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After a weak effort in Game 1, the Toronto Maple Leafs showed a high level of desperation against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 2 at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday, scoring three goals in the first period on their way to a 7-2 rout of the Eastern Conference champions, and evening the best-of-seven series at 1-1.
“It was a big response. We couldn’t have asked for a better start.” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. “I thought just our overall focus and execution were really sharp tonight in that first period. We scored a power-play goal, killed two penalties, and scored a goal in a 6-on-5 situation. We scored a goal off of a faceoff.”
Leafs captain John Tavares led the way with a hat trick, Mitch Marner scored twice, William Nylander and Zach Aston-Reese added singles, Morgan Rielly set a club record with four assists, and Ilya Samsonov made 19 saves in the victory.
Toronto matched the Lightning’s strong start in the series opener by opening the scoring just 47 seconds into the contest, as Marner scored from long range past a screened Andrei Vasilevskiy on the power play. Tavares seemed to score the most timely tallies on the night, extending the lead to 2-0 on a feed from Rielly after a faceoff win in the offensive zone, and interrupting the Tampa momentum in the middle frame after Ian Cole had cut the Leafs lead to 3-1.
The large lead factored into the level of chicanery that ensued in the third, as Corey Perry went to a higher level of annoyance and bottom-sixers Tanner Jeannot and Patrick Maroon asserted themselves in garbage time. Perry’s antics led to a fight between Zach Bogosian and Mark Giordano in the first, and in the third dropping the gloves himself with Justin Holl. The highlight of the night was the bout between heavyweights Jeannot and Luke Schenn, setting the trend for what promises to be a physical series.
The more experienced Lightning continued their gamesmanship against Toronto, hoping to draw them into penalties. Perry was effective in doing this to Jake McCabe early in the game, and Maroon and Nikita Kucherov continued that activity with jabs at Ryan O’Reilly and Samsonov. More of this can be expected when the series shifts to Tampa for Games 3 and 4.
Rookie Matthew Knies was impressive in his Leafs home debut. The club’s top prospect played 13:10, mostly with O’Reilly and Noel Acciari, and played well in spite of taking two minor penalties.
“I thought the line was terrific.” Keefe said. “(Matt) was hard on the puck. He made a couple of great offensive plays. It was a real good performance from him. O’Reilly and Acciari were real pros tonight just with how they took care of him and took care of the game when they were out there.”
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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