National Hockey League
Tampa Bay 4, Toronto 3
When: 7:30 PM ET, Monday, February 26, 2018
Where: Amalie Arena, Tampa, Florida
Referees: Gord Dwyer, T.J. Luxmore
Linesmen: Michel Cormier, Matt MacPherson
Attendance: 19092
Brayden Point scored the lone goal in a shootout, leading the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 4-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday night at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla.

Tampa Bay's Andrei Vasilevskiy was credited with 27 saves, including a penalty-shot stop on Mitch Marner with 6:02 left in the third period. He stopped all three shots he faced in the shootout, helping the Lightning earn a fourth consecutive win.

Vasilevskiy improved to 37-12-2 as Tampa Bay increased its Atlantic Division lead to five points over the second-place Maple Leafs.

It was the second straight game in which Point, who fired a shot over the right shoulder of Toronto goalie Frederik Andersen, scored the game-winner in a shootout.

Tyler Johnson, Adam Erne and Chris Kunitz scored in regulation for Tampa Bay, which lost NHL leading scorer Nikita Kucherov (82 points) in the first period due to an upper-body injury.

It was the eighth shootout goal in 13 career attempts for Point, who is also 3-of-5 this season.

Andersen finished with 39 saves for Toronto. Marner had a goal and an assist while Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk also scored for the Maple Leafs. Morgan Rielly added two assists.

Kunitz gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead just 1:41 into the game when he deflected Andrej Sustr's wrist shot from the top of the slot through Andersen's pads for his third goal in the past five games and 11th of the season.

Toronto answered with a pair of goal just 63 seconds apart. The first was by van Riemsdyk, his 26th goal of the season, on the rebound of a shot by Ron Hainsey. Marner followed with his 17th when Jake Gardiner's crossing pass hit his right skate and was redirected through Vasilevskiy's pads.

Tampa Bay rebounded to take a 3-2 lead in the second period with back-to-back goals by Johnson and Erne. Johnson rebounded his own shot and quickly went behind the net and wrapped the puck inside the post on Andersen's stick side for his 18th goal of the season.

Erne picked up his second goal of the season when he intercepted a clearing pass by defenseman Roman Polak and then whirled around between the circles and wristed a shot past Andersen's stick side.

Bozak then tied it 3-3 with a power-play goal at 5:27 of the third period, one-timing a crossing pass from Marner off Vasilevskiy's right arm.

Marner was hooked on a breakaway by Victor Hedman and rewarded a penalty shot with 6:02 left. However, Vasilevskiy stopped the shot, deflecting the puck wide with the toe of his left skate.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Toronto   Tampa Bay
Mitchell Marner 2 Points Adam Erne 1
Mitchell Marner 1 Goals Adam Erne 1
Morgan Rielly 2 Assists Yanni Gourde 1
Tyler Bozak 1 Power Play Goals N/A
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Frederik Andersen .929 Save Percentage Andrei Vasilevskiy .900
Frederik Andersen 39 Saves Andrei Vasilevskiy 27
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Toronto 30 3 1-4 4-4 8 33
Tampa Bay 42 4 0-4 3-4 8 32
Upcoming Games
  • Tampa Bay will play their next game at home against Buffalo. The Lightning have a W/L % of .651 after a win and .750 after a loss.
  • Toronto will play their next game on the road against Florida. The Maple Leafs have a W/L % of .615 after a win and .577 after a loss.