Coming off of a tough game in Nashville, having to face off against a rested Toronto Maple Leafs team was always going to be a tall task. Add in the fact that the Lightning’s leading scorer, Nikita Kucherov was scratched, and the task became taller. Despite a valiant attempt at a third-period comeback, the Lightning couldn’t overcome the obstacles in their way and dropped the game 5-3 to the Leafs.
Once again, the Lightning went with an 11/7 line-up with Kucherov, Nick Paul, and Mitchell Chaffee all missing due to various injuries. Conor Sheary jumped back into the line-up following his recall and started the game on a line with Conor Geekie and Cameron Atkinson. He finished with 3 shots and generated 2 individual scoring chances in 12:18 of ice time.
It wasn’t a bad first period for the Lightning, as they had the first four registered shots on net, but, much like Friday afternoon, they surrendered a goal on their opponent’s first shot. This time it was a point shot from Chris Tanev was deflected past Andrei Vasilevskiy by Matthew Knies, who was back in the line-up after missing a few games due to an injury.
Matthew Knies (Chris Tanev, Auston Matthews) 1-0 Maple Leafs
To the Lightning’s credit, things could have spiraled quickly considering they took a penalty shortly after the goal. They held the Leafs off to keep the deficit at one, which gave them a chance to tie things up with just one shot. Unfortunately, Joseph Woll had other plans. He turned aside all 10 shots the Lightning had in the period with his best coming against Atkinson on a two-on-one.
Well, that was his best until the end of the period as Mikey Eyssimont streaked in on a breakaway and seemingly had Woll beat, but the netminder was able to get just enough of his glove on the puck to keep it out of the net.
Woll denies Eyssimont
— Omar (@tictactomar.bsky.social) November 30, 2024 at 7:52 PM
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Even at the time, it felt like that save was a huge swing of momentum in favor of the Leafs. Looking back after the game, it loomed even larger considering the second period the Leafs put together. First it was Chris Tanev who was able to drive to the net and beat Vasilevskiy just over the pad and under the blocker. If was a heck of a shot for the defender to pick up his first goal as a Maple Leaf.
Chris Tanev (Mitch Marner, Pontus Holmberg) 2-0 Maple Leafs
Credit to Mitch Marner for spotting an open Tanev across the ice after Marner emerged from a scrum along the boards with the puck. With the Lightning overloaded on the far side, Tanev had time and space to move into a dangerous area to take the shot.
Just 33 seconds later, it felt like Toronto put the game away early as Fraser Minton was able to step around a poke check by Eyssimont at center ice to get into the zone. He dished it over Nick Robertson who picked his spot just over Vasy’s shoulder and under the bar on the short side.
“It’s tough. It’s a deflator” is how Coach Cooper put it after the game.
Nick Robertson (Fraser Minton, Simon Beniot) 3-0 Maple Leafs
The Lightning pushed back after the goal, but again Woll was the difference as he made several key stops, including five on a Lightning power play. The back-breaker came with just a minute to play as a shot from the point hit Jonathon Tavares in front of the Lightning net. He was able to ward off Jake Guentzel and flip a no-look backhander past Vasilevskiy, who had slid just slightly off of the near post.
Jonathan Tavares (Mitch Marner, Morgan Reilly) 4-0 Maple Leafs
So that was it, right? The Lightning tucked their tails and went meagerly into the night, right? Nope.
“As I’ve said all along they don’t quit. That’s a good thing, they didn’t lay down,” Coach Cooper noted after the game.
They fought back and made the Leafs’ fans who had traveled to Tampa sweat out the final few minutes. First up, it was Eyssimont who drew first blood against Woll.
Toronto failed to clear the puck and Darren Raddysh was able to pass the puck over to Eyssimont, who was all alone on the right side of the ice. He sniped one past Woll for his third goal on the season.
Mikey Eyssimont (Darren Raddysh) 4-1 Maple Leafs
The Lightning kept the pressure up all period long as they generated 35 shot attempts and 7 scoring chances against one of the stiffer defenses in the league. Despite the pressure, they couldn’t solve Woll until Coach Cooper pulled Vasilevskiy with over five minutes to go. It was a bold move, but one that paid off as Jake Guentzel’s attempted pass to Cameron Atkinson at the back post hit a Maple Leaf skate and ricocheted past Woll. Suddenly, it was 4-2 with more than four minutes to go.
Jake Guentzel (Brandon Hagel, Victor Hedman) 4-2 Maple Leafs
Victor Hedman picked up an assist on the goal, his 17th of the season, but more importantly the 589th of his career. That moved him past Marty St. Louis for the franchise lead in that category.
“I’ll enjoy it for a few weeks or a month until Kuch passes me,” Hedman joked after the game. For the record, Kucherov is sitting at 575 assists in his career, so Hedman might not be far off. In the meantime, Congratulations to The Big Swede.
The goals didn’t stop there, and with Conor Timmons in the box for an ill-advised crosscheck, the Lightning capitalized on the mistake with a 6-on-4 power play goal. Brandon Hagel fired the puck through the crease and it hit Cameron Atkinson in the skate. Woll wasn’t able to get over in time to keep it out of the net, and all of a sudden the Bolts were down just one goal.
Cameron Atkinson (Brandon Hagel, Victor Hedman) Power Play, 4-3 Maple Leafs
Could they actually do it? Could they come back from four goals down to absolutely steal a point? For the briefest of seconds it looked like they could, but Anthony Cirelli’s tipped shot went just wide. Then Willy Nylander ended any hope of a comeback as he pitchforked the puck into the empty net from distance to make it 5-3.
William Nylander (Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies) Empty Net, 5-3
Woll would make one more save on Brayden Point at point-blank range to earn the win.
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