Dennis Hildeby stopped 29 shots to earn his first career shutout Monday night and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the visiting Tampa Bay Lighting 2-0.
Morgan Rielly scored in the first period for the Maple Leafs, who have won four of five. Auston Matthews added an empty-net goal with one second remaining in the game.
With Andrei Vasilevskiy landing on injured reserve earlier in the day because of an undisclosed injury, Jonas Johansson started in goal for Tampa Bay and stopped 22 shots.
It was the opener of a four-game road trip for the Lightning, who have lost four in a row and have been shut out in back-to-back games.
The Maple Leafs, who were playing the second game of five straight at home, are 4-0-1 in their past five games.
Tampa Bay pressed early in the first period and Toronto defenseman Troy Stecher came to the rescue by clearing the puck just before it could bounce over the goal line.
Toronto scored against the flow of the game at 16:26 of the first. John Tavares approached the left circle, then dropped a pass between his legs to Easton Cowan, who directed the puck to Rielly off a Lightning defender’s skate. Rielly scored on his second swat at the puck, a backhand as he sprawled toward the net.
Toronto had a better start to the second period and played tighter defensively. Johansson made a snappy glove save at 2:35 of the middle frame on Calle Jarnkrok’s uncontested shot from the slot. Tavares rang a shot off the left goal post 21 seconds later.
Tampa Bay’s Gage Goncalves was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for kneeing Dakota Mermis at 3:00 of the third. That resulted in a fight between Toronto’s Dakota Joshua and Tampa Bay’s Max Crozier. The Maple Leafs’ Bobby McMann was given a match penalty for high-sticking.
Mermis was injured and went to the dressing room.
Toronto went on an unsuccessful power play at 15:03 of the third.
With Johansson removed for an extra attacker, Hildeby made a big stop on Darren Raddysh’s knuckling shot through traffic in the final minute.
Lightning forward Brayden Point was back in the lineup after missing seven games with an undisclosed injury. He finished with a minus-1 rating and four shots on goal in 18:48 of ice time.
–Field Level Media
