Leafs deliver promised power to top Lightning
MATTHEWS NOTCHES GOAL 47 AS RIELLY RETURNS TO LINEUP
One way or another, the Toronto Maple Leafs are headed south, either to playoff disappointment or a series with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
After Tuesday night’s redeeming 2-1 triumph over the Bolts, it’s a bit closer to an opening-round series with them. From a troubling trip to California where they couldn’t win or score, the Leafs delivered on their word to crank up the pace and rode a couple of power play goals from their 40- and 30-goal stars.
The most significant was the third period go- ahead goal by Auston Matthews, the seventh Leaf in club history to reach 47.
The Leafs, whose power play had gone stale after a two- goal night in beating Tampa Bay on the road last month, first hit when Mitch Marner’s shot went off John Tavares, goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy and out to William Nylander. It was Nylander’s 31st of the year and ninth with the man advantage, second only to Matthews’ 12.
Matthews’ came on a sweet saucer from Marner after Ondrej Palat cleaned up a Nikita Kucherov rush in the second period.
Matthews and Marner were broken up as even- strength linemates by coach Sheldon Keefe, with Zach Hyman on the right with Nylander between Matthews, while Tavares centred Marner and Kasperi Kapanen.
At one stage of the first, the Leafs had a 16-1 shot advantage, that single not coming until the 12th minute. But despite taking a 1- 0 lead to the dressing room, the Lightning found their stride after intermission. Missing the injured Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman, they almost made up the shot difference, helped in part by Morgan Rielly’s penalty for dislodging the net following a breakaway. Frederik Andersen made 30-plus saves for the win.
Keefe vowed he wouldn’t ease Rielly back after a two-month absence with a broken foot, putting him the starting lineup to loud crowd applause.
“We have to be patient, but we’re not going to hold him back,” the coach said Tuesday morning. “That doesn’t help. He’s a horse, he wants to get out there moving and playing.
“He brings a lot ( over) three zones; able to skate the puck out of our zone, get us through the neutral zone and the way he moves around the offensive zone opens things up, not only for himself, but others.”
Keefe put Rielly back with Cody Ceci.
“There’s some familiarity there; obviously with ( Jake) Muzzin still being out we have a little bit of uncertainty there with our pairs. Travis Dermott and Justin Holl have been doing well together, we just thought we’d give it a go.”
That left Rasmus Sandin with Tyson Barrie as partners, with Sandin and Holl joining Rielly in the penalty box in the game’s first half.
Both teams have tried to position themselves via trades for better first round results, the Presidents Trophy winning Bolts infamously swept by Columbus last April. They added Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow to give their scorers some sandpaper support. The Leafs countered with Kyle Clifford as a bottom six energy forward and Jack Campbell as a backup goalie.
The return of Rielly, Ceci and in a few games, fellow blueliner Muzzin will give the Leafs a new look, too.
“There are different types of moves but Clifford- Campbell was very significant for us for our own reasons,” Keefe said. “We did feel if we could keep our head above water here long enough to get our injured players back, that would be a boosting in itself; Ceci, Rielly, Muzzin and (forward Ilya) Mikheyev is on the horizon, too.
“That’s going to be a big help to our team at an important time of year. But the players we have who’ve been playing every day we need them to be more consistent.”
The Leafs opened up a threepoint lead on the Florida Panthers — who now hold a game in hand — and play both the Panthers and Lightning once more.
“It’s an opportunity for our team to play important hockey,” Rielly said. “We’ve been in playoff mode for awhile, just given the standings. We’re not in spot for cruise control. It’s important, this little stretch ( 12 remaining games) for playoffs. ‘A’, we want to be there, ‘ B’, we want to be there for a while. We have some work to do.”