Steven Stamkos' 4-point night stifles Leafs' fans boos

Steven Stamkos wasted little time Tuesday night reintroducing himself to his home town.

The Tampa Bay centre, on his first shift of the game, beat Maple Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen 79 seconds in on the Lightning's first shot. He added a second goal with 2:48 remaining in the period.

He finished with two goals and two assists in a comfortable 7-3 Tampa win, although the Leafs mounted a brief rally after trailing 5-1. The Stamkos line had a 10-point night and was a combined plus-12.

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Stamkos was on the ice for five of Tampa's goals and none of Toronto's.

William Nylander, James van Riemsdyk and Auston Matthews scored for Toronto. Matthews now has 10 points on the season.

Stamkos, whom Toronto fans hoped might be wearing a Leafs uniform this season, acknowledged he had heard some early boos, but said he is happy to focus on helping his team win with his hockey future no longer a question-mark.

"This whole year has a different vibe to it, with all the stuff that went on last year ... It's just coming to the rink and knowing what was your job is."

Stamkos announced his presence early by driving defenceman Connor Carrick into the boards. That drew some boos from the Air Canada Centre crowd.

Then, as the Leafs tried to clear the puck, defenceman Andrej Sustr swept the puck back into the Toronto end from the blue line. It went past two Leafs to Stamkos, who found himself alone on Andersen.

The Lightning captain deked the Dane for Tampa's first first-period goal of the season. Defenceman Matt Hunwick unwittingly helped knock the puck past Andersen as he made contact with Stamkos' stick from behind.

After an Alex Killorn goal, Stamkos made it 3-0 on another Sustr assist after some good recycling by Nikita Kucherov. Sustr, from the side boards, found Stamkos alone and the Tampa star, from outside the top of the right faceoff circle, hammered a high shot that rang off the bar into the goal.

In the second period, Stamkos tried to set up Victor Hedman with a nifty behind the back pass but Andersen made the save. Second later, Stamkos did get an assist when he sent the puck towards the goal. Namestnikov's shot was saved but Hedman tucked the rebound in for a 4-0 lead on Tampa's 11th shot.

He added a second assist in the third period on Tampa's fifth goal, scored by Nikita Kucherov.

Stamkos, a native of Markham, Ont., signed a $68-million US, eight-year deal in June — on the eve of free agency — to stay in Tampa.

The 26-year-old centre, who is making $9.5 million this season, had three goals and two assists in his first five games of the season.

Toronto reportedly enlisted Mayor John Tory and the CEO of Canadian Tire in its unsuccessful bid to recruit Stamkos.

While it was Stamkos' first visit to the ACC this season with the Lightning, he had played there for Team Canada during the September World Cup.

The evening wasn't so great for Tampa goaltender Ben Bishop. He lost two teeth in the second period after taking a Peter Holland shot off the mask.

The hard shot went through the legs of defenceman Andrej Sustr and hit Bishop in the mask, jarring his two front teeth — both crowns — loose.

The six-foot-seven Tampa goalie dropped his stick and slowly fell forward. When he recovered, he took off his mask and looked inside. Teammate Brian Boyle then appeared to pick his teeth up on the ice.

"I was shocked," Bishop said after the game while sporting a Bobby Clarke gap in his teeth and whistling a little as he talked. "Knocked my two front teeth out.

"They were already crowned, so at least I already had that going for me," he added with a gap-toothed laugh.

Still he stayed in the game.

"It wasn't super-painful or anything like that. I was just trying to be like these guys, I guess," he said, pointing to his teammates in the locker-room. "They lose teeth all the time."

"It was throbbing pretty good," he added. "And my talking's a little different right now. Other than that I was able to just stay with it."