Matthews, Knies return, help Maple Leafs hold off Lightning

Auston Matthews had two assists in his return from injury for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 5-3 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Saturday.

The Maple Leafs captain missed nine games with an upper-body injury.

“I felt fine, I think as the game went on, I felt a little bit better,” Matthews said. “I still felt a little bit rusty, but I thought our line played pretty solid all around and simple for the most part. Obviously, it feels good to chip in on some goals there, especially early on. I just want to continue to go forward and get better each game.”

Matthews won 16-of-24 face-offs and had two shots on goal in 20:23.

“I thought he was strong on pucks and moved well out there,” Toronto coach Craig Berube said. “He did a lot of good things, same with [Matthew] Knies.”

Chris Tanev had a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs (14-7-2), who have won five of their past six. Joseph Woll made 38 saves.

Victor Hedman had two assists to set the Tampa Bay career assist record with 590, passing Martin St. Louis (588). Andrei Vasilevskiy made 24 saves for the Lightning (12-9-2), who are 3-3-1 in their past seven games.

Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov was a late scratch with an undisclosed injury and is day-to-day. Kucherov leads Tampa Bay with 34 points (12 goals, 22 assists).

“I think we gave ourselves a chance, really the whole game,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “I didn’t think we played poorly. We had ample chances to score, and we didn’t. Tip your hat … their goalie played pretty well tonight. They went in for us in the third … you know it’s tough when we have our looks and didn’t score and they had their looks and scored.”

Matthew Knies, who missed the previous two games with an upper-body injury, gave Toronto a 1-0 lead at 7:13 of the first period when he redirected the puck past Vasilevskiy off an initial shot from Tanev.

“He’s so big and strong and very agile at the same time,” Matthews said of Knies. “He works on that stuff. He works on those tips. He works on plays in and around the net. So he just continues to grow and continues to get better.”

Tanev made it 2-0 at 8:06 of the second period with his first goal of the season, a wrist shot from the circle that beat Vasilevskiy to the far post.

Nicholas Robertson extended the Maple Leafs lead to 3-0 at 8:39 with a wrist shot from a sharp angle that beat Vasilevskiy top shelf.

“It’s a relief, obviously it’s been a while, I’m just happy to get on the board there and it felt pretty good,” Robertson said. “I saw [Vasilevskiy] open up his shoulder … I just took my shot and it went in.’

Berube said of Robertson: “He’s working hard, no problem with the work ethic. I talked to him today about getting on the inside more, getting around the net and scoring some greasy goals, but it was great to see him get one for sure.”

John Tavares made it 4-0 at 18:59 when he scored off a rebound, using the backhand to send the puck in the net.

Michael Eyssimont made it 4-1 at 11:21 of the third period with a one-timer from the circle that deflected off of Woll’s pad and into the net.

Jake Guentzel scored at 15:19 with the Lightning adding an extra attacker in place of Vasilevskiy to make it 4-2. Hedman had the second assist on the goal, giving him the Lightning career record.

“Obviously I didn’t expect, going into this league, having a record like that,” Hedman said. “I hope to enjoy it for a few weeks or months before ‘Kuch’ passes me. It’s humbling and it’s something I’m proud of. I want to produce and I’ve been put in spots where I was able to do that and play with some unbelievable players that put the puck in the net.”

Cam Atkinson made it 4-3 with a power-play goal at 17:38.

William Nylander scored on an empty-net goal at 18:44 for the 5-3 final.

“In the first two periods I didn’t think we were terrible, but we were losing a few too many battles,” Lightning forward Brandon Hagel said. “Coming into the third period we just kind of continued to play and tried to put something together. It was close, but we fell short. Hopefully we can build off something like that.”

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