TAMPA, Fla. _ For the first time in almost two years, the Lightning have lost three games in a row. The return home after a bad loss in Arizona wasn't enough to help Tampa Bay, which fell to Toronto 4-3 on Tuesday.
The last time the Lightning lost three in a row was to New Jersey, Arizona and Boston in March 2018. It wasn't a streak this year's team wanted to match. To make matters worse, the Lightning lost Steven Stamkos in the third period, though the reason wasn't readily apparent.
The Maple Leafs scored two power-play goals and had numerous Grade-A chances to test goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who had a fine-but-not-great showing with 27 saves.
Nikita Kucherov opened the scoring on a one-timer from Stamkos, who fended off a Maple Leaf to make the pass, midway through the first period. Toronto responded with the next two goals, first from Jake Muzzin and then a power-play goal from John Tavares to finish out the period.
Pat Maroon tied the game back up about eight minutes into the second period, deflecting Cedric Paquette's deflection of Kevin Shattenkirk's shot. But Tavares scored his second goal 31 seconds later to put Toronto back ahead for good. William Nylander added another power-play goal shortly after.
Yanni Gourde brought the Lightning back within a goal 7:27 into the third period, deflecting Shattenkirk's shot past goalie Frederik Andersen. That was as close as the Lightning got.
