Auston Matthews has 3 goals, Maple Leafs beat Lightning

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Auston Matthews had three goals to tie the franchise single-season record for goals with 54, and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2 on Monday night.

Matthews, who also had an assist and extended his goal streak to six games, completed his seventh career hat trick — and fourth this season — from the slot to give Toronto a 5-2 lead at 7:08 of the third. The center equaled Rick Vaive's mark set in 1981-82.

"It's humbling, it means a lot," Matthews said.

Mitchell Marner had a goal and two assists, giving him 22 points (six goals, 16 assists) during a 10-game point streak. He also recorded his sixth straight multi-point game as the Maple Leafs took a two-point lead over Tampa Bay and Boston for second place in the Atlantic Division. Marner scored his goal at 11:24 of the third.

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Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (34) celebrates his second period goal during an NHL hockey game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Monday, April 4, 2022, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

"This is a big game for us, obviously," Matthews, said. "They're a really good team, they know how to win, so it was an important game for us this point of the season. All these points count and really matter. I think it's just a really complete game by everybody."

Pierre Engvall and Alexander Kerfoot had the other Toronto goals. Jack Campbell had 32 saves.

Tampa Bay got goals from Nikita Kucherov and Jan Rutta, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 33 shots.

"We didn't manage our game," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "We were way, way, too easy to play against tonight. It was like a light practice for