At times, this was a choppy outing for the Lightning, who ceded most of the possession time to Toronto through the first two periods. But thanks to second-period goals from Brayden Point and Steven Stamkos, they entered the final frame with a 3-1 lead. In the third period, they locked things down, limiting the Leafs to just four shots on goal (two came in the closing seconds) and 12 shot attempts.
The Lightning netted the game’s first goal. It came during a delayed penalty call on Toronto — Victor Hedman snapped a wrist shot from the high slot over the stick of Joseph Woll at 10:03. It also happened to be the Lightning’s first shot on goal. They managed only three additional SOG in the first. It was a flat period for the Lightning, who struggled to execute cleanly with the puck. They surrendered the tying goal late in the period after going on their second penalty kill of the game. With Luke Glendening in the box, the Leafs won the offensive-zone faceoff to begin the man advantage, and Auston Matthews scored on a one-timer seconds later.
The second period featured a little more possession time in the offensive zone for the Lightning. The line of Point, Nikita Kucherov, and Anthony Duclair owned most of that possession time. On the shift after the Lightning killed another Toronto power play, Point gave the Lightning the lead back. The Leafs lost coverage on Point in front of the net, and Kucherov fed him the puck. Point deked to his backhand and buried the shot at 2:54.
The Lightning added a third goal after the Leafs applied pressure in the offensive zone. When Haydn Fleury got the puck to Brandon Hagel in the neutral zone, two Toronto forwards went to the bench for a change. Hagel moved the puck forward to Stamkos, creating a two-on-one rush with Anthony Cirelli. Stamkos zipped a left-circle shot through Woll’s pads at 8:57.
Even with those two goals scored, however, the Lightning spent most of the middle stanza having to defend in their own end. Toronto posted 14 shots and had 32 shot attempts in the period. To the Lightning’s credit, they defended hard without the puck, so the Leafs didn’t accumulate a high volume of scoring chances. But they had some — Andrei Vasilevskiy was sharp in turning aside all of them.
The dynamic changed in the third period. The Lightning broke out of their own zone cleanly and worked pucks into the Toronto end. Nick Paul netted his 20th goal of the season when he finished a rush chance at 14:19. But the story of the third period was how well the Lightning played with the lead and prevented Toronto from mounting a comeback.
With the win, the Lightning reduced their magic number to four points — any combination of points gained by the Lightning or not gained by Philadelphia totaling four clinches a playoff berth for Tampa Bay.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game:
- Andrei Vasilevskiy — Lightning. 28 saves.
- Brayden Point — Lightning. GWG.
- Nikita Kucherov — Lightning. Three assists. New career-high 130 points.
