Lightning give Maple Leafs harsh reality check with 5-3 win in Game 2

Matt Larkin
Matt Larkin(MLarkinHockey)
Lightning give Maple Leafs harsh reality check with 5-3 win in Game 2

A lot of players would panic. You’re standing alone, flat-footed, the puck on your stick in front of the opposing team’s goaltender, with three seconds remaining in the first period of a playoff game. Do you bobble the puck? One-time it?

Not Victor Hedman.

Not a two-time Stanley Cup winner with a Norris Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy to his name. After the puck deflected through Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Muzzin’s legs in the slot, Hedman calmly corralled the biscuit. He waited for goaltender Jack Campbell to move first and deposited the puck on his short side to put the Tampa Bay Lightning up 1-0 as the first period of Game 2 expired, deflating the rowdy Scotiabank Arena crowd.

Hedman’s hand did not shake in that split-second moment, which served as a reminder of whom the Toronto Maple Leafs are up against. These are the two-time defending champs, they have short memories for losses, and the 5-0 beatdown they suffered in Game 1 wasn’t going to shake their confidence.

The Bolts delivered a mostly poised and decidedly opportunistic effort in their 5-3 road victory Wednesday night. It wasn’t a wire-to-wire shellacking like the one they received in Game 1, but it didn’t have to be. The territorial play in Game 2 was even at 5-on-5, with the Leafs actually holding the edge in shot attempts and shots on goal, but the game came down to special teams – and to the small moments.

There was Hedman’s goal in the first. There was also the acrobatic glove save goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made on Leafs defenseman Timothy Liljegren during a second-period scramble with the game 1-0. Minutes later, Hedman sprung right winger Corey Perry for a breakaway with a stretch pass, and he beat Campbell cleanly. What was almost 1-1 became 2-0.

The Leafs responded on a great forechecking effort by Auston Matthews, who forced a turnover in Tampa’s zone with a hit on defenseman Ryan McDonagh and completed a tic-tac-toe from Marner to injury returnee Michael Bunting for the Leafs’ first goal of the night. It seemed like they’d swung the momentum back their way. But, again, the Leafs melted down in another pivotal moment, one an uber-experienced team is sometimes better equipped to navigate than a club seeking its first playoff series victory since 2004. During one of Tampa’s seven power plays on the night, Leaf penalty killer David Kampf had an opportunity to clear the puck but blindly dished it to defenseman T.J. Brodie, not noticing that Brodie had lost his stick. It resulted in a turnover that Lightning right winger Kucherov converted with authority. The Bolts exited period 2 with a 3-1 lead.

The third period turned into a mini trackmeet. Brandon Hagel finished off a 3-on-2 after a sloppy Leaf turnover in Tampa’s zone, then Brayden Point tucked home another power play marker four minutes later to make it 5-1. The Leafs responded with a Marner goal on a knuckleball off a Lightning defender, and Alexander Kerfoot completed a shorthanded 2-on-1 with T.J. Brodie, drawing Toronto within two. Those goals padded the stats and won back a bit of dignity, but the game was hardly in doubt. Tampa never lost the lead after Hedman’s first-period buzzer beater.

What worked in Game 1 didn’t work in Game 2 for the Leafs. Their P.K. went from utterly dominant to losing them the game Wednesday. The Bolts scored three times on their seven opportunities.

“You give them six or seven power plays, they’ve got a lot of skill there, they’ve got practice, they’ve got video, they can eventually kind of feel what we do, and they can make plays,” Marner said. “It’s the same thing when we get a lot opportunities.”

And it wasn’t just that the kill struggled when tested. It was the penalties themselves. There were simply far too many of them. They were unforced errors. Rugged winger Wayne Simmonds played on the wrong side of the line Wednesday, taking two penalties that led directly to Lightning goals.

“We took two many penalties, and I was the culprit of that, obviously,” Simmonds said. “I took two, they scored two and we lost by two.”

Just as importantly: playing shorthanded so many times also threw the Leafs’ lineup off, keeping key forwards who don’t play on the P.K. nailed to the bench for too long.

“No doubt it takes us out of our rhythm, so that’s why we want to be the ones drawing penalties and being on the front foot, spending time in the offensive zone and giving momentum,” said Leafs captain John Tavares.

Campbell, who allowed five goals on 34 shots, wasn’t exactly a goat in Game 2, as he didn’t have much of a chance on most of Tampa’s goals. But he also didn’t rise up and make that save when Vasilevskiy did at the other end of the ice. It was a reminder that Campbell is not Vasilevskiy, the best money goalie in the game. It’s an advantage Tampa carried going into the series and one it maintains.

Does that mean it’s time for the Leafs to panic, heading to Tampa’s Amalie Arena for Game 3 Friday after getting a split at home? Hardly. It’s the Lightning. The champs weren’t going to get swept. They’re an excellent hockey team, full of proven winners and future Hall of Famers.

“They have a great team, great structure, they’re well coached, they have great goaltending, they have world-class players at all positions,” said Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe. “But we’ve got good players, too. Our good players weren’t good enough today, but we’re going to move them to continue to get better in the series.”

Since being eliminated in 2019, the Lightning are 16-0 in the playoffs following a loss. If you want to beat them, you have to be excellent. The Leafs were not on Wednesday.

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