Nikita Kucherov had three assists to set a team record with 130 points this season and the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 on Wednesday night.
Kucherov has 42 goals and 88 assists to pass his own team record of 128 points set in the 2018-19 season,
Toronto’s Auston Matthews scored his league-leading 63rd goal of the season to tie the game 1-1 in the first period.
Joseph Woll stopped 21 shots for Toronto (43-23-9, 95 points).
Victor Hedman, Brayden Point, Steven Stamkos and Nicholas Paul scored for the Lightning. Brandon Hagel had two assists in the win.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves for Tampa Bay (42-26-7, 91 points).
The Maple Leafs won the two previous meetings between the teams this season.
Hedman scored his 13th goal of the season at 10:03 of the first period on a screened shot. The goal came with Vasilevskiy removed for an extra attacker because Toronto had been called for a delayed penalty. Kucherov made the pass to Hedman and Anthony Cirelli set the screen in front of Woll.
Matthews scored a power-play goal on a one-timer from above the right circle at the 19-minute mark of the first period. John Tavares won the faceoff and Morgan Rielly made the pass to Matthews. Luke Glendening was off for interference.
Point scored his 43rd goal of the season at 2:54 of the second period, tucking in Kucherov’s pass from behind the net.
Tampa Bay took a 3-1 lead at 8:47 of the second. Stamkos scored his 32nd goal of the season at the end of a two-on-one break, faking a pass before shooting.
Paul scored his 20th goal of the season on a wrist shot at 14:19 of the third period.
The Lightning, who have points in 10 of their past 11 games, are four points behind the third-place Maple Leafs in the Atlantic Division.
Toronto was still without Mitchell Marner (ankle), who might return Saturday against the Montreal Canadiens.
–Field Level Media
