“Now it’s our turn to push back.” — Auston Matthews, Thursday
TAMPA, Fla. – When your most dangerous players get nullified at even-strength by one of the most effective shutdown trios in hockey, it’s up to the role players to elevate and make an impact.
Such was the case in Game 3 of this seesaw series rocking back and forth between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning, where the only safe bet from game to game or period to period is that the players decked out in blue and white will dominate.
With special teams again impacting but not deciding the outcome, a couple of unsung forwards on the visiting side, Colin Blackwell and David Kämpf, provided cherished 5-on-5 goals, pushing the Leafs to a 5-2 victory on enemy ice.
On the strength of coach Sheldon Keefe’s balanced bottom six, they swiped home-ice advantage back Friday as swiftly as they fumbled it away Wednesday.
Dumb penalties continue to be a series subplot, as two puck-over-glass penalties committed by the normally poised champions (one by Pat Maroon, the other by Ryan McDonagh) helped put that vicious Leafs power-play on the ice early and often.
Morgan Rielly whacked home a rebound to open the scoring with Maroon in the penalty box.
Next it was defenceman Ilya Lyubushkin hopping out of the box, after serving a silly post-whistle banishment of his own, and channelling his inner Michell Marner on a patient drive and setup of fourth-liner Colin Blackwell, who notched his first NHL playoff goal.
Kämpf’s second — yes, second — strike of the young series gave Toronto a 3-0 cushion midway through.
And while the Lightning’s stars did a fine job reigning in those of the Leafs, Tampa needed a power-play, and a costly Toronto mistake, to spark a rally.
“Special teams have really swung the games,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “A lot of the penalties are deserved.”
When penalty-killer Alexander Kerfoot inexplicably held onto the puck in the neutral zone instead of dumping it deep, he was run over and robbed of his possession by Ondrej Palat. The home team stormed into the Toronto zone with numbers.
A quick passing sequence culminated with Ross Colton ripping a one-timer past Jack Campbell from a sharp angle, helping turn an ornery Lightning crowd.
In the third period, Andrei Vasilevskiy stoned Auston Matthews not once but twice on a breakaway before Palat wired a bouncing puck high through Campbell, narrowing the gap to one.
Alas, that’s where the comeback ended.
Ilya Mikheyev buried two empty netters to seal the win.
Toronto’s speed, depth and a stellar showing by Campbell — how about that save on Steven Stamkos’s power-play one-timer? — have shifted all the pressure on the men with rings on their fingers.
Game 4 goes Sunday.
Fox’s Fast 5
• John Tavares has one goal in his past 12 games. At even strength, he has three assists in that span. It’s time.
“I think 200-foot game is the big focus for me,” Tavares says, “knowing the team you’re up against and the game-breakers that they have. I want to continue to find ways to generate more and breakthrough but, overall, 5-on-5 has been tight.”
• During the Lightning’s Stanley Cup runs in 2020 and 2021, Cooper says the club made it mandatory for the players to stay off social media and encouraged them to leave the TV dim.
“Yes, you can get your tires pumped, but you can get them deflated as well,” Cooper says.
So, how does a guy survive without his screens?
“You gotta make sure you have a deck of cards with you at all times.”
• Jason Spezza on the emergence of a confident Pierre Engvall:
“He’s more aware of how strong he is, how strong he can be on pucks. He’s learned to use his speed. And he’s learned to change speeds, which has really helped a lot. I think early on he was one speed — very fast everywhere. And now he’s learned to get teams off-kilter by changing speeds…. He’s been a phenomenal player for us all year.”
• Do you believe in numerology? The sweater number worn by beloved Tampa anthem singer Sonya Bryson-Kirksey: 67.
• Shared an elevator with Vincent Lecavalier. And, yes, he absolutely looks like he could lace ’em up for Game 4.
