Maple Leafs at Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning hope to build off one of their most inspiring victories of the season when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday in the second game of back-to-back sets for both teams. The Lightning rallied to score twice against Carey Price and Montreal in the final nine minutes of regulation on Wednesday before Tyler Johnson netted his second goal of the game for a 4-3 overtime triumph.
“It’s a big boost to win a game like this,” Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman told reporters after recording a goal and an assist to give him 12 points and a plus-6 rating over his last seven contests. The Lightning are 4-2-1 in their last seven while Toronto is 4-1-2 in the same span after winning the first three contests on its four-game road trip, including Wednesday’s 3-2 shootout triumph at Florida. Rookie Auston Matthews scored his 11th goal in 15 games and added an assist in the victory and Frederik Andersen turned aside 45 shots to improve to 5-1-0 in his last six decisions. Toronto’s special teams have been strong on the trek, going 4-for-9 on the power play and 14-for-14 on the penalty kill.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, Sportsnet Ontario, TVA (Toronto), FSN Sun (Tampa Bay)
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (15-12-7): Rookie Mitchell Marner was kept off the scoresheet after recording seven points in as many games, but he delivered the shootout-winning goal on Wednesday. Matthews took over the team lead in points with 28 (including 17 goals) on Wednesday while rookie William Nylander registered his fifth power-play goal - and eighth overall tally. Tyler Bozak returned to the lineup after missing the previous three games with a lower-body injury and was held without a point for the fifth consecutive contest.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (18-15-3): Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov, who both returned from injuries Wednesday, combined with Johnson to post six points after being reunited. Vladislav Namestnikov also was back in the lineup after missing two games due to illness but left early after taking a big hit from Montreal defenseman Shea Weber, while fellow forward Brayden Point also did not finish the game. Valtteri Filppula sat out Wednesday after missing a team meeting, but coach Jon Cooper told reporters he simply “made a mistake” and would be back in the lineup on Thursday.
OVERTIME
1. The Maple Leafs recalled G Antoine Bibeau from the Toronto Marlies and assigned veteran Jhonas Enroth to the American Hockey League team.
2. The Lightning have won five of the last six meetings, including a 7-3 triumph at Toronto on Oct. 25.
3. Hedman’s two points on Wednesday pushed him past Chris Gratton for eighth place on the franchise list with 260.