Hedman, Kucherov lead as Lightning beat Leafs to even series

TORONTO — Victor Hedman had a goal and three assists for the first four-point playoff game of his career as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3 on Wednesday to even their first-round series 1-1.

Nikita Kucherov scored and added two assists, Brayden Point, Corey Perry and Brandon Hagel also scored for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions.

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 31 saves in a bounce-back performance for the 2019 Vezina Trophy winner after the Lightning dropped the opener 5-0.

Mitch Marner, with a goal and an assist, Michael Bunting and Alexander Kerfoot replied for Toronto, which got 29 stops from Jack Campbell. Auston Matthews added two assists.

Game 3 of the best-of-seven matchup goes Friday in Tampa.

The Lightning, who also lost Game 1 in three of eight series on their way to winning those Cups the last two seasons, took a 1-0 lead on the power play with just 1.4 seconds left in the first period.

After making a big stop on Point from the slot, Campbell was beaten by Hedman from in tight on a broken play where the puck popped out to the Lightning defenceman on the goaltender's doorstep.

Tampa, which went 0-for-5 on the man advantage in Game 1, had a much better start after looking slow most of Monday, but had to kill off two Toronto power plays earlier in the period before Vasilevskiy made a good save on Colin Blackwell moments before the visitors took the lead.

Coming into Wednesday, the Tampa netminder had a 14-0 record with a .966 save percentage and five shutouts following a loss the last two playoffs.

Vasilevskiy, who allowed five goals on 33 shots in Game 1, made a massive glove save on Leafs defenceman Timothy Liljegren early in the second. Hedman then sent Perry in alone on a