(AP) — In his first career NHL start, 2007 AHL All-Star Karri Ramo made 31 saves to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning past the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-1, on Thursday night.
Martin St. Louis, an AHL All-Star in 1999, set up Vincent Lecavalier’s game-winning goal with 41.6 seconds left in the game, and 2003 AHL MVP and All-Star Jason Ward also scored for the Lightning, who snapped a three-game losing skid.
Ramo made his first career start one day after he was recalled from Norfolk of the AHL, where he is 2-4-0 in six appearances this season.
"We were really desperate for a win," Ramo said. "Everybody was so pumped up to win this game."
Trailing 1-0, Ramo turned aside a good scoring chance by Mark Bell, and on the ensuing rush, Ward tied it off a pass from Lecavalier with 1:19 left in the second.
"He obviously gave us a chance to win," Tampa Bay assistant coach Mike Sullivan said. "I thought he made key big saves at some critical times. To have success in this league, you have to get timely saves, and I thought he did that for us."
"He made some good saves when we needed it," Ward said. "I think we played well defensively as a unit to help him out. We needed a win, and no matter how we got it, it didn’t matter."
