The Toronto Maple Leafs redeemed themselves Thursday night by absolutely thrashing the Lightning.
As bad as game one was for the Toronto Maple Leafs, they were still the better team 5v5, and they were in the processes of making a comeback when Michael Bunting went mental and ruined it.
The Lightning in game two just flat-out sucked.
The Toronto Maple Leafs destroyed them.
Toronto Maple Leafs Regain the Advantage
Ilya Samsonov had a great game.
The Leafs had a 60% Expected Goals rating at 5v5, and outscored Tampa 4-2. (Stats naturalstattrick.com).
Though he took a couple penalties (both somewhat weak calls) Matthews Knies was incredible. He looked the like the power-forward we’ve all been waiting years for, and the Leafs outshot TB 9-1 with him on the ice. He finished the game with an 89% Expected Goals Rating.
No matter what happens, he should never sit out a game again.
Mitch Marner had two goals and an assist. The nonsense about him not being a playoff performer is going to be forgotten very soon.
Morgan Rielly had four points, all assists. The Leafs are so much better when Rielly is joining the rush and making things happen from the back-end.
John Tavaers had a hatrick. The captain led by example and was truly fantastic in this game.
Somehow the Leafs scored seven goals without Matthews getting in on the action.
Matthews did have three shots, five shot-attempts, and four scoring chances to go along with his two assists, giving him four points in two games.
Just as importantly, the Leafs coach didn’t over-coach like he did on Tuesday, he trusted his stars and had success – imagine that. His best move, by far, was going with the 3 x #1 centres set-up that he should have done in game-one. With O’Reilly (who was amazing tonight) on the third line, the Leafs lineup is absolutely relentless.
The Toronto Maple Leafs were absolutely awesome tonight. Everything clicked, and they played one of the best games they’ve ever played with this group of players.
You can see what a difference it makes to have Ryan O’Reilly, Matthews Knies and Jake McCabe in the lineup. The Leafs have tied the series and it goes to Tampa for games three and four. If the Leafs keep this us, they can close out the series next week at home in Toronto.
The NHL still has work to do however, because despite the result, the officiating was still horrendous. Not as bad as last game, but still brutal.