Maple Leafs 3, Lightning 1
Nazem Kadri recorded a goal and an assist as Toronto handed visiting Tampa Bay its third loss in four contests.
James Reimer turned aside 40 shots – including all 13 he faced in the third period – to win in his second straight start for the Maple Leafs. David Booth and defenseman Morgan Rielly also tallied for Toronto, which has won back-to-back games for the first time in over a month and earned a split of the four-game season series.
Ryan Callahan registered his 23rd goal for the Lightning, who remained one point behind idle Montreal for first place in the Atlantic Division. Rookie Andrei Vasilevskiy, playing in place of Ben Bishop in the second of back-to-back contests, made 25 saves as Tampa Bay fell to 1-2-0 on its five-game road trip.
Joakim Lindstrom’s shot went in off Kadri’s leg during a power play 8:53 into the contest to open the scoring and Booth beat Vasilevskiy from the right faceoff circle after a turnover 3:10 later. Callahan swept in the rebound after Reimer made a dazzling reaction save on Ondrej Palat during a man advantage with 1:56 left in the first period to halve the deficit.
Both goaltenders were sharp during a scoreless second period as Reimer stopped 14 shots and got help from the right post on an attempt by Alex Killorn at the midway point. Rielly extended the lead 24 seconds into the third, whipping a shot from the right circle during a rush past Vasilevskiy on the glove side.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Tampa Bay D Victor Hedman sat out the game with a lower-body injury and the Lightning recalled D Slater Koekkoek, who registered two shots and logged 15:31 of ice time in his NHL debut. … Kadri recorded only two points in his previous nine contests. … Toronto C Leo Komarov posted three shots, three hits and two blocks in his 100th career game. … Tampa Bay Ds Luke Witkowski and Anton Stralman shared the team lead with six hits apiece.