The Tampa Bay Lightning (3-2-0) were defeated 5-2 at Scotiabank Arena on October 21 by the Toronto Maple Leafs (4-2-0). The Maple Leafs moved up to second place in the Atlantic Division as a result of their victory.
William Nylander’s glove-side goal off a feed from Max Domi gave Toronto the lead. That was Domi’s sixth assist in his past five games and Nylander’s fourth goal in as many games—both of them are blazing hot.
Later in the first period, Victor Hedman gave Nicholas Paul a breakaway that was first saved but ended up in the net after rebounding off Maple Leafs defenseman Simon Benoit. The score was deadlocked 1-1 after the unfortunate bounce.
Auston Matthews, who is currently on a three-game goal-scoring streak and is quietly making his way up in the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy race—he has won the award three times in the last four seasons—and Nylander, who scored again after a steal and one-handed dish by Bobby McMann, gave his team the lead just 1:56 into the second period after the incident. Together with Domi, those two have developed a nice rapport this season.
Just before the 10-minute mark, Max Pacioretty added his third goal of the second period to the celebration. Andrei Vasilevskiy, the goalie for the Lightning, was withdrawn because that was the final straw.
Matthew Knies scored the last point for the Maple Leafs in the second period. That was Marner’s second primary assist of the game.
With some late retaliation from Tampa Bay, the score became somewhat more reasonable at 5-2. Hedman and Nikita Kucherov provided helpers for Brayden Point’s power-play marker.
Anthony Stolarz stopped 32 out of 34 shots he faced overall in Toronto’s crease. Vasilevskiy was only able to stop 10 of the 14 shots that were sent at him for the Lightning. With 14 saves on 15 shots, backup Jonas Johansson was able to stop the bleeding.
The Lightning will next travel to play the New Jersey Devils on October 22. It’s the NHL’s best club by point total (11), so Tampa Bay will face two extremely difficult tests in quick succession. Toronto won’t get much of a break either, as they return to action on October 22 when they face the Columbus Blue Jackets.
