The Lightning were just 42 seconds from an impressive shutout win Thursday night in Toronto, on the verge of their finest defensive effort of the season.
Instead, they ended up having to settle for one point following a 2-1 overtime loss to the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena.
Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped the first 28 shots he saw before Toronto captain John Tavares evened the score late in a frantically paced third period. He plucked the puck out of the air, passed it forward, charged the net, took a pass from Mitch Marner and beat Vasilevskiy.
In overtime, Victor Hedman’s slashing call on Tavares put the Lightning on the penalty kill, and William Nylander’s shot from the left circle beat Vasilevskiy 2:43 into the extra period.
After Vasilevskiy’s outstanding performance Monday against the Capitals, Lightning players said they needed to do a better job playing in front of their goaltender.
Tampa Bay gave Vasilevskiy an early one-goal lead but allowed too many breakaways in a back-and-forth second period that included long stretches of play and few whistles.
It was difficult to pinpoint which of Vasilevskiy’s 32 saves was most impressive, but his sliding right pad stop on Toronto’s Wayne Simmonds on a breakaway with 32 seconds left in the second was certainly among them.
Vasilevskiy stoned Simmonds earlier in the period, stuffing him in front of the net after a pass from Jason Spezza. He also stopped Auston Matthews’ backhanded try on a breakaway and Alexander Kerfoot’s wraparound attempt.
Pat Maroon scored for the Lightning on a feed from Corey Perry with 6:44 left in the first period, a reward for a star-crossed third line that hadn’t been able to capitalize on numerous scoring chances.
Perry and Maroon rushed up the ice together after Erik Cernak deflected a shot from the defensive end. Perry parted two Toronto defenders and flicked a pass across the slot to Maroon, who needed an extra step to get the puck on his stick before rifling a wrister from the left circle past Toronto goaltender Jack Campbell.
Maroon circled around and raised his arms as if to say, “At last!”
Good friends and teammates from their days playing together in Anaheim several years back, Maroon and Perry jelled well together on the Lightning’s rebuilt third line as wings flanking young center Ross Colton. Despite that, it took until Thursday’s 10th game of the season for them to get their first points of the season.
It was the Lightning’s first game against the Leafs since March 10, 2020, Tampa Bay’s last game before the pandemic shut down play. As both teams raced out to fast starts last season, Lightning coach Jon Cooper bemoaned not being able to play teams like Toronto to see how his squad measured up.
So this game was a long time coming, and it did give the improving Lightning a good gauge of where they now stand following a slow start in a season of transition.
Hedman’s first-period turnover gave Marner a breakaway, forcing Hedman to hook Marner to stop him. Defenseman Mikhail Sergachev followed, running his right shoulder to Marner’s head, a hit that drew the ire of the Maple Leafs and could draw discipline from the league’s player safety department.
Still, that forced the Lightning to kill a two-minute 5-on-3 Toronto power play. As the final seconds ticked down in the period, they were able to prevent the Maple Leafs from scoring, providing a huge momentum boost going into the first intermission.
Campbell (24 saves) played marvelously for Toronto, denying Brayden Point’s backhanded attempt on a breakaway midway through the third and making a left pad save on Steven Stamkos’ charge to the near post.
