Bolts in trouble after blowing lead
Tavares breaks out of slump at opportune time as Leafs now lead series 3-2 going back to Florida
The Tampa Bay Lightning’s bid for a third consecutive Stanley Cup is in trouble.
Or is it?
The Lightning blew a third-period lead as the Toronto Maple Leafs won 4-3 and took a 3-2 lead in their best-of-seven National Hockey League Eastern Conference firstround series.
“That game was there for the taking for us and we just let it slip through our fingers,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper told reporters.
The Lightning have recent history on their side, though. They are heading home for Game 6 and they are 16-0 following a loss since the start of the 2020 post-season.
Toronto, meanwhile, hasn’t won a first-round series since 2004. In 2018, 2019 and 2021, the Leafs got three wins but failed to get a fourth.
Tampa Bay will need more to keep the run alive.
The Lightning appeared to be headed for another blowout win with two quick goals in the first period, but they couldn’t get another puck past Jack Campbell until the third period.
By that time, the Leafs had rallied to take a 3-2 lead on a second-period goal by John Tavares and thirdperiod goals by Morgan Rielly and William Nylander 73 seconds apart. It was the first lead change in the series.
Tampa Bay’s Ryan McDonagh tied up the game, but he was later caught up ice, leading to a two-onone break for Toronto. Auston Matthews scored on a so-called passoff-pads from Mitch Marner.
“Just an unbelievable key play by him,” Matthews said. “I had the whole net to shoot at. I just had to get my stick on the ice.”
Matthews said veteran Jason Spezza had talked to the team during the first intermission.
“The main message was that wasn’t our best period and we just got to go out there and compete and get back to our game,” he said.
The Maple Leafs took play to the Lightning in the second period and scored three goals on seven shots in the third period.
Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, last year’s Conn Smythe Trophy winner as playoff MVP, has given up at least three goals in every game this round.
The Lightning will also have to figure out how to shut down the Leafs stars, especially with Tavares finally having a big game.
“We haven’t let a series slip away,” Cooper said. “We let a game slip away.”
Kempe silences the Oilers crowd
The Edmonton Oilers had staged a furious rally in Game 5, overcoming two two-goal deficits in the third period to tie the game 4-4 against the Los Angeles Kings.
But Kings all-star Adrian Kempe ended it quickly in overtime, silencing the Oilers crowd by scoring at 1:12 to give Los Angeles a 3-2 series lead. It was his second goal of the game.
His celebration said it all. “We had a good mentality going into overtime,” he told ESPN. “It’s been like that all year. It doesn’t matter if we’re down or if we’re up. We still can always rely on our identity and we did that tonight.”
Nurse suspended for head-butt
The NHL Player Safety department announced Wednesday that Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse will be suspended for their pivotal Game 6 with the Kings for headbutting centre Phillip Danault late in the second period of Game 5.
With the suspension, the Oilers will be missing their top defenceman as they face an elimination game against L.A. on Thursday. Nurse played 26 minutes and 23 seconds in Tuesday’s overtime loss.
For the results of Wednesday night’s games between the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers, Washington Capitals and Florida Panthers and Dallas Stars and Calgary Flames, visit our website.