TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING NOTES:
LAST GAME
Lightning 5 at Montreal 1
The Tampa Bay Lightning skated to a season-best, fifth-straight victory with a 5-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night at Bell Centre…The Bolts improved to 20-9-1 on the season with a road record of 8-5-0…The Lightning opened the scoring 2:57 into the contest when Brandon Hagel took a stretch pass from Ian Cole and beat Jake Allen under the pad for his 11th goal of the season…Tampa Bay doubled the lead to 2-0 with 8:21 left in the opening period with Nick Paul jumping on a rebound in front and sweeping the puck past Allen for his 13th goal of the year…The Bolts continued to push forward in the second period with Anthony Cirelli scoring his first goal of the season on the power play, banging home a rebound in front to make it a 3-0 game with 10:34 left in the middle frame…The Lightning added a second power-play goal at the 17:47 mark of the second with Hagel scoring his second goal of the contest when he redirected a shot from Victor Hedman past Allen…MTL got on the board 16 seconds into the third period with Nick Suzuki scoring the lone goal of the game for the Canadiens…Nikita Kucherov wrapped up the 5-1 win with his 12th goal of the season when he completed a give-and-go with Hagel before roofing a shot past Allen with 1:59 remaining in regulation…Andrei Vasilevskiy earned a third-straight victory with 23 saves on 24 shots against.
PP: TBL – 2-6 MTL 0-3
SOG: TBL – 27 MTL – 23
Attendance: 21,105
TONIGHT’S MATCHUP
The Lightning and the Maple Leafs are playing the second of three matchups this season and the only meeting at Scotiabank Arena…The Bolts grabbed a victory in the first meeting with a 4-3 overtime win Dec. 3 at AMALIE Arena…After a scoreless first period, Mitch Marner opened the scoring for TOR with a shorthanded goal at the 5:18 mark of the second before Vladislav Namestnikov tied the game with his first goal of the season just 2:22 later…TOR took a 2-1 lead into the second intermission following a goal from William Nylander with 3:10 remaining in the middle frame…Nikita Kucherov tied the game at two with a power-play goal just 1:51 into the third period before Ross Colton gave Tampa Bay a 3-2 lead with a power-play goal of his own 2:43 after Kucherov’s game-tying goal…Marner forced overtime when he scored on the power play for his second goal of the night with 8:05 remaining in regulation…Just 33 seconds into overtime, Anthony Cirelli forced a turnover at the Lightning blue line and went the other way before sending a pass to Alex Killorn, who ripped a wrist shot from the right circle that beat Matt Murray and closed out the 4-3 win for the Bolts…Andrei Vasilevskiy got the start in goal for Tampa Bay and earned his 10th win of the season with 36 saves on 39 shots against…Corey Perry skated in his 1,200th career game in the win…Cirelli recorded two assists in his season debut…Kucherov has recorded points in 11 consecutive games vs. TOR (9-7—16)…Kucherov has pointed in five straight games at TOR (4-5—9) and has notched at least one point in 12 of 14 career games at TOR (7-13—20)…Stamkos has pointed in four straight games vs. TOR (2-8—10)…Stamkos has notched a four-point night in three of his last eight games at TOR, collecting 15 points total during that span (5-10—15)…Since joining the Lightning, Perry has six points in five games vs. TOR (0-6—6)…Victor Hedman has nine points in his last 11 games vs. TOR (2-7—9)…Vasilevskiy is 6-3-1 in his last 10 starts vs. TOR with a .919 save percentage and 2.70 goals against average…In 13 career starts at TOR, Vasilevskiy is 8-4-1 with a .929 SV%, 2.17 GAA and one shutout…Tampa Bay is 45-50-8 with two ties all-time vs. TOR, including a road record of 22-25-5 with one tie…Stamkos (22-37—59) holds the Lightning franchise records for career points, assists and goals (tied) vs. TOR.
