Kampf's contributions have been key for Maple Leafs against Lightning

BRANDON, Fla. -- David Kampf had no idea.

The Toronto Maple Leafs forward had scored what turned out to be the winning goal in a 5-2 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round on Friday. After the game, Kampf was informed that the Maple Leafs are 13-0 in games in which he'd scored this season, including Game 1 on Monday.
"Really?" Kampf asked with a shrug of the shoulders.
Lightning players might be asking themselves the same thing today.
The best-of-7 series was tied 1-1 when it shifted to Tampa for Game 3. As the coach of the home team, the Lightning's Jon Cooper found himself with the last change, allowing him to control his preferred matchups against the Maple Leafs' top guns: Auston Matthews, Mitchell Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares.
For the most part, it worked. Tampa Bay limited Toronto's big four to just one point, an assist by Marner.
RELATED: [Complete Maple Leafs vs. Lightning series coverage]
What the Lightning didn't count on was how the Maple Leafs supporting cast stepped up to fill the offensive gap, thanks to a pair of goals by forward Ilya Mikheyev, each into an empty net, and one each from Kampf, forward Colin Blackwell and defenseman Morgan Rielly. It's a recipe Toronto hopes to replicate in Game 4 here Sunday (7 p.m. ET; TBS, CBC, SN, TVAS, BSSUN, NHL LIVE).
"I think that's important," Rielly said after practice Saturday. "As a group, I think we take pride in our depth. That's been important for us all year, so guys like 'Blackie' and 'Kampers' scoring big goals is so important.
"If we expect to play for any length of time here we're going to need more of that, need more guys to step up and take more responsibility. Obviously, Auston and Mitch drove the bus for us this year and, in terms of the score sheet, we expect more of that. But as a group, we need to be supportive. We've got to be there. We've got to contribute in any way possible."
If anyone has been the Maple Leafs' poster child for supplying secondary scoring at key times, it's been Kampf.
Last season, the 27-year-old scored one goal in 56 games for the Chicago Blackhawks. When he signed a two-year, $3 million contract on July 28, there was little belief among the Toronto fan base that he would be any kind of offensive force.

Kampf responded by scoring an NHL career-high 11 goals in 82 games during the regular season before scoring once in each of Toronto's victories so far in this series. All the while, he and linemates Pierre Engvall and, at times, Mikheyev, have spent a lot of time matched against Tampa Bay's dynamic duo of Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov and have responded by holding them without a 5-on-5 goal through the first three games.
"He's a guy that, whether I play him 10 minutes -- which I haven't played him that little very often -- or 15, 20 minutes, his game doesn't change," Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. "He's going to go out there, and he's always on the right side of the puck. He gives you everything that he has. He's just an ultimate team player that knows who he is and knows how he can help influence the game. And he does that.
"We've been thinking and talking about it all year that, at this time of year especially, he was going to bring tremendous value to us. And so far it's how it has worked out."
Matthews may not have scored in Game 3, but it wasn't for a lack of chances. The 24-year-old, who won the Rocket Richard Trophy for leading the NHL with 60 goals this season, had five shots on goal, including a third-period breakaway that Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped, along with the rebound.
That's the worry for Cooper. He isn't as concerned about who is scoring for Toronto, or his own team, for that matter, as he is about the quality of opportunities Tampa Bay is surrendering against Vasilevskiy.
"There's always a misnomer out there that it's the amount of goals you score," Cooper said. "It's the amount you prevent. And that's where we have to be better."
As for the Lightning's ability to rebound from trailing 2-1 in the series, that's not an issue for Cooper. They are 15-0 after a postseason loss since the start of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"Just a ton of faith in the veteran group here, so I expect a bounce-back," Cooper said. "I can't sit here and guarantee what's going to happen, but we'll bounce back."