Maple Leafs Overcome Late Comeback By Lightning to Win 5-3 – The Hockey Writers Toronto Maple Leafs Latest News, Analysis & More

The Tampa Bay Lightning dropped their second game to the Toronto Maple Leafs this season, 5-3. A third-period comeback attempt made a sure win for Toronto into a nail-biter. However, the Maple Leafs’ second-period onslaught proved to be too much to overcome.

From Forgone Conclusion to Neck-and-Neck

The Maple Leafs struck first with a goal by Matthew Knies in the first period. Chris Tanev slapped the puck at the goalie, and Knies tipped it past Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy up front to get the early lead. The score would remain 1-0 after the first period.

Eight minutes into the second period, the Maple Leafs started to pull away. Tanev, this time around, found the back of the net to make it 2-0. Thirty-three seconds later, Nicholas Robertson made it 3-0. A tight game quickly started to slip away from the Lightning.

With a minute left in the period, John Tavares extended the lead further to 4-0.

The score remained the same for over 11 minutes into the final period of play. Then, the Lightning started to chip away.

Mikey Eyssimont picked up his third goal in five games to get the Lightning on the board. Jake Guentzel’s goal made it 4-2. The Lightning had cut the Maple Leafs lead in half.

The Lightning pulled Vasilevskiy with 2:33 left at the start of a power play to go 6-on-4 in their final push. It only took seconds for it to pay off as Cam Atkinson found the back of the net to make it a one-goal game. But the Lightning’s luck ran out. William Nylander put one in the empty net to finish off the game, 5-3.

Vasilevskiy saved 24-of-28 in the game (.857). Meanwhile, Maple Leafs goalie Joseph Woll saved 38-of-41 (.927). The Lightning went 1-for-3 on the power play while the Maple Leafs went 0-for-1.

The Lightning get a few days off before hosting the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, Dec. 5 at home at 7 p.m. EST. The Maple Leafs head back to Toronto for a game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m. EST.

Three Stars of the Game

1. Chris Tanev (1-1–2)
2. Mitch Marner (0-2–2)
3. Victor Hedman (0-2–2)