The Tampa Bay Lightning (40-18-5) lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs (33-23-8) 4-3 on Monday night at Amalie Arena. It was the Lightning's third consecutive loss, the first time this season they have lost three consecutive games. It also snapped a franchise best 11-game winning streak at Amalie Arena.
The Lightning got the scoring started early, when Nikita Kucherov scored at the 9:46 mark of the first period to take the early lead. It was the thirtieth goal of the season for Kucherov.
The Maple Leafs began to mount an answer in the first period. First Jake Muzzin scored to tie the game 1-1, then John Tavares scored on the power play to give Toronto an early 2-1 lead.
Pat Maroon answered with a goal at the 11:54 mark of the second period, but the Maple Leaf answered moments later as John Taveres scored his second to make it 3-2 Toronto. It looked like the Lightning may try to run away with the game when William Nylander scored on a power play to make it 4-2 at the 14:21 mark of the second period. Yanni Gourde scored at the 7:27 mark of the third period to pull within 4-3, but that was as close as the Lightning would get.
Andrei Vasilevskiy took the loss in net, going 19-for-23. Frederick Anderson got the win by converting 26 saves on 29 shot against, and particularly stood tall as the game came down the stretch run of the third period. For Toronto this was a bounce back when after a loss to the Carolina Hurricanes who used an emergency goalie on Saturday night.
Tampa Bay remains at home for the next four games - they return to the ice when they host the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday. Puck drop between the Lightning and Blackhawks is scheduled for 7 PM on Thursday night - hear the game, beginning with pregame coverage at 6 PM, on News Radio WFLA.