The Tampa Bay Lightning extended their lead in the Atlantic Division to five points with a 4-3 shootout win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Amalie Arena on Monday.
Chris Kunitz, Tyler Johnson and Adam Erne scored goals and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves for Tampa Bay (43-17-3), which has won four in a row. The Lightning lead the NHL with 89 points.
“It was a great effort. We had some emotion in the game,” Kunitz said. “Guys did a great job of rallying together when we were short a guy up front, and [Vasilevskiy] was once again the best player on the ice.”
After Vasilevskiy denied Marner on a penalty shot at 13:58 of the third period, Brayden Point scored the only goal in the shootout for the Lightning when he beat Frederik Andersen with a wrist shot to the stick side.
“He’s amazing,” Lightning forward Yanni Gourde said. “[Point] uses his speed and he got the puck away so quick that the goalie didn’t expect it. He’s always ready to shoot.”
James van Riemsdyk, Mitchell Marner and Tyler Bozak scored for the Maple Leafs (39-20-6), who had won five straight games. Andersen made 39 saves. The Maple Leafs are two points ahead of the Boston Bruins for second in the Atlantic; Boston has played five fewer games.
“Us three teams, I think we’re all really good teams,” Bozak said. “It’s going to be a tough test for the rest of the year to see who can finish where, and obviously we’re going to try and push and get up as high in the standings as we can.”
A sweeping strike from @Bozie42. #TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/0OfFV5126y
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 27, 2018
.@Marner93 x @MapleLeafs #TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/U1Y6jCRorQ
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 27, 2018
JVR scoring JVR goals. #TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/HQQbpcqjON
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 27, 2018
A new look. #TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/Mfe3ivtKh1
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 26, 2018