(My Sportsbook) - About a week-and-a-half ago, things weren't very peachy North of the Border in Toronto.

The Maple Leafs had just dropped a 4-3 decision to the New York Rangers and fell to 0-3 in the first three installments of a seven-game homestand. For the third consecutive match, Pat Quinn's troops were littered with boos from a disgruntled Air Canada Centre crowd.

"The way we're playing right now, we'll be out of it shortly," Toronto's Alexander Mogilny said after that defeat to the Rangers.

Well, a switch must have gone off in the days following the loss, because the Maple Leafs have, to an extent, righted their ship with a 2-1-1 mark in the last four contests. That includes a 4-3 home victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night.

Mogilny notched his 16th career hat trick, including the game-winner with 2:22 to play, to lead the charge and continue his stellar personal start. The Russian sniper leads Toronto with eight goals and 11 points thus far, and his 19 points rank third in the National Hockey League.

The Leafs battled back from three one-goal deficits during the course of the evening and tied the match courtesy of a Darcy Tucker goal with 5:14 left in the third. Mogilny then broke the deadlock at the 17:38 mark when he fired a slap shot in off the glove of goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin.

"It would have been awful walking out tonight if we hadn't bounced back," coach and general manager Quinn said. "Those players should feel good about themselves tonight because all of us have been beating up on them pretty good. They needed something good to happen."

Going along with the team, netminder Ed Belfour had himself a shaky homestand as well, but capped off the set nicely with a solid 34-save showing against the Bolts. Eddie the Eagle yielded 20 goals in the previous six games of the stand.

"It was a huge confidence builder not only for myself, but for the team," said Belfour.

The effort was also a nice tune up for Belfour, who will face his old team, the Dallas Stars, on Friday.

UP NEXT

After visiting Big D, the Leafs will head to St. Louis for a matchup with the Blues the next night.