The Lightning scored three unanswered goals over the final two periods and went on defeat the Leafs 4-1.
The Lightning arrived in Toronto fresh off their first regulation loss since early March. With goals from Victor Hedman, Brayden Point, Steven Stamkos, and Nick Paul in a 4-1 win, they narrowed their window to clinch a playoff spot. The Lightning currently sit four points out from Toronto for the third spot in the Atlantic Division.
Early on in the season, while the Lightning were still sorting out their new roster, they lost two overtime games to Toronto in late October and early November. Since then, they've faced their fair share of adversity and started to turn the corner following the March 8th trade deadline. Last night they limited Auston Matthews' production significantly, and generated offense of their own.
The last time Nikita Kucherov took the ice in Toronto back in February, he was booed at the skills competition during the NHL All-Star weekend. In that same building on Wednesday night, Kucherov recorded three assists, setting a Lightning franchise record for points in a single season. His current 130 points, puts him back in the NHL point lead over Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon and Edmonton’s Connor McDavid.
“He's a competitor. I don't know how much people know because they don't talk about it much, but the guy was on the ice seven days after we lost in the playoffs for the rest of the summer,” said Brandon Hagel.
The Lightning are 9-1-1 over their past 11 games with Kucherov averaging more than two points per game. With a team total of 260 goals, he has consistently factored into 50% of the Bolts scoring this season.
"I get to stand there every night and I hope other people watch just how uniquely talented he is,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper.
The Bolts will turn the page quickly to Montreal, where they’ll face the Canadiens on Thursday in the second half of their last back-to-back this season.