TORONTO _ Low-scoring, check. Limited special teams, check. Grinding game, check. Deciding goal within the last five minutes, check.
Thursday's game had a lot of what the Lightning can expect from the playoffs. The 3-1 win over Toronto wasn't exactly the high-emotion affair you often see in the postseason, but it checked the other boxes.
Tampa Bay has repeatedly referred to the low scoring of playoff games and how that was something it needed to prepare for, after playing mostly the opposite. The Lightning's old habit of out-scoring their problems had cropped up again recently. But Tampa Bay only allowed 29 shots and a single goal to Toronto. Thursday's win was the second single-goal effort by the defense in the last month.
Steven Stamkos put the Lightning on the board with a short-handed goal with 5:37 left in the second period. He put a wrist shot past Frederik Andersen on a breakaway.
Alex Killorn put the Lightning on top with a one-timer late in the third period. He connected on a nice backhand pass from Stamkos with 5:48 to play.
Nikita Kucherov landed an empty-netter, his 40th goal of the season to give the Lightning a slanted-looking two-goal win.
