Stamkos, Ellis too much for Maple Leafs

The combination of Steven Stamkos and Dan Ellis was more than the Toronto Maple Leafs could handle on Tuesday night.

Stamkos scored his League-leading 12th and 13th goals of the season and Ellis stopped all 28 shots he faced as the Tampa Bay Lightning beat Toronto 4-0, snapping a three-game losing streak extending the Leafs' winless slide to six games.

Stamkos opened the scoring with a power-play goal 11:10 into the game, triggering a three-goal first period by the Lightning, then capped the scoring by backhanding a rebound past Jean-Sebastien Giguere 5:46 into the third.

"Things are just going my way right now," said Stamkos, the NHL's scoring leader with 24 points. "It feels really nice to help this team win. I'm just going to keep shooting the puck and going to the net."

Stamkos, who grew up near Toronto, has 6 goals and 13 points in nine career games against the Leafs. The third-year center has at least one point in 12 of Tampa Bay's 14 games this season.

Nate Thompson got his first of the season 29 seconds after Stamkos opened the scoring, and Dominic Moore's tip-in at 19:13 of the first gave the Bolts a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes.

"It was a great start that really set the tone for the whole game," Stamkos said.

Tampa Bay, returning from a 1-2-1 trip, is back on the road Thursday at Washington and spends most of the next month away from the St. Pete Times Forum.

"That is why it's so important to win these home games -- because it is so tough to win on the road in this League," Stamkos said. "This was a big win for us and really helped us get our confidence back."

The Leafs have been outscored 19-8 during their six-game slide and were shut out for the third time. Two of Ellis' best stops came on a pair of close-in chances by Tyler Bozak late in the second period.

"You've got to play 60 minutes in this game and I think it was obvious that we weren't ready to start," said Giguere, who made 21 saves. "In the situation we're in, you need to see some desperation out of the guys, some competitiveness, and we're not seeing that."

The Leafs went 0-for-5 on the power play and managed nothing during an early 48-second 5-on-3 advantage.

"This League is about scoring first, so we passed up a great opportunity," Toronto coach Ron Wilson said. "You've got to find a way to get our power play going because if you don't score -- like a 5-on-3 -- it's depressing not to score or even get a scoring chance."

Hurricanes 7, Oilers 1 | HIGHLIGHTS

Defenseman Joe Corvo scored two power-play goals as the Hurricanes blew out Edmonton at the RBC Center, extending their home winning streak to three games.

The 'Canes led 2-0 just 75 seconds into the game on goals by Patrick Dwyer and Eric Cole, and 4-0 at the 7:19 mark on goals by Corvo and Chad LaRose. Corvo added another goal in the second period, and Sergei Samsonov and rookie Jeff Skinner sandwiched third-period goals around one by Edmonton's Dustin Penner, who scored with 14:39 left to spoil Cam Ward's shutout bid.

Carolina has scored 17 goals in its last three home games after being shut out in its first two at the RBC Center.

"It's been really fun, with some of the bounces we've got," said Skinner, who also had a pair of assists. "But at the same time, we've earned our bounces. We had to work hard for them. When things go well, it's nice."

Edmonton, playing the second of a five-game U.S. road trip, has been outscored 21-10 in the first period this season. Nikolai Khabibulin was lifted after allowing four goals on eight shots.

"They got a few goals early, and we didn't play our game from then on," said No. 1 draft pick Taylor Hall, who along with fellow rookie Jordan Eberle was benched during the game. "We obviously need to play better."

Oilers coach Tom Renney hopes his young team learned something.

"It's a little bit of a lesson learned," he said.

"I saw a team that because it didn't get a penalty call on a power play on the ice decided that the world was against them tonight. You can't win that way. We all needed to be better than we were tonight, and that can start behind the bench."

Senators 5, Thrashers 2 | HIGHLIGHTS

Ottawa made it four wins in a row as Jason Spezza scored twice and Brian Elliott stopped 35 shots.

After Andrew Ladd's power-play goal 4:01 into the game put the Thrashers in front, Spezza tied it at 11:05 and set up Sergei Gonchar's goal at 15:39, just 3 seconds into a power play. Chris Neil and Jesse Winchester scored in the second period, and Spezza got his second of the game 1:23 into the third during a power play.

"We did a good job of taking over the game, getting some goals and I thought we played pretty well all around," said Spezza. "We were a little sloppy once we got the big lead, but for the most part I thought we played well."

Senators coach Cory Clouston said his team has been playing with a lot of confidence.

"It's been a process. It just didn't happen automatically," he said. "The last little while we've been able to put more of a complete game together. Most of that is confidence.

"We put a little too much pressure on ourselves to erase (the poor start to the season). Right now, we're just about our game and the outcome will work out for us."

Andrew Stewart added a power-play goal for the Thrashers, who made too many mistakes and paid the price.

"We were pleased with the start," coach Craig Ramsay said. "We were speedy. We were going after them. We were putting pressure on their defense. We were doing everything right. We give up one. Then we throw one in the middle at 1-1, take the penalty and they score right off the faceoff. We can't afford those little details and mistakes. It's too much like work to be falling behind all the time."

Ducks 3, Sharks 2 (OT) | HIGHLIGHTS

Jonas Hiller helped Anaheim get into overtime, and Lubomir Visnovsky sent the Ducks home with two points by scoring with 32.6 seconds left in OT for their fourth win in a row.

Saku Koivu won a faceoff back to Visnovsky, who glided to center point, waited for a screen and ripped a slap shot through traffic that Antero Niittymaki never saw.

"I kind of lost the d-man," Niittymaki said. "There was a lot of traffic. They won the faceoff and everyone just went for the net, and some nights the puck finds its way to the net. Tonight it did.

"I thought we played decent. It just wasn't our night tonight."

Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said the game-winner came off a busted play.

"We were fortunate to win a faceoff," he said. "We had kind of a play going that didn't really materialize. But we didn't stop there. Shoot the puck, get it toward the net. It found a way to get in."

Anaheim led 2-1 after two periods on Corey Perry's backhander at 6:27 of the second period, but San Jose completely controlled the third period -- the Sharks outshot Anaheim 22-6, though they managed only Devin Setoguchi's goal at 9:05. Setoguchi fired his own rebound past Hiller for his second goal of the season and first in exactly a month.

Sharks coach Todd McLellan wasn't pleased with his team's play in the first two periods.

"We played like turtles, we were very slow," he said. "Our passing was poor. When we got a little desperation and a little polish in our game, we were much better in the last 15 minutes of the game."

Hiller's play in the third period was the only reason the Ducks got one point, let alone two.

"Hiller was outstanding -- the best player on the ice," Carlyle said. "But that's what it takes to win on the road in these tough buildings."

After a slow start, the over-.500 Ducks head back to Anaheim for Wednesday's game against the struggling New York Islanders.

"The team has more confidence than ever ... and now we get to back home," Visnovsky said.

Material from team media and wire services was used in this report.