TAMPA, Fla. – Continuing their stretch of 10 home games in the month of December, the Tampa Bay Lightning return to the St. Pete Times Forum to kick off a two-game homestand.  Hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday, December 20 (7:30p.m., Sun Sports, 620 WDAE), the clubs will meet at Tampa Bay for the first of two scheduled games this season.

 

The Lightning return to play on their home ice after dropping a 6-2 decision to the Atlanta Thrashers.

 

Jason Ward scored shorthanded and Vaclav Prospal netted his 15^th goal of the season to post the Tampa Bay goals in the contest.

 

Snapping netminder Kari Lehtonen’s shutout bid late in the second period, Ward posted Tampa Bay’s first goal of the contest.  After stripping the puck from Ilya Kovalchuk in Atlanta’s offensive zone, Ward skated down the right wing towards Lehtonen.  Cutting to the front of the net Ward snapped a wrist shot into the top right corner of the net for his fourth goal of the season.

 

The goal was Ward’s first shorthanded marker of the year.  The Lightning winger has recorded four shorthanded goals in his career.

 

Prospal added the second Tampa Bay goal at 12:42 of the third period, netting sixth power play goal of the season.  Tipping a shot by Paul Ranger from the left point, Prospal re-directed the puck down and through the five-hole against Lehtonen for the score.

 

Prospal extended his point streak against the Thrashers to seven games.  Since the February 22, 2007 match-up, Prospal has recorded six goals and 11 points against Atlanta.

 

Ilya Kovalchuk led the Thrashers with one goal and one assist on the night.  Six different Atlanta skaters got on the board in the contest, with Vyacheslav Kozlov netting the eventual game-winner with 2:33 remaining in the first period.

 

Tampa Bay out-shot Atlanta 34-24 in the contest, but Lehtonen’s 32 saves pushed the Thrashers to a 3-2 series lead through five games this season.  Johan Holmqvist and Marc Denis both saw ice time against the Thrashers with Denis playing the final two periods of the game.

 

Toronto arrives at Tampa Bay in the middle of a seven-game road trip.  With a 1-1-1 record through the first half of their longest trip of the season, the Maple Leafs face the Lightning following a 3-2 overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

 

Despite building a 2-0 lead through the first two periods of play, Toronto allowed three unanswered Carolina goals to surrender the contest.

 

Tomas Kaberle recorded two points (one goal, one assist) and Boyd Devereaux posted the opening goal in the contest to give the Maple Leafs the early lead.  However, a pair of third-period goals by Cory Stillman and Ray Whitney sent the game to overtime.  With 33 seconds remaining in overtime Scott Walker notched a later power play marker to win the game with his fourth goal of the season.

 

Carolina out-shot Toronto 38-36 in the game, including 6-1 in overtime.  Vesa Toskala made 35 saves, but fell to 12-10-4 on the season.  Toskala has made more saves in only one other game this year, stopping 46 of 51 shots in a 6-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

 

The last time the Lightning and Maple Leafs met Toskala stopped 26 of 27 shots-faced in a 6-1 win at Toronto.  The Maple Leafs netminder improved to 2-0 all-time against the Lightning with the victory.

 

Michel Ouellet scored the lone Tampa Bay goal in the contest as four different Toronto skaters posted multi-point nights.  Chad Kilger scored twice and Mats Sundin added the game-winner and an assist to lead the Maple Leafs.  Sundin has recorded three goals and seven assists during a seven-game point streak against the Lightning.

 

Holmqvist and Denis split time between the pipes as Toronto out-shot Tampa Bay 29-27 in the game.

 

Although Sundin has been held off the score sheet in his previous two games, the Toronto captain leads his club with 16 goals and 40 points this season.

 

For Tampa Bay, Lecavalier continues to hold his position as the league’s top scorer with 51 points (22 goals, 29 assists).  Despite being held off the board against Atlanta, Lecavalier has a seven-game point-scoring streak at the St. Pete Times Forum.  The Lightning center has recorded six goals and eight assists during the stretch.

 

With 28 points (11 goals, 17 assists) through 31 career match-ups, Lecavalier leads Tampa Bay in scoring against Toronto.

 

Last season Richards ranked second with five points (three goals, two assists) through four games against the Maple Leafs.  The Tampa Bay winger has posted 26 points (12 goals, 14 assists) through 25 career match-ups against the club.