(Tampa) The Lightning’s fourth line beat the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Tampa Bay squad posted a convincing 7-3 victory on Sunday night.
Posted at 10:13 p.m.
Pierre-Édouard Bellemare, Corey Perry and Pat Maroon not only scored a goal each, but they bothered the visitors with their intensity and relentlessness.
Perry and Maroon, two veterans who have already won the Stanley Cup, also caused a penalty to the Maple Leafs. Referees gave the Lightning eight power plays during the game, including one that went to Perry.
Twice Ross Colton, empty-netter Steven Stamkos and Ondrej Palat also scored for the Florida team, which rallied after suffering a 5-2 loss on Friday night. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 22 pucks.
The Lightning tied the series 2-2. Both teams now return to Toronto for Game 5 on Tuesday night at Scotiabank Arena.
William Nylander scored two goals and Jake Muzzin added one for the Maple Leafs, who are – by far – the most punished teams since the start of the playoffs.
Jack Campbell started the game in net for the Torontonians, but was dismissed after allowing five goals on 16 shots. In relief, Erik Kallgren was perfect in front of nine shots.
The game started badly for the Maple Leafs and the Lightning opened the scoring in the 60and second of play. The visitors were bottled up in their territory and Stamkos unleashed a violent shot on reception which deceived the vigilance of Campbell.
The Maple Leafs weren’t at the end of their game, as the Lightning’s fourth line got going.
Perry picked up a loose puck along the boards and sent it behind the net. Muzzin, however, made it turn off in front of Campbell and Bellemare, who was passing by, threaded the needle. Less than three minutes later, Maroon pulled off a great individual maneuver and jumped on his own rebound to make it 3-0.
Sheldon Keefe’s men no doubt tried to regroup in the first intermission, but they were unable to stop the momentum of their opponents in the second period.
The Lightning took the Maple Leafs defense on the wrong foot and Colton had space to get past Campbell. His shot hit the goalie’s mitt, but the puck still caused the strings to move. Just over two minutes later, on a power play, Perry completed a tic-tac-toe orchestrated by Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov.
Nylander was good enough to give hope to his squad, flashing the red light by redirecting a pass shot from Auston Matthews and unleashing a hard, accurate one-timer, but it was too little, too late.