How do you stop one of the greatest players of his generation? That’s what the Toronto Maple Leafs need to figure out against Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov on Monday night.

Kucherov danced his way to the right faceoff dot, pulling a Detroit defender toward him before cutting back to the right center hashmark. Kucherov shelved his shot into the top right corner of the Detroit net for his 21 st goal of the season.

On a team that has multiple high-end players, Kucherov is leading the Bolts in scoring by a margin of 19, accounting for 47 helpers, 68 points and a plus-14 rating through 42 outings this season.

Jake Guentzel, who won a Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh in 2017, had two assists to become the second player in Lightning history with at least 20 goals and 40 points in his first 40 games with the franchise. Guentzel signed a seven-year deal with the Lightning in the offseason.

The Tampa Bay Lightning took down the Detroit Red Wings 5-1 on Saturday night. Even though the Red Wings outshot the Lightning a lopsided 40 to 22, a strong night by the Lightning’s top line and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy between the pipes allowed them to flip the script.

Matthew Knies scored two goals for the Leafs, including a power-play goal midway through the third period after Lightning defenceman Darren Raddysh trimmed the Toronto lead to 3-2. Nick Paul, with his second goal of the night, scored Tampa’s third goal on a power play with eight minutes remaining.

Matthew Knies had two goals and an assist and the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 on Monday night. Mitchell Marner had a goal and two assists and Auston Matthews added a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs,

Leon Draisaitl of the Oilers and Nikita Kucherov of the Lightning are used to being atop the NHL scoring race, but for most of the first half there was a sizable gap between the l

Patrik Laine scored the overtime winner to help the Canadiens outlast the Rangers while rookies Lane Hutson and Jakub Dobes put their names on notable all-time lists. \* The Senators and Stars each extended lengthy streaks to improve their positioning in their respective playoff races.

According to NHL Stats, the Maple Leafs scored seven unanswered goals for the first time since Dec. 16, 2023 in a 7-0 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. They had scored seven or more unanswered goals three times previously in their long rivalry with the Canadiens, but not since 1942.

As the Maple Leafs went about dismantling the Montreal Canadiens in the second and third periods on Saturday night in a 7-3 win, the Lightning was beating the Detroit Red Wings 5-1 at home for its third win in four games