The Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning, rivals in the Atlantic Division, will run it back when they meet Saturday night on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Following Thursday’s defeat down south against the reigning Eastern Conference champion Florida Panthers, Toronto is hoping for a similar result as the last time it visited Tampa.
That occurred on April 29, when the Leafs handed the Lightning a first-round exit in the Stanley Cup postseason, beating them in six games on John Tavares’ game-winning goal 4:35 into overtime. It was Toronto’s first time advancing past the first round since 2004.
But the trip has not started well for coach Sheldon Keefe’s club.
Trailing 2-1 late against the Panthers, Toronto pulled goaltender Ilya Samsonov for an extra skater and owned a 6-on-4 advantage for the final 1:09 after Florida’s Aleksander Barkov was sent to the penalty box for tripping Mitch Marner.
However, Florida held on as Sam Reinhart provided the only scoring in that span, dropping a long flip into an empty net with just one second left for the final 3-1 margin.
Keefe liked some of the play from Samsonov, who stopped 21 of 23 shots in defeat.
However, the coach felt he needed another save or two from the Russian netminder, especially on long-range attempts.
Late in the first period, the Panthers’ Kevin Stenlund connected from 37 feet and Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored from 53 feet — the first markers for both with their new club.
“Two goals come from distance,” Keefe said. “I’d like to see him find a way to get one of those for us, especially when (Sergei Bobrovsky) at the other end is not giving you much.”
Tyler Bertuzzi was a game-time decision and logged a season-low 13:53 of ice time. Keefe slid the left wing down to the third line in the second period.
“Bert’s playing less than 100 percent right now,” Keefe said. “It (was) very clear from the pace of the game, the physicality and competitiveness of the game and the difficulty of the matchups.”
After his club’s 4-3 home win over Vancouver Thursday, Lightning coach Jon Cooper emphasized the toughness displayed in winning battles against the Canucks — not settling a score with Toronto after the April heartbreak.
In fact, there were no references at all to the Leafs in the postgame presser.
“It all starts with battle-wins, and you’ve got to win your battles,” Cooper said. “At times when we were stuck in our end, you weren’t winning battles. And when you do win your battles, good things happen.”
The Lightning blocked 23 shots in the triumph, receiving a team-high six from defenseman Nick Perbix.
“I think, for the most part, that’s been the best part of our game,” said Cooper, in his 12th season, making him the NHL’s longest tenured coach. “We play (defense) fairly well and (goalie Jonas Johansson) makes the saves he has to.”
In the 2021-22 postseason’s first round, Tampa Bay defeated the Leafs in seven games, rallying in the series for victories in Games 6 and 7 before ultimately meeting the Colorado Avalanche, who won the Stanley Cup Final over Cooper’s club in six contests.
–Field Level Media
