TORONTO (AP) — Dennis Hildeby made 29 saves for the first time in his NHL career as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-0 on Monday night.
Morgan Rielly and Auston Matthews scored into an empty net for Toronto, which improved to 4-0-1 over its last five games.
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Jonas Johansson stopped 22 shots for Tampa Bay. The Lightning have lost four games in a row after winning seven straight.
Hildeby, who began the season as the Maple Leafs' fourth goaltender, received another start with Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Wall on injured reserve.
The Lightning had center Brayden Point and forward Nikita Kucherov back in the lineup from injury absences, but they were without No. 1 goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. Point missed seven games with an undisclosed injury, and Kucherov missed the game. Saturday's 2-0 home defeat. in favor of the New York Islanders.
Tampa Bay is shut out of back-to-back games for the first time since November 2023.
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Lightning coach John Cooper said he hopes Vasilevskiy can return during the team's four-game road trip that began Monday.
John Tavares helped Rielly reach his goal of becoming the first Toronto player 35 or older to score at least 30 points heading into his 30th game of the season since Mats Sundin in 2007-08.
Next
Lightning: At Montreal on Tuesday night in the second of a four-game road trip.
Maple Leafs: Host San Jose on Thursday night for the third of five games at home.
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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
