I don’t want to sit here and say that this game is just a case of anything that could go wrong, go wrong.
This would belittle the reality that Tampa Bay completely outscored Leafs in the third period of Game 3 and even early in Game 3, before taking an early penalty and conceding a 1-0 goal. In Game 2, Lightning really started tilting the ice at 5v5. In this game, Tampa just switched it to 5v5, except that they didn’t execute a bunch of penalties along the way.
The Lightning test gives Leafs seizures. Toronto cannot explode cleanly and therefore does not generate enough offenses. Special teams were the story at the beginning of this series, but now the 5v5 battle is taking shape.
All that said, this is a leveled series and the Leafs still have the advantage of home ice. There is still plenty of time to resolve this, and the friendly boundaries of Scotiabank Arena are on Leafs’ side (they were great at home this season). But they need to understand what is happening at 5v5 to get back on track.
This series has always been going to deepen, and now we are sure of that. Tampa will not end its championship power without a fight.
Your game for 10:
1. This is the first game in which the Leafs started their checklist on the first shift, which was probably a little strict for their really strong game 3. It didn’t go well.
First, Tampa Bay avoided a match with their best players and immediately drew their power line. They won the match, they got it deep, there was a big hit by Ross Colton on Mark Giordano and the Lightning blocked the Leafs. forward.
However, the Leafs had the puck and a split second to play, and while many are focusing on Justin Hall for the Lightning 1-0 goal, the problem there really was Ondrej Kase.
Why is it blowing up the area? Hall should try to pass to the wing 10/10 times in this situation. He was already on a long shift and the match changed. Leafs needed controlled possession at least up to the red line (discard or skate-in) for him to change. If Hall shoots him off the wall and freezes him, Tampa has a charged face in the offensive zone with his best goal scorers against a tired pair and a tired forward.
Leafs’ game does not destroy the zone. Cassie has to shrink and open or stop, not skate on the ice and watch Ondrey Palace get off the bench and push him for the puck. This began a series in which the puck returned to the side of Cassie, where he did not block the shot, while Tampa scored.
Leafs do not kill cleanly and are generally on their wings. Literally, no matter what Hall did there, it would be a turnaround. Earlier in this shift, Hall put one clean on Ilya Mikheev’s belt, but he crowded in and Tampa retained possession.
2. In the first goal Leafs were inclined to drop a puck and while this generally continued to happen immediately after the score of Stamkos, the second goal was more the result of a bad rebound.
This is a relatively harmless game. Jake Mouzin misjudged the puck coming out of the wall, Jack Campbell tried to make up for it, and the puck bounced straight at Pierre-Edouard Belmare, who buried it.
At this point, the Leafs couldn’t get out clean, and they really hadn’t left their zone in five minutes. I was surprised that Sheldon Keefe did not announce a timeout in an attempt to calm the team. They were not sharp or ready for the preliminary inspection of Tampa Bay.
It’s one thing to lose 2-0 early on bad rebounds, but they were completely outplayed. The timeout seemed reasonable to reassure the players. Dropping Leafs in two with 55 minutes to go is not the end of the world. Instead, they let it play out …
3. From there it only got worse. Morgan Riley and Alex Kerfut were guilty of scoring 3-0.
Kerfut is supposed to play on the top line to help at least to some extent in the defense of the puck over Michael Bunting. Mitch Marner and Aston Matthews applied pressure to the ice. This means that Kerfut is a high-ranking person in the neutral zone. Instead, there were three Tampa Bay attackers behind him.
Rielli obviously had to read it correctly and there was no reason to step up against a player who stood motionless in the center. But he did, Pat Marun came in behind him and Marun buried him.
This is partly due to the fact that the coaching staff of Leafs probably had to use a time-out at 2-0 – the players were obviously shaken and made uncharacteristic plays. Immediately afterwards, Jason Speza – of all people – executed an undisciplined penalty. His whole goal is PP2 and maybe the weird 5v5 chance, so that just can’t happen. He should never commit to Pat Maroon, especially after he scored and the team was crushed.
