Nazem Kadri gives Maple Leafs fourth straight win

TAMPA -- Nazem Kadri scored with 1:23 left in overtime to give the Toronto Maple Leafs a 3-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Thursday.
Auston Matthews and Tyler Bozak also scored for the Maple Leafs (16-12-7), who won all four games on their road trip. Antoine Bibeau made 25 saves in his first NHL win.
"It's pretty special, you always think it's going to be special," Bibeau said. "But you don't know how good it's going to feel and it feels really good."

The Maple Leafs will return home to play the Detroit Red Wings in the 2017 Scotiabank NHL Centennial Classic at Exhibition Stadium on Sunday.
WATCH: All Maple Leafs vs. Lightning highlights
Toronto had a 4-on-3 power play in overtime after Valtteri Filppula took a penalty for goalie interference. Kadri scored off a rebound of a shot from William Nylander.
"We were to get a two-minute power play and did a great job of getting in the zone and setting it up," Kadri said. "I think our power play took little momentum from us at times but that just shows the character of this team to be able to stick with it, not get frustrated and come out on top."
Brian Boyle and Ondrej Palat scored for the Lightning (18-15-4). Andrei Vasilevskiy made 32 saves.
The Lightning tied the game 2-2 at 17:38 of the second period on Palat's sixth goal. Maple Leafs defenseman Connor Carrick turned over the puck in the slot to Nikita Kucherov, who set up Palat for the shot that beat Bibeau.

Toronto took a 1-0 lead on Matthews' 18th goal at 14:46 of the first period. Matthews took control of a loose puck in the high slot and beat Vasilevskiy with a shot to the five-hole.
"We want to continue to roll," Matthews said. "We're playing well right now. In the second period we got away from our game for a little bit but all-in-all we stuck with it. It took an extra five minutes but we were able to get it done."
Bozak gave the Maple Leafs a 2-0 lead at 9:26 of the second period when he scored off a rebound of a shot from James van Riemsdyk.
Boyle made it 2-1 at 12:12 of the second off a shot that got past Bibeau at the far post.
"It was an important one [point] for us, but, again, we can't go losing every game," Palat said. "We need to do something about our starts."

Goal of the game

Matthews scored after center Zach Hyman won a draw and battled over a loose puck to guide it toward the rookie, who found an opening past Vasilevskiy in his five-hole with a low wrist shot.
"He got the puck out to me and it looked like there was a little bit of screen there," Matthews said. "And we were able to squeak one by them."

Save of the game

Vasilevskiy turned away Nikita Soshnikov at 18:05 of the second period with a sliding, sprawling save to cover an open net.
"[Vasilevskiy] came up huge a few times and gave us a chance to come back," Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman said. "Unfortunately, in overtime, it can go either way, and they got a power play and they executed."

Unsung performance of the game

Defenseman Nikita Zaitsev led the Maple Leafs with 23:13 of ice time on 38 shifts. He had an assist, two blocked shots and was plus-2.

They said it

"I'm really looking forward to the Centennial Classic]. It's going to be a blast. I've never really played a real game outdoors. It will definitely be very interesting but something I'm looking forward to. We'll have our families there. It's going to be a fun experience." -- *Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews
"I'd take that collision every single day if you get a power play and we score to win, so I didn't feel anything." -- Maple Leafs goalie Antoine Bibeau on being interfered with by Valtteri Filppula in overtime
[Video: TOR@TBL: Kadri nets the game-winning PPG in overtime
"It's hard to swallow. I have zero idea what [Filppula] could have done there. The only reason he goes into the goalie is because he's hooked or pushed. It's tough to swallow when they only take one guy there. If you're calling it you take them both." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper*

Need to know

Toronto swept consecutive games in Florida for the first time since 2009. … Matthews is the first Maple Leafs player in the modern era (since 1943-44) to score 18 goals in his first 35 games.

What's next

Maple Leafs: Host the Detroit Red Wings in the 2017 Scotiabank NHL Centennial Classic on Sunday (3 p.m. ET; NBC, SN, TVA Sports, NHL.TV)
Lightning: Host the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; SUN, FS-CR, NHL.TV)