The Toronto Maple Leafs built up a 4-0 lead and then held on to win 5-3 over the Lightning in Tampa Bay. What were the good, bad, and ugly aspects of the game?
The Good (The Maple Leafs Get Secondary Scoring)
Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies returned to the lineup and played significant roles in the win. Knies opened the scoring at 7:13 of the first period when he tipped in a one-timer from the point by Chris Tanev. Tanev’s shot came after a great play by William Nylander to maintain possession in the Lightning zone. He got the puck to Matthews. Matthews, in turn, set Tanev up for the shot.
Toronto scored two goals in 33 seconds midway through the second period on two shots. I am sure Andrei Vasilevskiy would like to have them back. The goals were scored by two players in lengthy goal droughts. The first was a wrist shot by Tanev from just inside the face-off dot to the left of Vasilevskiy. The shot caught the inside of the post on Vasilevskiy’s stick side and deflected into the net. The second goal was a Nick Robertson shot from a bad angle to Vasilevskiy’s right that beat Vasilevskiy on the short side. While both shots were perfectly placed, they were both unscreened shots that beat Vasilevskiy.
Chris Tanev Steps Up
It was Tanev’s first goal since March 8th of this year. That drought spanned 40 regular-season games, 59 if you count last season’s playoffs. For Robertson, it was his first goal and point in 14 games. Robertson now has two points in 20 games this season, both goals.
Toronto would add another goal with 1:01 left in the second period. A waist-high shot from the point to the right of Vasilevskiy would get caught up in John Tavares’ jersey while Tavares provided a screen in front of the Tampa goal. The puck would remain in Tavares’s jersey for two seconds before dropping to the ice. Tavares quickly backhanded the puck past Vasilevskiy. Vasilevskiy had no clue where the puck was before it was by him into the net.
Nylander Ices the Game for the Maple Leafs
Nylander would close out the scoring with an empty net goal on a shot from the Toronto blue line with 1:16 left in the game.
Matthews (2A) and Knies (1G,1A) both had two-point games in their return. Tanev (1G,1A) and Mitch Marner (2A) also had two points games. Joseph Woll picked up his fifth win in a row. He raised his season’s record to 6-2-0 with a .923 SV% and a 2:13 GAA.
The Bad (The Maple Leafs Barely Hold On in the Third Period)
Despite this being the Lightning’s second game in two days, they were all over the Maple Leafs in the third period. They got a goal from Michael Eyssimont at 11:21 of the third period from a turnover by Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Then, Vasilevskiy was pulled for an extra attacker. The Lightning got two more goals in 2:19 to pull to within one goal at 4-3. The second goal was on a power play after Ekman-Larsson was called for a cross-check after the whistle.
For some reason, the referee failed to see Jake Guentzel‘s retaliatory and harder cross-check in the play. Tampa outshot the Maple Leafs 18-7 in the third period. According to Naturalstattrick.com, the Scoring Chances in the third period were 12-3 Lightning. The High-Danger Chances were 7-2 Lightning.
It appeared almost inevitable that Tampa would tie the game until Nylander found the empty net from 150 feet away.
The Ugly (Jake McCabe’s Injury)
In almost every game, a Maple Leafs player goes down and leaves the game. This time, Jake McCabe took a point shot off the side of the head while battling with Guentzel in front of Woll. McCabe went down immediately and stayed down for quite a while. A trainer attended to him, was assisted off the ice on his feet, went to the locker room, and did not return.
Luckily for McCabe, he saw the puck at the last second and could turn his head, or he would have gotten it flush in the face. Craig Berube said McCabe appeared fine after the game and did not expect him to miss any time. Berube added he could be wrong, though. Toronto has survived multiple injuries to key forwards in the last while. If McCabe were to miss time, it would leave a gaping hole in the backend.
What’s Next for the Maple Leafs?
After an amazingly light schedule for the Maple Leafs, which saw them play just four games in 14 days, they get thrown back into the fire. The Tampa game is the first of five games in eight days. The team returns home for three games in five days against the Chicago Blackhawks (Monday), the Nashville Predators (Wednesday), and the Washington Capitals (Friday). They then travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins next Saturday.
