Maple Leafs stick to business in Game 3 win over Lightning

Article content

TAMPA  –  Three-peat T-shirts are big around this town, but 5-on-5 is the number the Maple Leafs have to keep in mind if they want to dress for success.

Article content

Putting their focus back on speed, skill and scrappy defence at even strength that doesn’t cross the line, they earned a 5-2 win Friday night and a 2-1 series lead on the Lightning.

Not that anyone expected the 115-point Leafs to go away after dropping Game 2, in which they scored the last two in a 5-3 loss, but it had to be expected that Friday’s 3-0 lead would not be safe. They had to hang on for dear life, Tampa pressing the last two minutes with Andrei Vasilevskiy pulled before two Ilya Mikheyev empty netters, his first two NHL playoff goals. Game 4 is here Sunday.

Article content

In a loud arena with just a trickle of the normal Toronto fan contingent, the Bolts went for the jugular off the faceoff, with Ilya Lyubushkin bumped off the puck and Brayden Point winding up from the slot. Jack Campbell came out quickly to block, as he did on a couple of teammates’ early miscues.

Article content

His best work among 31 saves came during a late-game Jake Muzzin power play, in particular stretching across to get his body on a Steven Stamkos one-timer.

His first set of stops allowed Toronto to steady itself and take a 1-0 lead late in a power play where Auston Matthews and the No. 1 group were squeezing their sticks a bit. A Matthews drive as he prepared to change lines hit traffic including Michael Bunting’s skate and went to Morgan Rielly down low. Mitch Marner picked up the assist to take the Leaf series lead with six points

Lyubushkin took a bad penalty to give the Bolts a way back in, but they couldn’t capitalize after a 3-for-7 night in Game 2 had buried the Leafs. And the lumbering Lyubushkin stepped out of the box to take the puck and showed remarkable patience on a 3-on-1, using Pierre Engvall as a screen and dropping to Colin Blackwell for his first NHL playoff goal.

Article content

In the second period, after a 25-second two-man advantage for the Leafs went for naught, David Kampf converted a turnover into another odd-man rush and beat Andrei Vasilevskiy for the second time in this series. The Leafs have an impressive record of 13-0-0 this season when Kampf scores and he helped them keep the upper hand on faceoffs.

Ross Colton did dent Campbell on the man advantage with Justin Holl off and hit the post after. Matthews was halted on an early third period breakaway trying to go five-hole and in short order, Ondrej Palat put a high wrister over namesake Ondrej Kase at the 5:43 mark of the period.

Mostly, the teams steered clear of any nonsense after whistles, each absorbing hard lessons. A key move to bring the Leafs back to that hockey-first mentality was getting Jason Spezza n the lineup.

Article content

The veteran of 93 post-season games on top of 1,248 in regular season was the called on as coach Sheldon Keefe recalibrated his decision to match the heavy lineup of the Bolts with his own fourth line armour.

The 38-year-old Spezza replaced Wayne Simmonds after a couple of ill-advised penalties in Game 2, while Keefe also chose to leave Kyle Clifford out after his one-game suspension for a late hit in the series’ opener. Winger Kase was not at the morning skate at Amalie on what was termed a personal issue, but made it back to his spot with John Tavares and William Nylander.

Article content

The series was tied coming back to a place where the Lightning had a record of 50-38 in playoffs since 2004.

The no-nonsense approach by officials to the intimidation tactics of both teams and the minor stick fouls being called tightly thus far, has made overtly rough play a risk, especially with both teams having potent power plays.

Keefe did beef up on the defence, dropping Timothy Liljegren for the more rugged Holl, who also has more penalty killing credentials.

Spezza, one of three Leafs with Simmonds and Mark Giordano have played 1,000 regular season games without a Cup, has been like a caged tiger awaiting this chance.

“It’s the best time to play hockey. I can bring some enthusiasm have some poise and also help the power play (on the second unit).”

In deleting Liljegren, the coach noted his inexperience has popped up a couple of times in this intense series and that Toronto no longer controls defensive match-ups as the road team.

[email protected]