Resilient Leafs Get Big Games From Top Stars, Push Lightning to Brink of Elimination in Game 5 Win

After the first period of Game Five of their first-round series against Tampa Bay Monday, the Toronto Maple Leafs looked to be in trouble. Series-and-season-ending trouble – or, at least, the brink of it: The Lightning built a 2-0 lead early in the opening frame, and the Leafs looked unprepared to challenge them for it.

However, a funny thing happened after that: the Leafs (a) composed themselves; (b) slowly chipped away at the Bolts’ advantage; (c) staked out a lead of their own; (d) maintained their cool when Tampa tied the score at three goals apiece; and (e) wound up getting a beautiful game-winning goal that gave Toronto a 3-2 series lead.

And the best part of all? Virtually all the big contributions came from the Leafs’ core players.

To wit: Toronto’s first goal came some three minutes into the second period, off of a puck-bounce off of captain John Tavares (and also, Bolts defenseman Mikhail Sergachev). Tavares had just a pair of assists through the first four games, so this was a little bit of good fortune from the hockey gods. The primary assist went to elite winger William Nylander, who also had only a pair of points prior to Game Five.

Then, at the 3:01 mark of the third period, the Leafs drew even with the visitors when No. 1 defenseman Morgan Rielly scored off of a great feed from Tavares. Nylander had the second assist, and just like that, criticism of the Tavares-Nylander second line disappeared. Seventy-three seconds later, Nylander put the Leafs ahead for the first time on a sizzling wrist shot that Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy had no answer for.

Finally, after the Lightning showed some resolve of their own and evened the score approximately four minutes after Nylander’s goal, the Leafs took the lead for good with 6:06 remaining in regulation when star winger Mitch Marner and star center Auston Matthews broke in on a 2-on-1, and the rebound from Marner’s shot went directly to Matthews, who buried it into an open net.

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From there, it was all about protecting the lead for the Leafs, and they did so thanks in no small part to the play of goaltender Jack Campbell, who turned aside 32 of 35 Tampa Bay shots, including 11 of 12 in the final frame.

So, if you’re keeping track, that means the Leafs got huge games from their core group of four highly-paid forwards (Matthews, Marner, Tavares and Nylander), their top blueliner (Rielly) and their starting goalie (Campbell). When it all came down to it, Toronto’s stars were better than the Lightning’s stars. Secondary scoring really didn’t factor into the game at all. That may change in Game Six Thursday in Tampa, but for now, at least, the Leafs took a boatload of pressure off their shoulders and can close out the series with another strong performance.

Now, some of you will be smirking at the moment, remembering Toronto’s infamous series collapses in recent years. That’s fair. The Leafs have earned their reputation as an underachieving bunch. But on this night, they showed resilience and determination, and the Lightning couldn’t reply in kind during crunch time.

There is likely to be more peaks and valleys for the Buds before this series is over. No team in the series has won two straight games, so you have to expect Tampa Bay will be bringing their best effort in front of a rabid home crowd Thursday. But Toronto has won on the road in this series, and there’s no good reason why they can’t do it again.

That has to be reassuring to Leafs fans. Their team could’ve crumbled under pressure, but they rose to the task before them, and now it’s the defending, back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Lightning who are just one loss away from being sent home for the summer. Now we need to see that killer instinct kick in for Toronto. Nothing less than an effort similar to the one they put forth in Game 5 will be good enough to get the job done.