LEAFS TOP BOLTS
TORONTO — William Nylander scored twice and added an assist to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday.
Auston Matthews had three assists for the Leafs (34-19-5), who won their fifth consecutive home game and eight of their last nine games overall.
Jake Gardiner and James van Riemsdyk also had goals for Toronto. Frederik Andersen made 28 saves to collect his 28th win of the season.
Alex Killorn, Nikita Koucherov, and Yanni Gourde scored goals for Tampa Bay (38-15-3).
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 19 saves in defeat.
The Leafs opened the scoring in the first period when Nylander picked up a pass from Matthews in the slot. Nylander’s one-timer beat Vasilevskiy. Jake Gardiner picked up the secondary assist at 8:55.
The Leafs made it 2-0 early in the second period with Nylander’s second goal of the game. He picked up a lead pass from Matthews from centre ice and beat Vasilevskiy’s blocker side. Mitch Marner picked up a secondary assist.
Gardiner added to Toronto’s lead at 11:36 of the second. His wrist shot from inside the blue line went through Vasilevskiy’s legs. Nylander and Matthews each picked up an assist.
Tampa Bay replied with its first goal of the game when Killorn picked up the rebound from Brayden Point’s initial shot and put the puck into a half-empty net at 15:59.
Kucherov cut Toronto’s lead when he picked up a pass from Killorn and beat Andersen 58 seconds into the third period and Gourde tied the game just 20 seconds later, tipping Braydon Coburn’s shot from the point past Andersen at 1:18.
Toronto took a 4-3 lead when van Riemsdyk’s shot just squeezed past Vasilevskiy’s pad at 4:39.
Note: Patrick Marleau skated in his 1,551st career regularseason game, passing Alex Delvecchio for sole possession of 13th place on the NHL’s all-time games played list