TBL ALL-TIME POINT LEADERS VS. TOR
- Steven Stamkos – 59 pts. (22-37—59, 46 GP)
- Vincent Lecavalier – 52 pts. (22-30—52, 50 GP)
- Martin St. Louis – 49 pts. (18-31—49, 47 GP)
- Nikita Kucherov – 31 pts. (14-17—31, 29 GP)
- Brad Richards – 26 pts. (12-14—26, 27 GP)
TONIGHT’S STORYLINES
Tampa Bay is playing the second game of a four-game road trip tonight…The Bolts will play just five of their 14 games in December on the road…The Lightning are 7-3-0 against Atlantic Division opponents this season…Tampa Bay is 8-5- 0 on the road this season and have won four of their last five road contests…The Lightning and Leafs are playing for the second time this month before the final matchup in Tampa April 11…Tampa Bay is looking to extend a season-long, five-game win streak tonight…The Bolts have allowed two or less goals in every game of the current win streak.
INJURIES
2022-23 Regular Season Man Games Lost: 75
Current Injuries:
Rudolfs Balcers (Upper-body injury; Out indefinitely) 10 Games
Mikhail Sergachev (Upper-body injury; Day-to-day) 2 Games
TRANSACTIONS
Dec. 3 – Re-assigned D Philippe Myers to AHL Syracuse
Dec. 3 – Assigned F Cole Koepke to AHL Syracuse
KLUTCHEROV
Tampa Bay forward Nikita Kucherov scored one goal and added one assist Dec. 17 at MTL to extend his point streak to seven games (2-10—12)…Kucherov has pointed in 13 of his last 15 games vs. MTL (10-10—20) with nine multipoint performances during that span…Kucherov has picked up points in seven of his last eight contests at MTL (5-7—12)…Kucherov has recorded assists in six consecutive games…Kucherov has eight points over his last three games (1-7—8)…Kucherov has picked up points in 10 of his last 11 games (2-17—19)…Kucherov has recorded more games with three or more points (7) than he has zero-point games (5) this season…Kucherov (12-35—47) ranks second in the NHL in assists, is tied for fourth in points and is tied for sixth in power-play points (20)…Kucherov leads the Lightning in points, assists, power-play points, even-strength points (27) and shots (107)…Kucherov recorded his 400th career assist Dec. 13 vs. SEA in his 590th career game, the sixth-fewest games needed to reach the mark among active players…Kucherov is the fifth player in Bolts franchise history to hit the 400-assist mark with the club…Since Nov. 19, no NHL skater has more assists than Kucherov’s 19…Kucherov has recorded points in 10 of 13 road games this season (5-13—18) and 25 of 30 games overall.
NHL ASSIST LEADERS
- Connor McDavid – 36 assists (28-36—64, 33 GP)
- Nikita Kucherov – 35 assists (12-35—47, 30 GP)
- Leon Draisaitl – 33 assists (21-33—54, 33 GP)
- Artemi Panarin – 32 assists (8-32—40, 33 GP)
- Josh Morrissey – 31 assists (5-31—36, 31 GP)
HOW ABOUT HAGEL?
Lightning forward Brandon Hagel recorded his second-straight game with two goals and one assist Dec. 17 at MTL…Hagel has picked up points in a career-high (tied) five consecutive games (5-4—9)…Hagel has recorded 13 points over his last 11 contests (7-6—13)…Hagel (12-14—26) ranks fifth in points, tied for fourth in goals and tied for sixth in assists among all Bolts skaters…Hagel is the only Tampa Bay skater with a shorthanded goal this season…Hagel’s plus-10 rating trails only Nick Paul (plus-14) for the team lead among forwards…Hagel leads all NHL forwards with 42 takeaways…Since the NHL began tracking takeaways in 2005-06, only five forwards have ever recorded more takeaways than Hagel’s 42 in their first 30 games of a season (most: Pavel Datsyuk – 51, 2007-08).
