Toronto 5, Tampa Bay 0
When: 7:30 PM ET, Thursday, March 16, 2017
Where: Amalie Arena, Tampa, Florida
Referees:
Steve Kozari, Ian Walsh
Linesmen:
Tony Sericolo, Mark Shewchyk
Attendance:
19092
By The Sports Xchange
TAMPA, Fla. -- Toronto had 13 different players record a point and routed the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-0 in an important late-season meeting.
The victory vaults the Maple Leafs into the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference standings, leaping over both Tampa Bay and the New York Islanders with a one-point lead and a game in hand on both teams.
"Real important win for us," Toronto head coach Mike Babcock. "The guys did a good job of finding the net."
Fredrik Andersen stopped 33 shots for his 10th career shutout and fourth of the season, recording the first shutout for a Toronto goaltender in Tampa since Curtis Joseph on Feb. 2, 1999.
Morgan Rielly had a goal and an assist, the only Toronto player to record a multi-point game. Matt Martin, Roman Polak, James van Riemsdyk and Connor Brown all scored for the Maple Leafs.
Rookie-of-the-year candidate Auston Matthews was held without a point for the seventh consecutive game.
But as well as the Leafs piled on the offense, it was the defensive play that was the difference one game after giving up seven goals in a blowout loss at Florida. The Leafs also killed off five Tampa Bay power-play chances after allowing a power-play goal in three consecutive games.
"It's a long season, there's going to be ups and downs but we rebounded nicely tonight," Martin said.
The Lightning, who came in on a 12-2-3 stretch, were shut out for the second time since Christmas.
"It's tough, you want to go out there and win every game, sometimes it doesn't work for you," Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman said. "I think we played a good team, no doubt about that, but we didn't bring the game we needed and that's why it's 5-0."
Polak provided the first-period lead for Toronto. After Tyler Bozak won the faceoff in the offensive zone back to Polak, he one-timed a shot that glanced off the shoulder of Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, popped up in to the air and landed in the net at 9:19.
Toronto erupted in the second period to pull away, scoring three goals in the opening six minutes of the period.
Rielly was all alone at the left point as too many Lightning players were down low, allowing the Leafs defenseman to find a seam through traffic for a shot that dropped down to the ice and slipped under Vasilevskiy's pad at 2:24. Just 10 seconds later, another point shot, this time from Matt Hunwick, hit the post before Martin pounced on the rebound and made it 3-0 in the blink of an eye.
"Those battles in front of the net, it didn't seem like we came out to compete in those instances and it ends up hurting us in the end," Tampa Bay forward Alex Killorn said.
The Leafs, with the top ranked road power play, extended that lead at 6:14 as Brown found another rebound around the crease for his 16th goal of the season to make it 4-0. The goal ended the night for Vasilevskiy, who allowed four goals in 15 shots after giving up just six goals total in his previous four starts.
"It was a big win for us," Martin said. "We had a good response (Thursday), played a good first period and obviously had a big second period offensively.
Van Riemsdyk increased the lead to 5-0 with another rebound goal, jumping in to the open slot after a shot from Mitch Marner at 15:41.
"It's about playing defense," Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin said. "For us, we are a good offensive team when we are playing right D. Look at the last games, they are 3-2, 2-1 and we win those games. When you give up five you are not going to win many games."
NOTES: The Maple Leafs became the first team to have three rookies record 50-or-more points in a season (Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander) since the original Winnipeg Jets in 1992-93, according to Elias Sports Bureau. ... Toronto C Tyler Bozak became the 40th player in franchise history to play in 500 games for the Maple Leafs. ... Toronto scratched RW Ben Smith, C Eric Fehr, LW Josh Leivo and D Martin Marincin. ... Tampa Bay scratched C Tyler Johnson (lower body), C Vladislav Namestnikov (lower body) and C Cedric Paquette (lower body). ... Tampa Bay recalled C Byron Froese from Syracuse of the American Hockey League, just over 12 hours after assigning him to the Crunch. ... Former Lightning C Brian Boyle, who was traded to Toronto on Feb. 27, received a video tribute and a standing ovation during the first media time out.
Top Game Performances
Toronto |
|
Tampa Bay |
Morgan Rielly 2 |
Points |
N/A |
Morgan Rielly 1 |
Goals |
N/A |
Morgan Rielly 1 |
Assists |
N/A |
Connor Brown 1 |
Power Play Goals |
N/A |
N/A |
Short Handed Goals |
N/A |
Frederik Andersen 1.000 |
Save Percentage |
Peter Budaj .833 |
Frederik Andersen 33 |
Saves |
Andrei Vasilevskiy 11 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Shots |
Goals |
Power Play |
Penalty Kill |
Penalty Mins |
Face Offs Won |
Toronto
|
21 |
5 |
1-3 |
5-5 |
14 |
28 |
Tampa Bay
|
33 |
0 |
0-5 |
2-3 |
10 |
24 |
Upcoming Games
-
Tampa Bay will play their next game at home against Washington. The Lightning have a W/L % of .400 after a win and .571 after a loss.
-
Toronto will play their next game at home against Chicago. The Maple Leafs have a W/L % of .452 after a win and .474 after a loss.