William Nylander had a goal and two assists as the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 in a first-round Stanley Cup playoff preview on Tuesday night.
Ryan O’Reilly and Calle Jarnkrok each had a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs (49-21-11, 109 points). Luke Schenn also scored.
Toronto goalie Joseph Woll, recalled from the Toronto Marlies of the AHL prior to the game, was stellar, making 46 saves.
The Maple Leafs rested forwards Auston Matthews and Mitchell Marner as well as defenseman Mark Giordano.
Mikhail Sergachev had a goal and an assist for the Lightning (45-30-6, 96 points), who have lost four straight. Nick Perbix and Alex Killorn added a goal apiece, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves.
Toronto will finish second in the Atlantic Division open the playoffs against third-place Tampa Bay next week.
Nylander gave Toronto a 1-0 lead at 12:48 of the first period, taking a pass from O’Reilly and scoring on a wrist shot from the bottom of the right faceoff circle on a power play. The assist was O’Reilly’s 700th NHL point.
Killorn tied it 13:59 of the first when he deflected Segachev’s shot from the left point past Woll from the slot.
Schenn put the Maple Leafs back on top when he got to a loose puck above the right circle and scored on a wrist shot through traffic at 16:01 of the first to make it 2-1.
Perbix tied the score at 2 at 5:21 of the second period, ripping the puck from the left circle.
Jarnkrok put the Leafs up 3-2 at 16:56 of the middle frame. He picked up a loose puck in front of the net and knocked it home to score a power-play goal.
O’Reilly increased the lead to 4-2 at 12:33 of the third period. After a Tampa Bay turnover, Matthew Knies’ shot trickled past Vasilevskiy and O’Reilly knocked it over the goal line.
Sergachev took advantage of a Toronto turnover when he got to a loose puck in the slot and beat Woll to make it 4-3 at 13:49.
–Field Level Media