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Expecting the champs will make an appearance; Leafs vs Lightning - Game 2

May 4, 2022, 12:28 PM ET [748 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The Toronto Maple Leafs are hoping to repeat many of the things that led to their impressive 5-0 victory over Tampa Bay in Game 1 to take an early stranglehold in the best-of-seven series, but it is clear that both sides are expecting the championship pedigree of the Lightning to show up in Game 2 of the first-round series at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday.

"There's always going to be adjustments. There are a few things that we saw that maybe we can take advantage of, but we did have a couple power plays that had look after look after look, it just didn't go into the net." Tampa head coach Jon Cooper said. "Give Toronto credit, they did a heck of a job. I think we let them off the hook a little bit, but we'll be ready for him tonight."

Toronto rode the wave of momentum created by killing off a five-minute major to Kyle Clifford to seize control of the game, putting an experienced Tampa squad on their heels with their speed and aggressiveness. The Leafs got three-point performances out of Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, a 24-save shutout from Jack Campbell, and a gutsy outing from William Nylander, who battled through a bout of food poisoning.

The Lightning have a penchant for responding well after poor efforts, as goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy’s record after losses over the last two seasons is 14-0, with a 1.35 GAA and five shutouts.

"(Cooper is) gonna have his thoughts and opinions on his team of course. Probably not unlike when we were down there and we lost 8-1." Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said. "That's not the Tampa team that we prepared for (and) we're expecting to see that team here tonight."



Toronto will have to make one change to their lineup as the NHL’s Department of Player Safety handed out a one-game suspension to Kyle Clifford on Tuesday for his hit from behind to Tampa’s Ross Colton. Even though the Lightning resorted to some chicanery late in the third period of Game 1, it was likely that the more physical Clifford would have been scratched for Game 2, with the return to the lineup of winger Michael Bunting.

Bunting missed the last three regular-season games after suffering a lower-body injury in Florida on April 24, but has been ramping up over the last week and will take his place alongside Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. Alex Kerfoot will return to the second line with Ilya Mikheyev and John Tavares, and Ondrej Kase will play on the fourth line with Colin Blackwell and Wayne Simmonds.

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