The Tampa Bay Lightning picked up right where they left off on Wednesday when NHL action resumed following the Olympic break. Led by Brayden Point; the captain, Nikita Kucherov, who made individual history; and the center Gage Goncalves, the Lightning defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 at Benchmark International Arena as another team from the United States defeated a team from Canada two weeks in a row.
Point, Kucherov, and Goncalves each had three-point nights: Point scored two goals and had one assist, Kucherov scored once and had two assists, and Goncalves had one goal and two assists.
After the game was deadlocked with no score, Point and Goncalves went back-to-back for the first two goals of the match, both wrist shots that got the Lighting on the board in the second. Point and Goncalves were both assisted by Charle-Edouard D’Astous, while Pontus Holmberg had the secondary assist to Point and Kuckherov was the second assist of Goncalves.
With his assist to Goncvalves, Kucherov became the first player in Tampa Bay Lightning history to reach his 700th career assist of his career as he continues to make history in the 2025-’26 season.
7️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ apples!
— NHLPA (@NHLPA) February 26, 2026
Congratulations to Nikita Kucherov, who becomes the first player in @TBLightning franchise history to reach the mark! pic.twitter.com/q6gGPhP08i
Kucherov then kept a great night of hockey going when he opened the third period play with a goal of his own with assists by the first period goal scorers – Goncalves and Point, their 12th and 20th assist respectively to make it a 3-0 Lightning lead.
The Maple Leafs answered one back on a wrist shot by John Tavares (his 21st goal of the year) on a power play as they made it a 3-1 match.
But Point didn’t let that point last as he scored just :11 seconds after Tavares, with assists by Kucherov (his 64th of the season) and his 701st assist of his career.
The Maple Leafs followed with a goal by Matthew Knies, but it wasn’t enough as the Lightning kicked off the second half of the season with another win defeating Toronto 4-2. They have now won 15 of their last 17 matches and continue to lead the Atlantic division.
The Lightning return to the ice on Thursday night as they travel to Raleigh, North Carolina to take on the Carolina Hurricanes at 7:00PM EST.