William Nylander's 3-point night powers Leafs past Lightning

Field Level Media|published: Mon 21st October, 22:37 2024

NHL: Tampa Bay Lightning at Toronto Maple Leafs

Oct 21, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs forward John Tavares (91) and Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) battle for a loose puck during the first period at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

William Nylander scored two goals and added an assist and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning 5-2 on Monday night.

Auston Matthews, Max Pacioretty and Matthew Knies also scored for the Maple Leafs, who completed a 3-1-0 homestand. Mitch Marner added two assists.

Toronto goaltender Anthony Stolarz made 32 saves.

Nicholas Paul and Brayden Point scored for the Lightning, who have lost the first two games of a three-game road trip. Victor Hedman added two assists.

Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy allowed four goals on 14 shots before being replaced during the second period by Jonas Johansson, who stopped 14 of the 15 shots he faced.

Toronto forced the issue from the start of a fast-paced first period and took a 1-0 lead at 3:57 when Nylander scored from the slot on a pass from Max Domi.

Paul tied the game 12 minutes later after breaking in alone to get credit for his second goal of the season. Stolarz stopped his shot, but a sliding Toronto defenseman Simon Benoit knocked the rebound into his own goal.

Toronto scored four unanswered goals in the second period.

Matthews scored his third of the season at 1:56 on a power play, jamming in the rebound from Marner's shot. Nylander also got an assist on the play that was started by a quick, long pass by Stolarz.

Nylander scored his fifth of the season on a two-on-one break with Domi at 7:33 with a shot from the right circle that deflected off Vasilevskiy's pad. Bobby McMann made the pass to Nylander.

The lead reached 4-1 at 9:31 when Pacioretty scored his second of the season with a high 58-foot shot.

Johansson then took over in the Lightning goal.

Tampa Bay had a five-on-three power play for two minutes starting at 10:02 of the middle period but could not score.

Knies scored his second of the season on a breakaway at 14:02 after two Lightning players collided in the neutral zone.

Point netted his third goal of the season on a power play at 14:53 of the third period.

--Field Level Media

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