TB’s Vasilevskiy gets 48 saves, foils Leafs

Lightning wins confrontation between league’s top two teams

TAMPA, Fla. — Andrei Vasilevskiy made 48 saves in his return from a broken left foot as the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 on Thursday night in a matchup of the NHL’s top two teams.

Alex Killorn and Tyler Johnson both scored for Tampa Bay during the final 36 seconds of the second period to make it 4-1. Vasilevskiy, who missed the previous 14 games, stopped all 23 shots he faced in the period.

“That was a pretty good test for us,” Vasilevskiy said. “Guys scored important goals at the end of the second.”

Vasilevskiy tied the team record for saves in a game established by Ben Bishop against Carolina on Jan. 19, 2014.

“He was the best player on the ice for us by a country mile,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.

Anthony Cirelli and Nikita Kucherov also had goals for the Lightning (25-7-1), which has won eight in a row and leads Toronto by eight points in the Atlantic Division. BLUE JACKETS 4, KINGS

1: In Columbus, Ohio, Artemi Panarin scored twice and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 29 shots as Columbus topped Los Angeles.

Lukas Sedlak and Josh Anderson also scored, and Cam Atkinson assisted on both of Panarin’s goals as the Blue Jackets snapped a twogame skid and held onto second place in the Metropolitan Division, three points behind Washington.

CANADIENS 6, HURRICANES 4: In Montreal, Jeff Petry scored twice and Casey Price made 28 saves for his fourth consecutive victory as Montreal got past Carolina.

Matthew Peca, Brendan Gallagher, Artturi Lehkonen and Andrew Shaw also scored for the Canadiens, who have won four of five. Phillip Danault and Kenny Agostino each had two assists.

WILD 5, PANTHERS 1: In St. Paul, Minn., Nino Niederreiter scored twice, Ryan Suter had three assists and Devan Dubnyk finished with 30 saves as Minnesota downed Florida.

Eric Staal, Zach Parise and Jonas Brodin also scored for the Wild, which was coming off a 7-1 win over Montreal on Tuesday. Niederreiter added an assist and has four goals in the last three games.

PREDATORS 4, CANUCKS 3 (OT): In Nashville, Tenn., Colton Sissons scored 3:05 into overtime to give Nashville a victory over Vancouver.

Ryan Hartman, Nick Bonino and Calle Jarnkrok also scored, and Pekka Rinne made 19 saves for the Predators, winners of two straight.

JETS 5, OILERS 4 (OT): In Winnipeg, Manitoba, defenseman Josh Morrissey scored 41 seconds into overtime to give Winnipeg a victory over Edmonton.

Morrissey took a pass from Mark Scheifele and fired a high shot past goalie Cam Talbot for his fourth goal of the season. The Jets won their third straight, and ended Edmonton’s winning streak at four games.

SABRES 3, COYOTES 1: In Buffalo, N.Y., Jeff Skinner scored his 22nd goal of the season as Buffalo defeated Arizona.

Casey Mittelstadt and Evan Rodrigues also had goals for the Sabres, who won their second straight.