TORONTO – The first was problematic.
The environment was encouraging.
And the finale?
Well, we won’t blame you if it takes your breath away.
By winning Key Game 5 4-3 and securing a 3-2 lead over Tampa Bay Lightning, the Toronto Maple Leafs – and their emotionally swaying fan base – boarded the train as only they know how.
And what a ride it was.
Despite not appearing in Tampa on Sunday, the Maple Leafs looked lost and upset for the first 20 minutes.
This time the cup lifter Stephen Stamkos waited for the club’s second shot to hit the opening goal past Jack Campbell.
And when the power sieve of Norris finalist Victor Hedman blew the net 52 seconds later, the hopeful Scotlandbank Arena supporter fell silent.
Extremely quiet.
They witnessed the Leafs broadcast with two goals before registering two of their own measly shots.
“One team is really going and one is not,” said Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe, summing up the first four games of this swing set.
It seemed perfectly familiar that Toronto would be the one not to go. Leafs were stupid in the first frame, 14-4. They were ineffective in three power games and were not interested in puck battles.
“Shoot!” The! The puck! ” the restless thousands roared.
After swearing in the morning that they had learned how strictly officials would follow the rules, William Nylander carried out a harsh sentence for detaining 200 feet of Campbell’s cage. Mitch Marner hooked Ryan McDonagh into the Tampa area six seconds after the Toronto power play.
“Every game is called the same way, so we need to have an understanding of it now,” Marner said.
But they did not show it.
Heading for the second period, the Leafs desperately needed a goal, a break – and got one in the form of a second penalty for too many Tampa men for the evening.
Toronto’s power play snapped and captain John Tavares jumped onto the board when he deflected William Nylander’s shot past Andrei Vassilevsky.
The crowd awoke, alert to return.
Tavares made Morgan Rieli equalize at the start of the third, and Nylander threw a dizzying wave of laser strikes that gave Leafs the lead – signaling the first change of lead in the entire series.
Ryan McDonagh tied the night with an absolute bomb from a slap shot from the high slot.
But the Marner-Oston Matthews 2-on-1 clash with the remaining 6:06 on the clock led to a blow to Marner, Matthews’ undisputed rebound and goal celebration, so strong that he could knock out a heavyweight champion.
“It’s about sticking together because there are highs and lows. “The show never goes your way all the time,” said John Cooper. So when disaster strikes, how do you deal with it?
The Counterpunchers series moved back to Tampa, where all the pressure is now falling on Cooper’s group, their three-pronged life-sustaining offer.
How will they cope?
The speed of the fox 5
• Keef overturned Mark Giordano on the top block for a game of strength and released Riley in the second block in Period 2.
• Campbell has Nick Paul’s numbers in this series.
• Patrick Maroon, Ladies and Gentlemen:
• The Leafs temporarily lost Colin Blackwell from the fourth line in the first period when he tried to clear Headman’s head. He came back for the second and was buzzing.
• Patrick Marlowe about Matthews and Marner in his retirement column on the Players’ Tribune: “Watching them and their love of the game made me fall in love with hockey again. I have no doubt that these guys will win the cup one day, and when they do, I know they will remember all those mini-stick fights in the basement. ”
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