Wednesday in the NHL | Auston Matthews scores his 63rd goal of the season

Lightning beat Maple Leafs 4-1

Andrei Vasilevskiy blocked 28 shots as the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 on Wednesday night despite Auston Matthews scoring his 63^e goal of the season for the Toronto team, a high in the NHL.

Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, Brayden Point and Nick Paul scored for the Lightning (42-26-7).

Nikita Kucherov, who was tied at 127 points heading into the game with Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche atop the NHL scoring leaderboard, had an assist on his team’s first two goals.

Brandon Hagel also collected two assists in the victory for the Lightning, who moved to within four points of the Maple Leafs and third place in the Atlantic Division.

The two clubs still have seven games to play, including a meeting in Tampa Bay on April 17 to conclude their respective seasons.

Joseph Woll stopped 22 shots for the Maple Leafs, who could have confirmed their place in the next playoffs for an eighth straight season even with an overtime defeat.

The Lightning opened the scoring midway through the first period, when Hedman scored his 13^e goal of the campaign. Woll, who had his eyesight blurred, gave in on the first pitch he faced for the third time in four games.

Matthews tied the score with a minute left in the period.

Point scored the game-winning goal at 2:54 of the middle period.

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press