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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Cory Cross dreamt about scoring a goal like
this.
|  | | Toronto goalie Glenn Healy, who frustrated the Lightning all night, knocks the puck away from Darcy Tucker. |
Cross scored the eventual game-winning goal against his former
team with a little more than seven minutes left in the third period as the
Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 Tuesday night.
"I thought about it today, but I didn't think it would
happen," Cross said. "It would be very nice to get the winner,
but the way I play, there's not much chance of that happening. I
was lucky enough it did."
In his first game against the Lightning, Cross snapped a 2-2 tie
when his slap shot from the left point deflected off Tampa Bay
goalie Dan Cloutier's glove with 7:16 left.
"That goal shouldn't go in. It's a 2-2 game, it's an awful goal
that wins the game for them," Tampa Bay coach Steve Ludzik said.
"It was a good shot, but it should have been a routine save,"
Cloutier said.
Cross' second goal of the season snapped a 22-game goal-scoring
drought.
"I'm sure he ranked that goal up there pretty good," Toronto
coach Pat Quinn said. "It's nice for him, the style of game he
plays, just to get a goal. To have it happen against the team you
played for, it's probably special and turns out to be a winner
too."
The Maple Leafs acquired Cross and a 2001 seventh-round draft
pick from Tampa Bay for Fredrik Modin last October.
Garry Valk added an insurance goal with three minutes left as
Toronto won its fourth straight game. The Maple Leafs have also won
eight straight against the Lightning, who have dropped three
consecutive games.
Sergei Berezin had a goal and two assists for Toronto.
Tampa Bay wing Stephane Richer returned after missing 15 games
with a strained oblique muscle and scored his 399th career goal in
the second period.
The Lightning had the better scoring chances through two
periods, but the play of Toronto backup goalie Glenn Healy kept the
game tied 2-2 after 40 minutes.
"Glenn kept it close, especially in that second period," Quinn
said. "In that second period, we were just awful giving up
outnumbered attacks. He made a couple brilliant saves. It was quite
a game for him."
Healy robbed Mike Sillinger with a glove save on a second-period
breakaway, and made a diving stop on Richer during a two-on-one break.
Toronto's Mike Johnson scored in the first period on the power
play. It was Johnson's seventh goal in eight games against Tampa Bay.
Darcy Tucker got the equalizer for Tampa Bay early in the second
period. After Sergei Berezin put the Maple Leafs ahead 2-1, Richer
tied it with just under four minutes left in the second period.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Toronto Clubhouse
Tampa Bay Clubhouse
 Morganti: Lightning improvement in Tampa
RECAPS
Nashville 3
Boston 1
Pittsburgh 4
NY Islanders 0
Buffalo 3
NY Rangers 1
Toronto 4
Tampa Bay 2
Dallas 0
Calgary 0
Edmonton 6
Washington 2
St. Louis 6
Phoenix 0
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Cory Cross scores the game-winner against his former team.
avi: 589 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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