NHL TAKEAWAY LEADERS, FORWARDS
- Brandon Hagel – 42 TkA (30 GP)
- Evgeni Malkin – 38 TkA (31 GP)
T3. Mitch Marner – 35 TkA (32 GP)
T3. Mark Stone – 35 TkA (34 GP) - Auston Matthews – 33 TkA (32 GP)
STAMMER TIME
Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos picked up two assists Dec. 17 at MTL…Stamkos has recorded 23 points over his last 16 games (9-14—23)…Stamkos went on a 14-game point streak Nov. 13 – Dec. 13 (9-12—21), the second-longest point streak in Lightning franchise history, trailing only his 18-game point streak in 2009-10 (17-16—33)…The 14-game point streak is tied for the third-longest point streak in the NHL this season…Stamkos (16-20—36) is tied with Brayden Point (16-15—31) for the Bolts team lead in goals, ranks third in assists and trails only Nikita Kucherov (12-35—47) in points…Stamkos leads the Lightning with seven power-play goals, tied for the ninth-most in the NHL…Stamkos is three goals away from his 500th career goal…Stamkos ranks 48th all-time in NHL history with 497 career goals…Since the start of the 2017-18 season, Stamkos has scored 176 goals, the seventh-most among all NHL skaters during that span…Stamkos has recorded more career goals and points than any player in Tampa Bay franchise history.
TBL ALL-TIME POINT LEADERS
- Steven Stamkos – 1,008 pts. (497-511—1,008, 952 GP)
- Martin St. Louis – 953 pts. (365-588—953, 972 GP)
- Vincent Lecavalier – 874 pts. (383-491—874, 1,037 GP)
- Nikita Kucherov – 663 pts. (258-405—663, 592 GP)
- Victor Hedman – 620 pts. (135-485—620, 926 GP)
CRANK THE A/C
Bolts forward Anthony Cirelli scored his first goal of the season Dec. 17 at MTL…Since making his season debut Dec. 3 vs. TOR, Cirelli has recorded points in five of his seven games (1-6—7)…Since his debut, Cirelli ranks second in assists, tied for second in plus-minus (plus-5) and blocked shots (5) and third in shorthanded time on ice per game (1:42) among all Lightning forwards…Cirelli led the Bolts with 60 takeaways last season.
ANDREI THE GIANT
Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy picked up his 13th win of the season Dec. 17 at MTL, making 22 saves on 23 shots against…Vasilevskiy has won 10 straight games vs. MTL with two shutouts, a .944 save percentage and 1.79 goals against average…Vasilevskiy is one of just three goaltenders all-time and the first since 1941 to have a 10-game win streak against MTL…Since Nov. 24, Vasilevskiy has posted a 6-2-0 record with a .937 SV% and 1.76 GAA…Since the start of the 2017-18 season, Vasilevskiy has recorded 201 wins, 23 more than the next closest goaltender (Connor Hellebuyck, 178)…Since his debut in 2014-15, no NHL goaltender has posted more assists than Vasilevskiy’s 17…Vasilevskiy is 28 years old and already ranks fifth in all-time wins among Russian goaltenders (242)…Vasilevskiy’s .919 career SV% is the highest all-time among Russian goaltenders with over 200 games played…Vasilevskiy is one of 45 goaltenders all-time to win the Stanley Cup twice…Vasilevskiy is one of 14 goalies to ever win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs.
NHL WIN LEADERS SINCE 2017-18
- Andrei Vasilevskiy – 201 wins (201-77-17, 296 GS)
- Connor Hellebuyck – 178 wins (178-106-31, 317 GS)
- Sergei Bobrovsky – 162 wins (162-89-19, 276 GS)
T4. Frederik Andersen – 156 wins (156-75-25, 260 GS)
T4. Marc-Andre Fleury – 156 wins (156-90-20, 267 GS)
BETTER CALL PAUL
Tampa Bay forward Nick Paul scored his 13th goal of the season Dec. 17 at MTL…Paul has scored seven goals over his last 12 contests (7-3—10)…Paul (13-8—21) ranks third in goals and seventh in points among all Lightning skaters…Paul’s three game-winning goals are tied for the second-most among all Bolts skaters…Paul has already surpassed his goal, assist and point totals from his 59 games with OTT last season (11-7—18)…Paul’s 24 blocked shots are tied with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare for the second-most among all Lightning forwards (most: Steven Stamkos, 25), while his 54 hits rank third…Paul leads all Tampa Bay skaters with a plus-14 rating…Paul’s 27 takeaways are tied with Brayden Point for the second-most on the team (most: Hagel, 42)…Paul has won 188 faceoffs, the most on the team, while his faceoff win percentage of 51.4% ranks third.
