Leafs hold off Lightning's late charge

Chris Tanev had a goal and an assist as the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs jumped out to a four-goal lead and held on to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 on Saturday night.

Matthew Knies, Nicholas Robertson, John Tavares and William Nylander each scored a goal as Toronto won for the eighth time in 10 games (8-2-0) and finished 8-3-1 in November despite missing top scorer Auston Matthews for most of the month.

Matthews returned after a nine-game absence due to an upper-body injury and tallied two assists. Mitch Marner posted two helpers.

Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll made 38 saves and has won his past five starts.

Toronto's Jake McCabe skated in his 600th NHL game but was hit in the head with a shot from the Lightning's Nick Perbix in the second. He did not return.

Tampa Bay's Michael Eyssimont, Jake Guentzel and Cam Atkinson each scored in the third -- the latter two with goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy pulled for an extra skater -- but Nylander sealed the win with his empty-net goal. Victor Hedman and Brandon Hagel had two assists apiece.

Vasilevskiy made 24 saves for Tampa Bay, which went 5-6-2 in November.

The Lightning were without playmaker Nikita Kucherov (undisclosed injury).

In a fast-paced first period, Tampa Bay pushed most of the early play, but the Leafs cashed in on its first shot when Knies clipped Tanev's blast from up high for his ninth goal at 7:13.

Tanev notched his first goal this season at 8:06 to push the Leafs' lead to 2-0, and 33 seconds later, Robertson scored his second of the season from the bottom of the left circle. It was Robertson's first in 13 games.

Tavares pushed the lead to 4-0 when he backhanded in a loose puck with 1:01 left in the second for his 10th goal.

After Eyssimont scored at 11:21 of the third, Guentzel netted his 10th to trim the Lightning's deficit to 4-2 at 15:19.

Hedman recorded his 589th assist on the second goal, passing Martin St. Louis for the most in Tampa Bay franchise history.

After Atkinson's second goal on the power play at 17:38 made it 4-3, Nylander scored at 18:44 for his 15th to seal the win.

--Field Level Media