TORONTO -- Nazem Kadri continues to produce for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Kadri set a new career mark with three assists as the Maple Leafs snapped a five-game winless streak with a 4-2 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Air Canada Centre on Wednesday.
Holding a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes, the Maple Leafs blew the game wide open before the halfway point, with three goals in the first 7:22 of the second period en route to a 4-0 lead after two periods.
Dion Phaneuf began the barrage 52 seconds into the second when he scored his fifth goal on a high drive from the blue line that eluded Mathieu Garon to make it 2-0.
Later, with Toronto pressuring, Phil Kessel came streaking in on Garon, but could not control the puck. As two Lightning defenders converged on Kessel, the puck bounded to Tyler Bozak, who was left alone in the slot and ripped home his eighth goal of the season at 6:53.
Bozak's goal prompted Lightning coach Guy Boucher to pull Garon, who allowed three goals on 13 shots. His replacement, Anders Lindback, got a rude awakening as Nikolai Kulemin greeted him with a goal less than 30 seconds after Bozak's marker.
Kadri caught the Lightning defenders on their heels, breezing over their blue line before passing it back to Kulemin, who was trailing. Upon receiving the puck, Kulemin dragged it around defenseman Radko Gudas before wiring a shot past Lindback for his fourth of the season.
After going eight games without a goal, Kulemin has now scored twice in as many games.
Garon's exit turned out to be temporary. He reappeared in goal with 12:16 to go in the game as Lindback headed for the dressing room for an undisclosed reason.
While the Maple Leafs took the play to the Lightning, Tampa Bay was not without its chances in the middle period. Tyler Johnson took a centering feed in the blue paint, but James Reimer (26 saves) got his stick on the tip-in attempt.
Rookie-scoring leader Cory Conacher took it upon himself to get his team on the board as he drove to the net with less than 30 seconds to go, but Reimer was not fooled by his move to the backhand and closed the five-hole to thwart the opportunity.
Conacher – a Toronto-area native with dozens of family and friends in attendance -- and Gudas would score late in the game, but it was a case of too little, too late.
Just as he did in his first game back from injury one game ago, Joffrey Lupul continued to make up for lost time as he opened the scoring with his third of the season at 6:56 of the first period. After taking a hard cross-ice pass from Carl Gunnarsson, Kadri was able to zip the puck to Lupul, who was unmarked in the slot and able to redirect the puck behind Garon.
Lupul and Kadri almost connected again just a few minutes later, but Garon stretched out to get his left pad on Lupul's hard drive from the left circle.
The Lightning received a scare less than a minute into the third period when defenseman Victor Hedman was on the receiving end of a high hit from Lupul in the neutral zone. Hedman was forced to briefly head to the dressing room, but was able to return to the game. Lupul received a two-minute penalty for an illegal check to the head.
Defenseman Jake Gardiner was in the starting lineup after being recalled on Tuesday from an extended stint in the American Hockey League.
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