The Tampa Bay Lightning return to Toronto for game five against the Toronto Maple Leafs with their season on the line. Toronto leads the series three games to one. Toronto is the second Atlantic seed, Tampa the third. Several players are back into the Lightning lineup. Victor Hedman and Michael Eyssimont are back for Tampa from game one injuries and Michael Bunting could have returned from his three game suspension. His suspension was a result of his headshot on the still injured Erik Cernak. A big season saving road win!
Game five period one
A fast start at just five minutes in, Morgan Rielly opens the scoring for Toronto from the top of the circles. The assists from rookie Matthew Knies and Maple Leaf Captain John Tavares. The Lightning came right back when Anthony Cirelli puts in a Brandon Hagel rebound. Nick Perbix had the secondary assist. The games first penalty was awarded to the Lightning. An interference call on Ross Colton. They killed it with several amazing saves by Andrei Vasilevskiy. It came back the other way as Justin Holl tripped Nikita Kucherov going into the boards causing Kucherov to bleed in the visor area of his face. They put six shots on net to no avail.
Joe Tomasone | The Scrum
Period two
Another quick start to the scoring when Tampa took the lead off of an Eyssimont wrist shot from the bottom of the circle on the rush. The assists were from Zach Bogosian and Ian Cole. A little over half way through, Toronto felt the pressure and took a delay the game penalty by sending the puck over the glass. The Leafs got the best of the chances though. Several great chances swapped with big saves and a post shot from Brayden Point. A fight erupted as the horn went. Patrick Maroon ends up with a roughing call after Auston Matthews went after him for a legal hit on Mark Giordano with no initial call with the referee looking right at Maroon and Giordano.
Alex Walworth | The Scrum
Period three
The Lightning started the final frame on the penalty kill. They killed it excellently. Both teams had good chances. Mitch Marner had a breakaway and Vasilevskiy made another great save. About 12 minutes into it Nick Paul broke through from Ross Colton and Eyssimont. With four minutes to go they exchanged post shots with the Leafs net empty. 30 seconds later Toronto’s Matthews scored on the rebound with the goalie pulled. Ilya Samsonov was put back in for the next 30 seconds before being taken back out.
He stayed out for 45 seconds more before the Leafs iced it and he had to return for the faceoff. Mikhail Sergachev went for the empty net with 15 seconds remaining and missed to cause an icing. Alex Killorn chased down his own dump in banked off the back wall to score an empty net goal with four seconds left. Hedman and Cirelli had the assists.
Alex Walworth | The Scrum
Conclusion
With the final score coming to four to two Tampa they live to fight on! The next game is this Saturday, April 29th in Tampa Bay at a yet to be determined time. The series is now three games to two with Toronto leading. Tampa led in shots (38 to 30) and possession, but this game relied on the goaltending of both sides. Scoring chances were not rare. Numerous post shots. This was another mostly good game by the Lightning where the offence came and they had the lead. There were some baffling defensive turn overs leading to scary chance after scary chance, but they remained very composed and stayed out of the box the best they could.
The Maroon call was baffling as the far ref made the call despite the close ref looking right at the hit. The opening call against even the announcers couldn’t find where the act was committed by Colton. The Leafs were also mostly composed with an accidental delay of game and a trip I doubt was on purpose. This was a joy of a playoff game to watch. Tanner Jeannot was out once again, but the Bolts remained physical enough without him. The pressure is still on for both clubs as Toronto still needs to close out a first round series and Tampa is facing elimination still.
Alex Walworth | The Scrum
3 Stars
1- Andrei Vasilevskiy- 28/30 saves .933 SV%
2- Michael Eyssimont- One goal one assist
3- Anthony Cirelli- One goal one assist
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