Maple Leafs rebound to end Lightning home winning streak
via NHL.com
John Tavares scored twice for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 4-3 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Tuesday.
William Nylander had a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs (33-23-8), who lost their previous game to emergency goalie David Ayres and the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday. Frederik Andersen made 26 saves to keep Toronto two points ahead of the Florida Panthers for third place in the Atlantic Division.
“We’ve scored a lot of goals all year, I’m not too concerned about us finding ways to put the puck in the net,” Tavares said. “We just have to play to our capabilities and have that consistency.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 19 saves for the Lightning (40-18-5), who lost at home for the first time in 12 games and have lost three straight for the first time this season. Tampa Bay is second in the Atlantic Division, five points behind the Boston Bruins.
“We didn’t play poorly 5-on-5, we didn’t give them anything,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “It was a total special-teams game. When you lose a hockey game and the losing team’s players are plus and the [winning] team’s players are all minuses, you know what decided that game.”
Tavares’ second of the game gave the Maple Leafs a 3-2 lead at 12:25 of the second period. Nylander made it 4-2 with power-play goal at 14:21 when he went between his legs and beat Vasilevskiy to the far post.
“That’s pretty sweet; I didn’t know he went in between the legs at first, I saw it here after,” Maple Leafs defenseman Tyson Barrie said. “He’s been scoring big goals for us all year and obviously that was a beauty tonight.”
Nylander said his vision was impaired on the move so he just elevated the shot.
“I can’t really see anything, so I’m going to by feel,” Nylander said. “But obviously you have to get it up there if you want to score.”
Amped up#LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/3JW05EA2F6
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 26, 2020
grab your 🍿 and watch it again https://t.co/tdDcC0p48j pic.twitter.com/LEFjxmlXuV
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 26, 2020
Took ✌️ points in Tampa!
Check out tonight’s @OntarioLottery Game Winning Numbers. #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/rRiyhzVyvg
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 26, 2020