In the next powerful game for Tampa Bay, Braden Point managed to escape from a penalty of Leafs and was robbed in a mini break.
Later, Matthews really hit the crossbar and Leafs continued to play with force late to try to make the match with two goals, which would be a huge victory after a catastrophe of a period. The leaves generated almost nothing. When we talk about good power play, this is the moment when good power play has to do something.
4. At 3-0, I think it was perfectly wise not to pull Jack Campbell. Leafs are more than capable of exploding in attack, so a lead of three goals with 40 minutes to go is not a possible scenario that the game is over. They also don’t have a good enough reserve to withdraw Campbell and essentially not declare that they are playing the game.
If the Leafs won the second period, in the worst case they would be eliminated with two goals. Again, a two-goal lead in the third period is not a terrible situation, given everything.
5. Of course, the second period did not play out this way. It seemed that Leafs would really generate repulsion and make the game interesting, but at 3-0 this was not ruled out. The fourth goal was just a backbreak.
Ross Colton tried and scored with a rather weak wrist blow, which Jack Campbell simply missed with his glove. It’s a terrible goal, but something remarkable happened just before that. Ryan McDonagh and Ilya Mikheev competed for the puck, Mikheev knocked him down, Colin Blackwell tried to rush to grab the puck, and McDonagh, who was on the ice, pushed her away. It had to be 2v1 to go the other way. You can’t lose this battle on Tuesday in November, no matter the playoffs.
Still, Morgan Riley still had the puck and passed it to Mikheev, who this time pushed the puck out of it before Tampa fell and scored the weak, scoring goal.
This was the story of the game: How many battles can Leafs lose on the wall? Tampa seems to have won them all.
6. John Tavares has a nightmare series so far. He doesn’t generate anything in an attack, and in the second period he executed a penalty for stumbling when chasing … Corey Perry. Immediately after the draw, David Kampf fired the puck and Tampa essentially switched to a full 5v3. Of course, Perry noted.
There is not much to say here. Nikita Kucherov loves the fake pass and he got the list with it. It was 5 to 3 and Tampa was spinning all night. The chances of killing him were slim.
Now Keefe should have really wanted to pull Jack Campbell, but he was still in the middle of a power game and no one wanted to throw Eric Calgren in that situation. At one point, it’s just cruel.
7. It is time to discuss the fourth line. Tampa’s is ahead of Leafs by so much difference at the moment that it’s comical to think about the series.
The Leafs came out insanely excited, donning their two informers in the first game – partly in response to Tampa’s big fourth line – and Kyle Clifford took the five-minute major almost instantly. In Game 2, Perry scored on a break. In game 3 Leafs really didn’t pay attention to them and that was fantastic. In Game 4, Lightning’s fourth line scored twice at 5v5 and Perry scored at 5v3.
Conversely, Leafs’ fourth line did almost nothing. Colin Blackwell scored after a penalty. Wayne Simmonds scored some bad penalties in Game 2. Clifford was sent off, as noted. Even Jason Spca has done almost nothing since rejoining the squad. Michael Bunting almost certainly plays injured and does very, very little, well said. At some point, either Bunting needs to get healthier, play better, or both, but turning it on to ensure nothing doesn’t work for anyone involved.
8. I will not talk much about the third period. It was good that the Leafs broke the block in principle. They scored another goal and some things happened with empty nets back and forth. Honestly, I thought it was a waste of time.
The Leafs barely confused the lines. Michael Bunting, playing through injury, was moved to the top line and did nothing. The third row stayed together – fairly enough. The fourth row remained ineffective. The defensive pairs were not really shaken.
Eric Calgren was involved (and thank goodness for doing well with relief and scoring zero goals), the Leafs dropped out with five and they threw in the towel. They scored several times, but didn’t really do anything to upgrade to the next game. It really felt like waiting for the buzzer so the team could go home.
Morgan Rielly’s lightning pace was too much for Brayden Point who could only look on as the ball went wide. Now this is the best series of three. Two of these matches are at home. At this point, there is almost no room for error.
9. I think it’s worth noting that Tampa made 1/8 of the power of the game in this one. They had chances, but Leafs did well to …
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