Turco Wins Battle With Belfour, 2-1

Ed Belfour played well in his first game against his former teammates since signing with Toronto.

But Marty Turco, Belfour’s former backup with the Dallas Stars, was just a little better.

Turco stopped 22 shots and the Stars got goals from Pierre Turgeon and Jason Arnott in their 2-1 victory over the Maple Leafs on Friday night at Dallas.

“It feels good now that it’s over,” Turco said of the much-hyped goaltending matchup. “It meant a little more with Eddie back here.”

Turco made his best stop of the night with 29 seconds left, coming up with an outstanding glove save to deny Bryan McCabe from 25 feet. Toronto had an extra attacker after Belfour skated to the bench with 57 seconds left.

Belfour, who made 21 saves, was Dallas’ starter for five seasons, backstopping the Stars’ Stanley Cup run in 1999.

*

Tampa Bay 4, Pittsburgh 1 -- Vincent Lecavalier had three goals as the Southeast Division-leading Lightning ended a three-game losing streak with a victory at Tampa, Fla. Fredrik Modin had the other goal for Tampa Bay, now 5-0 at home and off to a franchise-best start of 8-4-2 overall.

*

New York Islanders 4, Edmonton 2 -- Dave Scatchard scored twice, and Chris Osgood made 31 saves at Uniondale, N.Y., as the Islanders ended a six-game losing streak. Adrian Aucoin and Shawn Bates also scored for the Islanders, who got two assists from Brad Isbister.

*

Buffalo defenseman Alexei Zhitnik was suspended for two games after kneeing Carolina Hurricane left wing Jan Hlavac in the Sabres’ 2-0 loss Thursday.