Toronto Maple Leafs VS Tampa Bay Lightning Game Three Preview

The Toronto Maple Leafs enter Tampa Bay with the series tied at one a piece.

Thursdays contest was a great bounce-back performance for the Toronto Maple Leafs, demolishing the Bolts 7-2.

Now, the series shifts over to Amalie Arena with Tampa Bay wanting revenge for the beatdown Toronto gave to them.

The bad blood between these two teams is obvious and has been on display throughout the  entirety of the series, so expect it to continue Saturday Night.

Toronto Maple Leafs vs Tampa Bay Lightning Game Three Preview

This series feels almost like a repeat of last years between the two teams with the series tied 1-1 heading into game three. A couple other questions are still yet to be answered when it comes to Tampa’s blue-line and the status of Victor Hedman and Erik Černák.

Both defensemen were out of the lineup on Thursday, and if both remain out, that could cause big problems for the Lightning as both are crucial players on the backend.

There is good news for the Bolts as earlier today, Hedman took part in practice with the team and even took line rushes with Nick Perbix (Per Chris Johnston on Twitter.) There was no sighting of Černák during morning skate, Hedman is listed as a game-time decision for game three.

This is the first playoff game in Tampa since game six of last years first round where the Lightning scored in overtime to push a game seven, a game which they ultimately won.

In that game seven, it was a great performance from Andrei Vasilevskiy who made 30 saves on 31 shots back in 2022, an effort that he hopes to regain in game three. We have all seen the heroics of Vasilevskiy in the playoffs, however, against the Leafs in the playoffs, Vasy had a 4-3 record with a 3.04 GAA and a .897 save percentage in 2022. This series, he has allowed three plus goals in each of the two games thus far, so he, along with the rest of the Lightning fanbase is looking for a signature Vasy performance.

Game three’s have been good to Leaf fans in the Matthews/Marner/Nylander era, the Leafs have not lost, with a record of 5-0. Last postseason, it was the Leafs who beat Tampa 5-2 at Amalie Arena, which leaves the question, will history repeat itself?

After game two, Lightning Head Coach, Jon Cooper took a shot are the Leafs centre core stating, “Give me Point, Cirelli, and Paul any day of the week.” Well, he had Point, Cirelli and Paul on Thursday, and it was Point who was the only one who got a point for Tampa, wheras all of Auston Matthews, John Tavares and Ryan O’Reilly has put up points, including a John Tavares hattrick.

Another Leaf who is having a great showing in the postseason is Morgan Rielly. The Vancouver-native set a franchise record in game two, becoming the first Leafs player to post a three-point period as a defender in the playoffs.

Both games in this series have been blowouts, with Tampa beating Toronto 7-3 , and the Leafs winning 7-2 in game two. Personally, I don’t think that will continue as both teams are just too good to consistently get blown out. I see this game being close throughout, and it could fall on goaltending to get the job done in this one, with puck drop at 7pm EST.