WILL TO KILL
The Lightning penalty kill has not allowed a goal against in six consecutive games, going 14-for-14 during that span…Through the first eight games of December, Tampa Bay has allowed just one power-play goal against…Since Dec. 1, the Bolts have killed off 95.5% of opposing power plays, ranking first among all NHL teams…Overall, the Lightning are killing 81% of opposing power plays this season, good for seventh in the NHL…Tampa Bay’s penalty kill is operating at 84.4% on the road, ranking third among all NHL teams.
NHL PENALTY KILL LEADERS SINCE DEC. 1
- Tampa Bay Lightning – 95.5% (21-for-22)
- Boston Bruins – 88.6% (31-for-35)
- Pittsburgh Penguins – 88% (22-for-25)
- Ottawa Senators – 87.1% (27-for-31)
- Dallas Stars – 84.6% (22-for-26)
GAME POINT
Bolts forward Brayden Point tied the fifth-longest goal streak in the NHL this season with goals in five straight games from Dec. 6-15…Point was the third Tampa Bay skater to record a five-game goal streak this season (also: Nikita Kucherov, 6 GP, Oct. 25 – Nov. 5; Steven Stamkos, 5 GP, Oct. 11-21)…Point has scored 10 goals over his last 11 contests (10-3—13)…Point has scored the game-winning goal in three of the Bolts’ five wins during the current win streak…Point (16-15—31) is tied with Stamkos (16-20—36) for the team lead in goals, while ranking third in points and fifth in assists…Point leads the Lightning with five game-winning goals, tied for the second-most among all NHL skaters…Point has recorded at least one shot on goal in every game this season…With his goal Dec. 15 vs. CBJ, Point became the fifth player in Tampa Bay franchise history to score 40 career game-winning goals, joining Stamkos (75), Martin St. Louis (64), Vincent Lecavalier (60) and Kucherov (41).
TBL ALL-TIME GAME-WINNING GOAL LEADERS
- Steven Stamkos – 75 GWG (952 GP)
- Martin St. Louis – 64 GWG (972 GP)
- Vincent Lecavalier – 60 GWG (1,037 GP)
- Nikita Kucherov – 41 GWG (592 GP)
- Brayden Point – 40 GWG (447 GP)
HED RUSH
Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman recorded an assist for a third-straight game Dec. 17 at MTL…Hedman has five assists over his last three games and seven over his last six…Hedman (1-16—17) ranks fourth in assists and eighth in points among all Lightning skaters…Hedman’s seven assists since Dec. 6 are tied for the third-most among all NHL defensemen…Hedman’s 58 shots are tied with Brandon Hagel for the fourth-most among all Tampa Bay skaters…Since the start of the 2016-17 season, Hedman leads all NHL defensemen with 391 points (86-305—391).
NHL POINT LEADERS SINCE 2016-17, DEFENSEMEN
- Victor Hedman – 391 pts. (86-305—391, 456 GP)
- John Carlson – 385 pts. (87-298—385, 461 GP)
- Brent Burns – 376 pts. (90-286—376, 485 GP)
- Roman Josi – 375 pts. (94-281—375, 456 GP)
- Erik Karlsson – 316 pts. (65-251—316, 392 GP)
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS NOTES:
LAST GAME
Score: Toronto 2 at Washington 5
Date: Saturday, December 17, 2022
TOR Goals: Nylander, Matthews
WSH Goals: Gustafsson (3x), van Riemsdyk, Hathaway
TOR Goaltender: Samsonov, 23/28, .821 SV%
WSH Goaltender: Lindgren, 34/36, .944 SV%
TOR Power Play: 0-for-2
TOR Penalty Kill: 2-for-2
Player Notes: – William Nylander scored Toronto’s first goal of the game. Nylander leads the Maple Leafs with 18 goals this season.
