The Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning is always a fun and strong matchup, and this duel was no different.

Nikita Kucherov was ruled out for this game, while Toronto welcomed Matthews Knies and Auston Matthews back to the lineup.

“As the game went on, I felt a little bit better. Still felt a little bit rusty,” said Matthews. “But I thought our line played pretty solid all around and simple for the most part. I just want to continue to build forward and get better each game.”

Matthew Knies was the first goalscorer of the game, tipping a point shot from Chris Tanev through Vasilevskiy’s five-hole to return strong to the Leaf lineup. Auston Matthews was credited with the secondary assist.

The second period was all Toronto. About 8 minutes into the period, Chris Tanev scored his first of the year off a point shot that was screened. Although it was a nice sight to see, don’t expect many more goals off the stick of Tanev this year.

Less than a minute later, Nick Robertson came along the left side and wired one right past Vasilevskiy, giving the Leafs a 3-0 lead. The goal was the first for Robertson since October 22, a long and tiring span of 19 games.

John Tavares extended the lead late in the period, with a backhand after he battled with Jake Guentzel in front of the net. The Lightning goaltender didn’t see the puck until it was too late.

The back-half of the third is when there was pressure put on the Leafs. Tampa scored 11 minutes in, 15 minutes in, and 17 minutes in to bring it to a one-goal game. William Nylander was able to put it in the empty cage to solidify a 5-3 win, and his 15th goal of the season.

Leafs netminder Joseph Woll stopped 38 of 41 shots in the win, keeping the shutout bid alive well into the third period, until Tampa was able to put a little pressure on the Leafs late in the game.

“They had a good push at the end and they’re a good offensive team, so it wasn’t crazy surprising to see them push,” said Woll, who shut out the Lightning for 2 1/2 periods. “Great, great job by Willie to get that empty-netter to seal it  … Sometimes you don’t have a storybook ending in the third. Just was a good job by us as a team getting it done.”

Toronto is back at home Monday against Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks.