National Hockey League
Toronto 3, Tampa Bay 2
When: 7:30 PM ET, Thursday, December 29, 2016
Where: Amalie Arena, Tampa, Florida
Referees: Dan O'Rourke, Ian Walsh
Linesmen: Shandor Alphonso, Brian Murphy
Attendance: 19092

TAMPA, Fla. -- The Toronto Maple Leafs head home to play the Centennial Classic on Saturday night against the Detroit Red Wings, and they do that with the full momentum of four straight road wins, including a 3-2 overtime win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night at Amalie Arena.

Rookie goalie Antoine Bibeau earned his first NHL win, making 25 saves to set up Nazem Kadri's power-play goal to win it with 1:23 left in overtime.

"He's done a great job -- he didn't see a lot of action early, but toward the end, he really stood on his head and gave us an opportunity to win," Kadri said. of the 22-year-old goalie.

Valtteri Filppula drew an overtime penalty when he skated into Bibeau, getting called for goalie interference. The Lightning held off most of the power play, but Toronto got the win when Kadri netted his 13th goal of the season to beat Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Lightning coach Jon Cooper took exception to the call, arguing that Filppula was pushed into the goal by a Toronto player but still got the penalty.

"It was hard to swallow going down on that," Cooper said. "I have zero idea what Fil could have done on that. The only reason he goes into the goalie is because he was hooked and pushed. It's tough to swallow. ... it happens. They called it. That's the way they saw it. We'll accept it. We had a chance to kill it out, they scored, so credit to them."

Tampa Bay (18-15-4) had won three of four coming in, while Toronto (16-12-7) went a perfect 4-for-4 on their road trip with Thursday's win. Vasilevskiy stopped 32 shots, while Bibeau made 25 saves.

"It's tough for me. I gave up some stupid goals on my mistakes," said Vasilevskiy, who played both ends of a back-to-back, both games going into overtime. "Things happen. I will keep working."

The two teams played through a scoreless third quarter to set up overtime, with neither team getting too many scoring chances late.

Tampa Bay's Ondrej Palat had a shot go off the crossbar with 5:11 left, and the Lightning got a late power play when Jonathan Drouin was tripped by Zach Hyman with 3:09 left, but Tampa Bay couldn't convert on the only power play of the final period. Tampa Bay outshot Toronto 11-10 in the third, sending both teams to overtime for the second night in a row.

As they did Wednesday, the Lightning erased a two-goal deficit, this time with a pair of goals in the final eight minutes of the second period.

Toronto jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Rookie phenom Auston Matthews got a loose puck off a faceoff and put it through Vasilevskiy's legs for his 18th goal with 5:14 left in the opening period.

That lead stood for nearly a period, until Leafs center Tyler Bozak made it 2-0 with his seventh goal of the season, again on a loose puck off a rebound from a shot by James van Riemsdyk with 10:34 left in the second.

Bibeau, making just his second start of the season, kept the Lightning off the scoreboard for the first 30 minutes, then ran into trouble.

Brian Boyle scored on a backhanded shot as he fell in front of the net for his ninth goal of the season with 7:48 left in the middle period.

When Toronto failed to clear the puck late in the period, Palat got the loose puck and tied the game at 2-2 with 2:22 left, getting his sixth goal of the season and second in as many nights.

Toronto not only returns home now, but does so with a national spotlight on a rare outdoor appearance at Exhibition Stadium, though they'll try to treat the spectacle as just another game.

"Just playing outdoors is great," Kadri said. "But obviously, when push comes to shove, we need those two points against a good Detroit team."

NOTES: The Lightning lost rookie C Brayden Point for four to six weeks due to an upper-body injury sustained Wednesday late in an overtime win against the Montreal Canadiens. C Yanni Gourde was called up from AHL Syracuse and made his season debut. He played in two games last season, logging an assist. C Vladislav Namestnikov, who was boarded hard late in the Wednesday game, did not dress Thursday because of an upper-body injury, and C Cedric Paquette missed a fourth consecutive game with a lower-body injury. RW Erik Condra was Tampa Bay's lone healthy scratch. ... Toronto had D Frank Corrado, LW Josh Leivo and C Byron Froese as healthy scratches. ... Both teams were coming off late wins Wednesday night -- Tampa Bay rallied from two goals down with 10 minutes to play to beat Montreal in overtime, and Toronto beat the Florida Panthers in a shootout.
Top Game Performances
 
Toronto   Tampa Bay
Auston Matthews 2 Points Brian Boyle 1
Auston Matthews 1 Goals Brian Boyle 1
Auston Matthews 1 Assists Jonathan Drouin 1
Nazem Kadri 1 Power Play Goals N/A
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Antoine Bibeau .926 Save Percentage Andrei Vasilevskiy .914
Antoine Bibeau 25 Saves Andrei Vasilevskiy 32
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Toronto 35 3 1-5 5-5 10 29
Tampa Bay 27 2 0-5 4-5 10 33
Upcoming Games
  • Tampa Bay will play their next game at home against Carolina. The Lightning have a W/L % of .421 after a win and .556 after a loss.
  • Toronto will play their next game at home against Detroit. The Maple Leafs have a W/L % of .467 after a win and .450 after a loss.