- Auston Matthews scored at 6:25 of the second period and added an assist during Saturday’s game. Matthews has recorded 16 points (7G, 9A) through his last 10 games.
- Conor Timmins recorded the primary assist on Matthews’ goal. Timmins is currently on a three-game assist streak where he has registered five assists.
TONIGHT’S GAME
2022-23 Matchups vs. Tampa Bay: Second of Three
2021-22 Record vs. Tampa Bay: 2-2-0
Toronto Season Record: 19-7-6
Toronto Home Record: 11-2-3
TONIGHT’S STORYLINES
The Maple Leafs are set to face-off against the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight in the second of three matchups between the clubs this season. Toronto lost their first game of the season against Tampa Bay in a 4-3 overtime decision. The Maple Leafs are 3-0-0 on home ice through the month of December and hold the second-best home record in the league with an 11-2-3 record. Toronto is playing in their first matchup of a two-game homestand with the second being played on Thursday at 2:00 pm ET against Philadelphia.
NEXT GAME
Date: Thursday, December 22, 2022
Opponent: vs. Philadelphia Flyers
Time: 2:00 pm ET
Broadcast Information: Sportsnet Ontario (TV), Sportsnet 590 (Radio)
Toronto Maple Leafs: Media Notes
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
December 19, 2022 The Maple Leafs acquired forward Dryden Hunt from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for forward Denis Malgin.
December 17, 2022 The Maple Leafs have recalled Mac Hollowell from the Toronto Marlies (AHL) on an emergency basis.
INJURY REPORT
Carl Dahlström Shoulder (IR)
Calle Järnkrok Groin (IR)
Victor Mete Lower Body (IR)
Jake Muzzin Neck (LTIR)
Morgan Rielly Knee (LTIR)
Nick Robertson Shoulder (IR)
ALL-TIME VS. TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING:
First Matchup between Clubs: October 15, 1992 (Toronto 5 at Tampa Bay 3)
All-Time Record: 58-37-2-8 (105 Games)
All-Time Record at Home: 30-19-1-3 (53 Games)
All-Time Record on the Road: 28-18-1-5 (52 Games)
Last Home Win vs. Opponent: November 4, 2021 (Toronto 2 vs. Tampa Bay 1 – OTW)
ACTIVE LEADERS VS. TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING:
Games Played: John Tavares (41), Wayne Simmonds (33), William Nylander (22)
Goals: John Tavares (14), Wayne Simmonds (9), Auston Matthews (8), William Nylander (8)
Assists: John Tavares (28), Mitch Marner (12), Auston Matthews (12)
Points: John Tavares (42), Auston Matthews (20), Wayne Simmonds (19)
Penalty Minutes: Wayne Simmonds (94), John Tavares (22), Mark Giordano (19)
THE MAN ADVANTAGE IN 2022-23
Power Play: 23.3%
Power Play Goal Leader: 7 – Matthews, Tavares
Power Play Point Leader: 15 – Tavares (7G, 8A)
2021-22 Power Play: 63/231 (27.3%)
ON THE PK IN 2022-23
Penalty Kill: 79.6%
Shorthanded Goal Leader: 1 – Järnkrok, Giordano, Marner
Shorthanded Point Leader: 2 – Marner (1G, 1A), Kämpf (2A)
2021-22 Penalty Kill: 192/234 (82.1%)
FAST FACTS
Tuesday games 5th of 13 (6 home, 7 road)
Back-to-Backs played 5 of 14
Record in first game of back-to-back 2-3-0
Record in second game of back-to-back 4-0-1
December games 8th of 12 (5 home, 7 road)
