TAMPA – In a way, Morgan Rielly’s season has mirrored the Toronto Maple Leafs’ performance in Game 3: Hang around long enough, and just when things look dire, you just might see something wonderful and unexpected.
When Rielly floated a long-range puck high over Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy’s right shoulder in overtime Saturday, bending the twine and the series in the Maple Leafs’ favour, the bench erupted. General manager Kyle Dubas slammed the table in his pressbox suite with both hands, and Jason Spezza hollered and jumped out of his seat.
“Pretty excited, I’d say. It’s a grind of a game,” Auston Matthews said of the emotions culminating in Toronto’s 4-3 overtime win. “We’ll take that any day.”
Rielly is having his Mo-ment.
Oft derided during this, his first season under a $60-million contract, Rielly has battled injury and quietly wrestled with confidence. He’s patiently played with a rotation of defence partners and endured his share of off nights.
Yet when the spotlight has burned brightest, Rielly has come out to shine.
In Game 2, Toronto’s top defenceman registered four primary assists, hopped up in rushes with purpose, and laid down arguably his best performance in a uniform he’s worn for a decade.
In Game 3, Rielly got to wear the cape, not to mention the Hockey Night in Canada towel, freezing the clock and flipping the script with just 45 seconds remaining in the fourth period.
“He’s just a leader for us,” John Tavares said. “He just competes each and every day. You know, there’s no change in his approach, his personality, his mood — no matter how things are going. Whether with himself or with the team, he just continues to be humble, hardworking, very driven. And give it everything he’s got.”
Of course, Rielly deflected credit to Ryan O’Reilly’s clutch game-tying goal at the 59-minute mark of regulation, and O’Reilly’s O-zone face-off win that earned the puck to Rielly’s tape.
Ilya Samsonov, brilliant in a 36-save besting of his more celebrated countryman, was lauded heavily too.
But Rielly deserves full marks for his five-point showing through three games in this series. He’s a reminder that if you don’t let the pressure and negativity get to you, if you refuse to panic, good things can happen.
That was the Maple Leafs on this night.
“Tampa gave us everything they had here tonight, and our guys stayed with it. We get a clutch goal to get us to overtime, and then you’re right there,” coach Sheldon Keefe said.
“You look over the last number of years, we’ve lost this game a lot of times.”
Samsonov looked vulnerable early, and the Lightning’s best players gained Toronto’s zone and buzzed around with ease.
The Leafs caught a break in their favour when Brayden Point poked a puck through Samsonov’s legs, seemingly extending the Lightning lead, but the goal was wiped off the board due to a quick whistle.
Tampa coach Jon Cooper took issue:
Ultimately, however, Tampa’s inability to cushion its 3-2 third-period lead, despite a flurry of fights that dragged some of Toronto’s best scorers off the ice for nearly nine minutes, left the defending Eastern Conference champs vulnerable.
“I think we did deserve to win,” Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said. “We play like this, especially with that emotion, that energy, I like our chances moving forward.
“I thought that was as good of a game you can play and not win.”
He’s correct.
The Lightning owned the puck but lost the bounces. And, strange as it may be to hear, Tampa dressed the second-best goalie Saturday.
Yes, if you want to win 16, you gotta steal a couple along the way.
“You need that. That’s just the reality of it. We’re playing a team here, the Tampa Bay Lightning, they’ve won a lot and they who they are for lots of different reasons. But part of that is their goaltender has performances like Sammy had tonight,” Keefe said. “He should feel proud of his effort tonight.
“He had his best hockey when it was most critical, when we just could not afford to give up the next goal, whether that’s the back half of the second period, third period, of course obviously the overtime.”
The Leafs were outshot 39-27. They trailed for the bulk of the game and benefitted from a quick whistle. But they also held their own physically, outhitting their rugged hosts 62-61.
And much like Rielly this year, the Leafs didn’t let frustration overwhelm them when things got hard. They stayed patient, got some key shot blocks, timely goals, and all-world saves.
“Territorially, the game was absolutely in Tampa’s favour, no doubt. But we’re one shot away. We’re standing right there. Tampa was giving us everything that they had, yet we’re still right there. Lots of reasons to remain confident,” Keefe said. “The home team is carrying play. They’re giving us everything they have. But our guys stuck with it.
“We deserve to win as much as they do because of that.”
Fox’s Fast 5
• No surprise: Tampa’s blue line looks worlds calmer with Victor Hedman on it, even if he’s skating at something less than 100 per cent.
“He’s certainly made out of that Viking stock,” Ian Cole says.
Hedman finished plus-1 with 11 shot attempts and three blocks in 32:35 worth of work.
“It’s an important time of year,” Cooper says. “It crushes guys when they can’t go, and it has to be an extreme situation for him not to play.”
• Justin Holl killed two penalties by drawing penalties.
• John Tavares, the hat-trick star of Game 2, had a rough Saturday, going minus-3, taking a stick penalty 200 feet from his net, and watching his line get caved in at even strength. He only got one shot on net, and his Corsi was 27 per cent.
Keefe tried to jolt his captain’s offence mid-game by flipping left wing Alexander Kerfoot down to the third unit and bringing up Matthew Knies to skate with Tavares and Nylander.
Tampa’s top six drove play much better than Toronto’s on this night.
• Mikhail Sergachev skated a game-high 37:27.
• Cards are big on Toronto’s team charter.
Ilya Samsonov is a poker guy, while Jake McCabe and Sam Lafferty have an ongoing cribbage tournament (Lafferty leads 18-16).
But count Zach Aston-Reese out.
“I don’t like to gamble,” Aston-Reese says.
“Had a bad experience at summer camp when I was like 13. I was at like some Minnesota hockey camp, and I was playing the older kids in pool, getting my show ran. And I had to call my dad, and he had to wire me some money to the camp. So, after that debacle, I stayed away from gambling.
“He was pissed.”
