first -- but it was the slumping Lecavalier who opened the scoring.
Gustavsson, brilliant to that point, played a puck that might have been icing behind his goal and fired it into the neutral zone, where Ohlund picked it off. The Swedish defenceman charged in and fired a slapshot that was kicked out by Gustavsson right to Lecavalier, who fired the rebound into the empty net at 18:34 of the middle period for his second of the season.
It was the 12th time in 13 games the Maple Leafs surrendered the first goal.
The timing could not have been better for the Tampa Bay captain, who is off to a shockingly poor start but showed some needed flashes of his old brilliance with the entire Canadian Olympic team brain trust in attendance.
They were in town to also take a long look at young Steven Stamkos, who has 11 goals and five assists in 13 games, but he wasn't especially noticeable. Martin St. Louis would also have been on Team Canada's radar screen.
Kessel, a candidate for the U.S. Olympic team, got a loud ovation each time he touched the puck and often looked dangerous once it was on his stick.
Acquired by the Leafs in a September trade with Boston for two first-round picks and a second-round selection, he had been sidelined while recovering from off-season shoulder surgery. While plagued by understandable signs of rust, the speedy 22-year-old looked strong on the puck and showed no fear going into the corners when he had to.
The one worrying moment he had was when Ohlund decked him, prompting Matt Stajan to jump his opponent. Kessel went straight to the dressing room but was just returning to the Maple Leafs bench a minute and a half later when Lightning defenceman Lukas Krajicek brought down Niklas Hagman in front of the Tampa Bay net.
Hagman got up, dropped his gloves and went right after Krajicek to earn the first fighting major of his eight-year career.
Gustavsson and Niittymaki traded big saves throughout the game, keeping what could have been a high-scoring affair very tight.
Notes: With his fighting major, Hagman now has nine penalty minutes this season. He had four all of the last campaign. ... Kessel, who signed a US$27-million, five-year deal, after he was acquired, took Jiri Tlusty's spot in the lineup. Tlusty was returned to the AHL Marlies on Monday. ... Forwards Jamal Mayers and Jay Rosehill and defenceman Jeff Finger were healthy scratches for the Maple Leafs, while defencemen Kurtis Foster, Matt Smaby and Paul Ranger were the Lightning's scratches. ...
