Welcome back, Brayden Point (2 goals, 1 assist).
Welcome back, Charle-Edouard D’Astous (2 assists).
Welcome back, Tampa Bay Lightning hockey.
The Lightning returned to the ice from the Olympic break with a 4-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, spearheaded by a two-goal performance from Brayden Point, who had been out of the line-up since suffering a lower-body injury in mid-January against Philadelphia. Nikita Kucherov also posted a three-point night which included his 700th career assist. Gage Goncalves rounded out the trifecta with a goal and two assists.
In net, Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 32 of 34 shots to pick up his ninth win in a row. For the Lightning, they’ve now won 11 games in a row in the city of Tampa (for some reason the Stadium Series game is considered a neutral site victory). They also continued their strong winning ways in the first half of back-to-backs as they are now 9-1-1 to kick off the two-in-two-nights sets.
It wasn’t a 100% clean win for the Lightning as Vasilevskiy had to make several key saves early, especially on William Nylander. Oliver Ekman-Larsson also had a clean look and rang one off of the post. Just to add to the fun, the Lightning had two goals washed off of the board due to video reviews that ruled the plays were offside (they were).
The Lightning stuck with it and it paid off as they struck twice within a minute in the second period. Brayden Point kicked things off with his 12th goal of the season before Gage Goncalves made a nice move on Anthony Stolarz after Kucherov sprung him in on a breakaway with a nifty pass through the neutral zone.
Goncalves returned the favor later in the game setting up Kucherov for a one-timer that made it 3-0. Jake Guentzel had a chance to make it 4-0 with an empty-net goal, but put it off the post. The Maple Leafs went straight down the ice and scored to cut the lead to 3-1, but Brayden Point responded seconds later with his second of the night to quell any thought of a comeback. Vasilevskiy let in a shot from distance from Matthew Knies, but with time at a premium, it was basically window dressing.
With the win, the Lightning crack the 80 point mark and move 8 points clear of idle Montreal. Buffalo, who won on Wednesday night as well, is also at 72 points. With the victory in hand, the Lightning head to Carolina on Thursday for a tough match-up with the Hurricanes, who sit two points behind them in the Eastern Conference.
The Goals
Brayden Point [12] (Charle-Edouard D’Astous, Pontus Holmberg) 1-0 Lightning
Gage Goncalves [7] (Nikita Kucherov, Charle-Edouard D’Astous) 2-0 Lightning
Nikita Kucherov [30] (Gage Goncalves, Brayden Point) 3-0 Lightning
John Tavares [21] (William Nylander, Matthew Knies) Power Play, 3-1 Lightning
Brayden Point [13] (Nikita Kucherov, Gage Goncalves) 4-1 Lightning
Matthew Knies [15] (William Nylander, Auston Matthews) 4-2 Lightning
Pretty Colors
