Watch: Ryan Reaves takes down Tanner Jeannot in spirited heavyweight bout 

A heavyweight tilt between Ryan Reaves of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tanner Jeannot of the Tampa Bay Lightning lit up the ice early in the third period on Wednesday night. Just over three minutes into the final frame, the two rugged wingers dropped the gloves for an intense fight.

Watch the video here:

It was the second meeting this season between Reaves and Jeannot, who squared off back on Nov. 12 in a bout that similarly saw Reaves get the upper hand. This time, the two men exchanged a flurry of furious punches, with both landing solid blows.

However, Reaves got the better of Jeannot again, catching him with a huge right hand that sent the Lightning winger crashing to the ice. The refs stepped in to break it up as Reaves skated away pumping his arms to the cheering Scotiabank Arena crowd.

The spirited tilt was a highlight of Toronto's 4-1 loss to Tampa Bay.

Maple Leafs suffer 4-1 loss to Lightning at home

Victor Hedman opened the scoring for Tampa Bay with a first-period power-play goal. Auston Matthews answered back to tie it 1-1 heading into the second period after being set up by Morgan Rielly on the man advantage.

In the second period, Brayden Point put the Lightning back in front 2-1 by tucking home a backhand shot on a feed from Nikita Kucherov. Steven Stamkos extended the lead to 3-1 when he capitalized on a 2-on-1 rush.

Nicholas Paul sealed the 4-1 away victory in the third period with his 20th goal of the season, roofing a shot past Joseph Woll.

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves for the Lightning, while Woll stopped 21 shots for Toronto.

Kucherov is now leading in the NHL with 129 points. With this victory, Tampa Bay is four points behind Toronto in third place in the Atlantic Division standings.

Despite Auston Matthews notching his league-leading 63rd goal, the Maple Leafs failed to clinch a playoff berth with the loss. Toronto had won three straight games before the defeat.

The Lightning face the Montreal Canadiens next on Thursday, while the Maple Leafs take on the Canadiens on Saturday.