Kessel, acquired by the Leafs in a September trade with the Bruins for two first-round picks and a second-round selection, received a loud ovation each time he touched the puck and often looked dangerous once it was on his stick.

A candidate for the US Olympic team, Kessel had been sidelined while recovering from offseason shoulder surgery. The speedy 22-year-old who signed a $27 million, five-year deal after he was acquired looked strong on the puck and showed no fear going into the corners when he had to. But Kessel took a hard hit from Mattias Ohlund.

“You’ve got to give him a double thumbs up for taking a hit like that, a massive hit and coming back and still being a dominant player every shift,’’ Leafs coach Ron Wilson said.

Kessel logged 23:50 minutes of ice time for the Maple Leafs and had a team-high 10 shots on goal.

“I had a ton of chances let me tell you,’’ Kessel said. “I’ve got to find some way to get some of those to go in. First game, got to get better.’’

Kessel’s work went for naught though as Malone tapped in an awkward shot that bounced over Jonas Gustavsson moments after John Mitchell nearly won it for the Maple Leafs on a pretty rush, with the puck nearly taking another funny hop into the goal.

Malone’s goal stood up after a video review.

Vincent Lecavalier also scored for the Lightning (5-4-4), who won their first road game of the season (1-4-1).

Ian White replied for the Maple Leafs (1-7-5), who have lost four straight games in extra time and remained winless at home (0-4-2) before a crowd of 19,301.

It was the 12th time in 13 games the Maple Leafs surrendered the first goal.

Penguins 4, Ducks 3 - Pascal Dupuis scored the go-ahead goal with 10:47 to play, and visiting Pittsburgh tied an NHL record with its seventh straight road victory to open the season.

Michael Rupp, Kris Letang, and Alex Goligoski also scored for the Penguins, who won in California for just the second time since January 1999 with two goals in the third period.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves for the Penguins, who matched the seven season-opening road victories of the 1940 Toronto Maple Leafs, the 1985 Philadelphia Flyers, and the 2005 Detroit Red Wings. New Jersey also is 7-0 on the road so far this season.

Thrashers 5, Canadiens 4 - Colby Armstrong scored 13:14 into the third period and Atlanta earned its first regulation win in Montreal in over five years. Armstrong scored his second of the season to restore Atlanta’s one-goal lead just 24 seconds after Montreal drew even for the second time in the third.

Ondrej Pavelec made 34 saves and Rich Peverley increased his team scoring lead to 16 points.

The Thrashers (6-4-1), who played their third game without injured captain Ilya Kovalchuk, won their second in a row following a four-game losing streak.

Canucks 4, Rangers 1 - Rick Rypien scored the go-ahead goal 8:48 into the third period, the first of three late goals that lifted host Vancouver.