The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 for their sixth straight victory. Nikita Kucherov reached his ninth 30-goal season and added two assists to hit 701 career assists.
Brayden Point scored twice and added an assist for Tampa Bay. Gage Goncalves contributed a goal and two assists. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 32 saves and improved to 17-0-1 since Dec. 20.
The Lightning are 20-1-1 in their past 22 games.
Tampa Bay played without head coach Jon Cooper, who’s missing two games following his father Robert’s death. Cooper just returned from leading Canada to a silver medal at the Milan Cortina Olympics. Assistant Rob Zettler stepped in as head coach.
The victory ended Toronto’s three-game winning streak.
Kucherov’s 700th career assist came on Goncalves’ goal at 7:58 of the second period. The Russian winger reached the milestone in his 855th NHL game, making him the second-fastest player born outside North America to hit 700 assists.
Only Peter Stastny got there faster at 784 games.
The milestone assist gave Tampa Bay a 2-0 lead. Kucherov’s 30th goal came at 2:59 of the third period, extending the lead to 3-0. His nine 30-goal seasons tie Steven Stamkos for the most in franchise history.
30-piece on the season pic.twitter.com/TmVJH1su4V
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) February 26, 2026
John Tavares and Matthew Knies scored for Toronto. Anthony Stolarz made 32 saves but couldn’t prevent the Maple Leafs’ five-game winning streak against Tampa Bay from ending.
With Stolarz pulled for an extra attacker, Tavares scored with 3:41 remaining to break up Vasilevskiy’s shutout bid. The goal came moments after Jake Guentzel missed an empty-net opportunity when his shot hit the post.
Point made it 4-1 before Knies scored with 2:47 left.
Auston Matthews assisted on Knies’ goal, giving him 349 career franchise points. That ties Tim Horton for 10th on Toronto’s all-time list.
Up Next
The Maple Leafs play at Florida on Thursday night.
The Lightning play at Carolina on Thursday night.
