Auston Matthews scored on a power play early in the third period and the Toronto Maple Leafs held on to defeat the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning, 2-1, on Tuesday night.

William Nylander also scored for the Maple Leafs (36-25-9, 81 points).

John Tavares and Mitch Marner each had two assists as the Maple Leafs ended a three-game losing streak.

Ondrej Palat scored for the Lightning (43-21-6, 92 points), losers of two straight.

Frederik Andersen made 32 saves in the Toronto goal. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 34 shots for Tampa Bay.

Nylander scored his 31st goal of the season at 12:42 of the first period on a power play with Barclay Goodrow serving a hooking penalty. The right winger fired a wrist shot on a rebound from an attempt by Tavares.

Toronto dominated the first period and had an 18-6 advantage in shots on goal.

Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak left the game at 5:43 of the second period and went to the dressing room with an apparent leg injury after blocking a shot. He returned later in the period.

Palat scored his 17th goal of the season at 15:22 of the second period on a wrist shot on a rebound of Nikita Kucherov's shot. Brayden Point set up the opportunity by splitting the defense at the blue line.

Toronto had a 22-21 edge in shots on goal after the second period.

Matthews scored his 47th goal of the season on a power play at 3:38 of the third period on a shot from the lower edge of the right circle. Cedric Paquette was off for tripping.

The Maple Leafs had another power play when Cernak was called for tripping at 14:09 of the third. The Lightning killed the penalty to set up a late attempt to tie the game, removing Vasilevskiy with 1:18 to play.

The Maple Leafs had defenseman Morgan Rielly back in the lineup after he missed 23 games with a foot injury.

The Lightning were without defenseman Victor Hedman, who missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury.

--Field Level Media