The Tampa Bay Lightning (38-14-4) defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs (27-22-9) 4-2 on Wednesday night at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa. Playing in their first game following the break for the Winter Olympics, the Lightning stayed hot, earning their sixth straight win.
Brayden Point had two goals and an assist in the win, while Nikita Kucherov added a goal and two assists and now has earned points in 11 straight games. For Kucherov, his assist was hit 700th career assist, earning the milestone in 855 games - the ninth fastest in NHL history.
After a scoreless first period, the Lightning scored goals :51 seconds apart in the second to take a 2-0 lead. Point's first goal got the scoring started, followed by Gage Goncalves scores the second one. In the third period, Kucherov scored to make it 3-0 before John Taveras got on the board for Toronto to make it 3-1.
Point's second goal made it 4-1 late in the third period. Matthew Knies scored to pull the Maple Leafs within 4-2, but that would be as close as Toronto would get. Andrei Vasilevskiy went 32-for-35 in net for Tampa Bay to earn the win.
The Lightning are next in action when they travel to Carolina to play the Hurricanes on Thursday night. Puck drop between the Lightning and Hurricanes is scheduled for 7:00 PM on Thursday night at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.
COVER PHOTO COURTESY GETTY IMAGES