Lightning to host Matthews and the Maple Leafs
Toronto Maple Leafs (44-19-5, second in the Atlantic) vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (43-18-7, third in the Atlantic)
Tampa, Florida; Monday, 7:30 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: Auston Matthews leads Toronto into a matchup against Tampa Bay. He currently ranks fifth in the league with 88 points, scoring 51 goals and totaling 37 assists.
The Lightning are 12-6-2 against Atlantic teams. Tampa Bay averages 4.3 penalties per game, the most in the Eastern Conference. Alex Killorn leads the team with 28 total penalties.
The Maple Leafs are 11-6-0 against the rest of their division. Toronto is second in the NHL averaging 6.5 assists per game, led by Mitch Marner with 0.9.
Tampa Bay took down Toronto 5-3 in the last meeting between these teams on Dec. 9. Ondrej Palat scored two goals for the Lightning in the win and Ondrej Kase scored two goals for the Maple Leafs in the loss.
TOP PERFORMERS: Victor Hedman leads the Lightning with 47 assists and has 66 points this season. Brayden Point has five goals and seven assists over the last 10 games for Tampa Bay.
Marner leads the Maple Leafs with 53 total assists and has 81 points. Matthews has seven goals and five assists over the last 10 games for Toronto.
LAST 10 GAMES: Lightning: 6-3-1, averaging three goals, 5.3 assists, 4.9 penalties and 10.6 penalty minutes while giving up 2.1 goals per game with a .928 save percentage.
Maple Leafs: 7-3-0, averaging 4.1 goals, 6.6 assists, 4.2 penalties and 11.6 penalty minutes while allowing 2.8 goals per game with a .907 save percentage.
INJURIES: Lightning: Ryan McDonagh: out (upper-body).
Maple Leafs: Ilya Lyubushkin: day to day (head), Petr Mrazek: out (groin).
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