Recap: Lightning 4, Maple Leafs 2

Not even a pair of overturned goals could stop the Tampa Bay Lightning from treating fans to a victory in their return from the Olympic break on Wednesday.

The Lightning defeated an Atlantic Division opponent in the Toronto Maple Leafs by a 4-2 score at Benchmark International Arena to extend their win streak to six games. Tampa Bay is now 38-14-4 this season.

After two Lightning goals were overturned following coach’s challenges in the first period, Brayden Point and Gage Goncalves scored in the second period, and Nikita Kucherov and Point added goals in the third to offset a pair of Toronto tallies.

Point, Kucherov and Goncalves each had three points for the Lightning on a night Kucherov earned his 700th career assist and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made 32 saves for a win.

Tampa Bay now visits the Metropolitan Division leaders, the Carolina Hurricanes (36-15-6), on Thursday to close a back-to-back.

Scoring summary

First period

None.

Shots on goal: TOR 7, TBL 4

Second period

TBL 1, TOR 0

7:07 Brayden Point (12) - Charle-Edouard D’Astous, Pontus Holmberg

Point gave the home team a 1-0 lead for good when he buried his shot near the net in the second period.

TBL 2, TOR 0

7:57 Gage Goncalves (7) - Nikita Kucherov, D’Astous

A breakaway goal for Goncalves saw the forward deke to his backhand and then forehand before slipping the puck home after an outlet pass from Kucherov.

Shots on goal: TBL 20, TOR 14

Third period

TBL 3, TOR 0

2:59 Kucherov (30) - Goncalves, Point

Tampa Bay extended its lead early in the third period with Kucherov’s one-timer from the right circle.

TBL 3, TOR 1

16:19 John Tavares (21) - William Nylander, Matthew Knies - PP

Toronto broke the shutout bid with a power-play goal from John Tavares.

TBL 4, TOR 1

16:30 Point (13) - Kucherov, Goncalves

The Lightning regained their three-goal advantage with Point’s shot off the post and in following a pass from Kucherov.

TBL 4, TOR 2

17:11 Knies (15) - Nylander, Auston Matthews

Toronto got another goal late from Matthew Knies.

Total shots: TBL 36, TOR 34