Maple Leafs too much for Lightning 5-3

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Auston Matthews had an assist in his return to the lineup and Joseph Woll stopped 38 shots as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 on Saturday night

Chris Tanev scored a goal and an assist and Mitch Marner contributed two assists. Nick Robertson, John Tavares and William Nylander also scored goals for Toronto. Matthews set up Nylander’s scoreless goal in the third period after he missed nine games with an upper-body injury.

Mikey Eyssimont, Jake Guentzel and Cam Atkinson scored for Tampa Bay, which was without leading scorer Nikita Kucherov.

Toronto led 4-0 in the third before the Lightning scored three goals in just over six minutes to cut their deficit to one goal with 2:22 left.

Takeaways

Maple Leafs: Toronto has allowed two goals or fewer in seven of its last 11 games. … The Leafs have a 207-36-36 all-time record when both Matthews and Marner record a point in the same game.

Lightning: Victor Hedman recorded two assists and became the franchise leader with 590 career assists, passing Marty St. Louis. … Kucherov is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Kucherov missed the second period Friday in Nashville but returned for the third period and overtime.

Key moment

Robertson scored 33 seconds after Chris Tanev gave the Maple Leafs a 3-0 lead at 8:39 of the second period. The goal was Robertson’s first since October 22, a span of 19 games.

Key statistics

Maple Leafs RW Mitch Marner reached the 30-point mark, joining Dave Keon, Mats Sundi and Borje Salming as the fourth player in franchise history with at least 30 points in each of his first nine seasons.

Next

Toronto hosts Chicago on Monday to open a three-game homestand. Tampa Bay hosts San Jose on Thursday.