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The Toronto Maple Leafs were outhustled, outworked, out-chanced and stymied by goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy for most of the contest against the Tampa Bay Lightning, but big stops by Jack Campbell and a late rally handed the Leafs a 2-1 overtime victory at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday.
John Tavares tied the game with 42 seconds left in regulation, William Nylander scored the game-winner in overtime on the power play and Jack Campbell made 24 saves to give Toronto their fourth straight victory and sole possession of second place in the Atlantic Division.
Tampa took the lead on a Patrick Maroon goal midway through the first and settled into a defensive structure, clogging up the neutral zone. Toronto’s best opportunity was a five-on-three power play brought about by Victor Hedman’s hooking Mitch Marner and Mikhail Sergachev checking the Leafs forward in the head, but the Leafs squandered the chance by overhandling and passing the puck for nearly the entire two minutes.
In the middle frame, the Leafs pressed the attack, outshooting the Lightning 13-8, but could not break through Vasilevskiy, who stopped Wayne Simmonds on a breakaway.
“I didn’t like anything about our first period. I thought we were just a little shy (and) we didn’t assert ourselves at all in any way in the game. I thought we made some adjustments going into the second period and I liked a lot of the things about our second period, but we didn’t get rewarded with a goal.… Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game.
Toronto opened it up in the third, scrambling their forward lines in search of a spark, but in turn allowed numerous chances on Campbell, who stopped Brayden Point, Alex Killorn and Steven Stamkos to keep the margin at one before the Leafs tied the game on Tavares fourth goal of the season.
Hedman’s slashing penalty on a Tavares break led to a four-on-three man advantage and late in the minor Auston Matthews set up Nylander for a one-timer that picked the corner for the victory over the two-time Cup winners.
Jack Campbell is a human highlight reel rn. pic.twitter.com/dp6pj6tOOf
— alberto (@twistedleafs) November 5, 2021
They’re a tremendous team and they make it very difficult for you to generate a lot, especially when you’re not executing at a high rate, so it was a good job just sticking with it.… Tavares said after the game. “It was obviously just one of those games where you just had to slug it out and find ways to get inside. That team obviously knows how to defend well (and Vasilevskiy is) a tremendous goaltender.
You just compete right until the end until you find a way. [Campbell] made some big saves there in the third to give us a chance. We got better as the game went on so it’s a good way to find a win today.…
Toronto will look to extend their winning streak to five when they face the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
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Lot’s of â¤ï¸ for the 💙ðŸ¤
— Norman James (@IamNormanJames) April 26, 2021
Convo on Podcast.#theleafsconvo https://t.co/Xdn3CDLVCI
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