Bolts Blasted By Leafs 6-2

@jayRecher

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Auston Matthews scored his fourth hat trick of the season and Jack Campbell made 32 saves as the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2 on Monday night at Amalie Arena.

The three goals for Matthews were his 52nd, 53rd & 54th of the season, tying Rick Vaive (1981-82) for most goals in a season for a Leafs player.

Matthews scored his first goal at 1:46 of the 2nd when he snapped a shot quickly over the glove of Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy to put Toronto up 2-1.

His second came at 9:57 of the 2nd off of a deflection of a Mitch Marner pass. And his third was at the 7:08 mark of the 3rd when he found a loose puck all alone in the slot and wristed it past Vasy to give the Leafs a 5-2 lead.

Matthews also picked up an assist on Marner's goal that made it 6-2 at 11:24.

Toronto's Pierre Engvall got the scoring started when he snapped one past Vasilevskiy just 1:59 into the game.

The intensity got ratcheted up to another level after the Engvall goal. Things were so chippy that Pat Maroon & Wayne Simmonds were assessed 10-minute misconducts for excessive chirping on the bench.

Then at the 6:24 mark, the Lightning evened it up in the blink of an eye.

Directly off of a Steven Stamkos faceoff win, Nikita Kucherov ripped a shot past Campbell to tie the game at one apiece.

After Matthews' first goal Jan Rutta answered back, finding a loose puck in the high slot and backhanded a shot through the five-hole of Campbell to make it 2-2, but it was all Leafs the rest of the way.

Vasilevskiy made 33 saves in defeat for the Lightning.

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SCORING SUMMARY

1st Period

1. Toronto - Engvall - (Kampf) - 1:59
2. Tampa Bay - Kucherov - (Stamkos) - 6:24

2nd Period

1. Toronto - Matthews - (Bunting, Marner) - 1:46
2. Tampa Bay - Rutta - (Stamkos) - 5:46
3. Toronto - Matthews (2) - (Marner) - 9:57
4. Toronto - Kerfoot - (Brodie, Holl) - 12:25

3rd Period

1. Toronto - Matthews (3) - (Unassisted) - 7:08
2. Toronto - Marner - (Matthews, Bunting) - 11:24

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PENALTY SUMMARY

1st Period

1. Toronto - Simmonds - (10-Minute Misconduct) - 5:55
2. Tampa Bay - Maroon - (10-Minute Misconduct) - 5:55
3. Tampa Bay - Cernak - (Interference) - 16:03
4. Toronto - Marner - (Hooking) - 19:12

2nd Period

NONE

3rd Period

1. Toronto - Giordano - (Tripping) - 17:44

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What's Next For The Bolts : The Lightning are back in action on Wednesday night as they travel to the nation's capital to take on the Washington Capitals. Puck drop is slated for 7:00pm with the pregame show starting at 6:30pm on NewsRadio WFLA & Lightning Power Play on the iHeartRadio app.

PHOTO : Getty Images