NHL LIVE Toronto Maple Leafs vs Tampa Bay Lightning 3rd April 2024 Full Game Reaction
11The Tampa Bay Lightning have a chance to move closer to third place in the Atlantic Division when they visit the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night.
The Lightning took a step back Monday night in a 4-2 home loss to the Detroit Red Wings to end a nine-game points streak.
The Maple Leafs solidified their hold on third with a 6-4 home victory Monday over the Florida Panthers.
The Maple Leafs (43-22-9, 95 points) moved to within four points of the second-place Panthers and stretched their lead to six over the Lightning.
Auston Matthews scored twice on Monday, including the clincher into an empty net, and has a career-best and 62 goals to lead the league.
The Lightning and Maple Leafs meet again April 17 in the regular-season finale for both teams in Tampa, Fla. Toronto has won the first two matchups.
Lightning coach Jon Cooper kept the loss on Monday in perspective.
The Lightning (41-26-7, 89 points) sit in the Eastern Conference's first wild-card position by seven points over the Washington Capitals and Red Wings entering Tuesday.
Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov had an assist Monday to give him 127 points (42 goals, 85 assists) this season, tying Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche for the NHL scoring lead.
The Maple Leafs had a 5-1 lead over the Panthers entering the third, but the Panthers scored three consecutive goals and saw a potential game-tying goal hit the goal post before Matthews' empty-netter.
Allowing leads to slip away has been a recurring problem for the Maple Leafs, but they seemed pleased with their third consecutive win.
Matthews had his 17th multi-goal game of the season, the most in one season by any player in the past 30 years.
Goaltender Ilya Samsonov was clutch for the Leafs, pulling off some superb saves.
The Maple Leafs could have star forward Mitchell Marner (ankle) back by the weekend, and top defenseman Morgan Rielly (upper body) is scheduled to play Wednesday.
Maple Leafs projected lineup
Forwards
Tyler Bertuzzi - Auston Matthews - Max Domi
Bobby McMann - John Tavares - William Nylander
Matthew Knies - Pontus Holmberg - Nicholas Robertson
Connor Dewar - David Kampf - Ryan Reaves
Defencemen
Morgan Rielly - Ilya Lyubushkin
TJ Brodie - Jake McCabe
Simon Benoit - Conor Timmins
Goalies
Joseph Woll
Ilya Samsonov
Scratched: Martin Jones, Noah Gregor, Mark Giordano
Injured: Calle Jarnkrok (hand), Mitchell Marner (high ankle sprain), Joel Edmundson (undisclosed), Matt Murray (hip), Timothy Liljegren (upper body)
Lightning projected lineup
Forwards
Anthony Duclair - Brayden Point - Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel - Anthony Cirelli - Steven Stamkos
Michael Eyssimont - Nicholas Paul - Mitchell Chaffee
Tanner Jeannot - Luke Glendening - Tyler Motte
Defencemen
Victor Hedman - Darren Raddysh
Haydn Fleury - Erik Cernak
Emil Lilleberg - Matt Dumba
Goalies
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Matt Tompkins
Scratched: Calvin de Haan, Austin Watson, Conor Sheary, Nick Perbix
Injured: Mikhail Sergachev (leg), Jonas Johansson (lower body)
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