Toronto Maple Leafs: Lineup Changes Key in 5-2 Win vs Lightning

The Toronto Maple Leafs have re-taken home-ice advantage following a road win vs the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Toronto Maple Leafs made changes to the lineup ahead of game three that seemed to pay off.

The new lineup paid dividends and the Leafs find themselves up two games to one in the series.

The Lightning scored two goals on Jack Campbell, but he was the hero in this game. The Leafs jumped out to a 3-0 lead, and could easily have blown it, had not Campbell played great.

Toronto Maple Leafs take Game Two vs Tampa

Auston Matthews created chances and SOG for himself and his teammates, Mitch Marner almost scored with a wicked wrist shot that hit iron.  Michael Bunting has displayed his ability to pick up the pace in the postseason. Though he was sent to the fourth line to, I think, even out the offensive prowess, giving a harder matchup for the Lightning, he still made an impact on the game. David Kampf has been playing amazingly as well, with the top-nine bringing needed depth offense.

John Tavares wasn’t necessarily invisible this game, even if he didn’t end the night with the best stats. The Leafs were hoping that reuniting Tavares and Nylander would result in a strong second line, but Tampa had a successful night against the Leafs second line, scoring a goal and having 60% puck possession.

Justin Holl replaced Timothy Liljegren and the reasoning, in my opinion, was because he wasn’t able to win net-front battles against the larger opposition. This was a worry before the series began and I guess Keefe saw enough, and this lineup change worked as well.

This lineup was capable of defending themselves as well, showing that Simmonds and Clifford could be great to have against the Florida Panthers, but they are not needed against the Lightning.

The series was initially believed to be a “violent” one, however, as stated earlier, the refs have been strict on after-whistle scrums. In the loss to the Lightning prior to the playoffs, the Maple Leafs were drawn into this style of game and they lost it via blowout. Now that the refs are forcing them to play more of a speed and skill game now (with tons of body checks) I am feeling a lot more confident about their chances of moving on in this series.

Friday’s game three wasn’t the best night for the Leafs, but they pulled out a victory, in large part due to the play of Jack Campbell.  The Leafs needed to win at least one game in Tampa, and they have done so, giving them the advantage in the series.