Lightning prevail at Toronto in Game 7
TORONTO — When the Lightning acquired forward Nick Paul at the trade deadline, general manager Julien BriseBois said his game was made for the playoffs.
And with the Lightning’s season on the line, it was Paul — one of just two players in the Tampa Bay lineup playing in his first postseason — who was the difference in sending the reigning back-to-back Stanley Cup champions on to the second round.
The Lightning never had a lead in their best-of-seven series against the Maple Leafs until the end. They had to claw back trailing at every turn, including an overtime win at Amalie Arena just to force a do-or-die Game 7.
And Paul, who grew up in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, scored both goals for the Lightning in Saturday night’s 2-1 victory.
He quieted the home crowd at Scotiabank Arena twice, including taking the air out of the building with his go-ahead goal with 3:28 left in the second period.
All the talk this series had been about Toronto and whether this was the Leafs team to get over the hump and win the franchise’s first playoff series since 2004. But the Lightning had to fight off their own stigma of complacency.
“I don’t want anybody to sit here and say, ‘Well, it is easier [to deal with losing] because we won two Cups,’ ” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said before Game 7. ‘“If the Leafs get the best of us tonight, it’s OK.’ That’s BS. We’re standing here on the cusp of greatness. And why the hell wouldn’t you charge through that door?”
Game 7 played out as expected. It was tightly contested. Defenses were determined to protect their own net and didn’t take too many risks. After a series full of atypical high-scoring games, this was back to gritty playoff hockey.
The Lightning overcame the loss of center Brayden Point, who was arguably the team’s top player in this series. Point’s right leg twisted awkwardly underneath him late in the first period. He tried to return in the second but skated just one shift.
Shortly after that, Paul gave the Lightning the 1-0 lead, putting in Ross Colton’s rebound past
Toronto goaltender Jack Campbell.
Andrei Vasilevskiy yielded a tying goal to Morgan Rielly with 6:35 left in the second, but just as he did late in Game 6 two days prior, he came up big in the most critical times late.
On Paul’s second goal, he collected the puck at the Toronto blue line, wove through two Leafs defenders into the slot and launched an off-balance wrister into the back of the net.
Paul was not only a force on offense, but also made a key backcheck on William Nylander, fought off Colin Blackwell on a rush and nearly scored again with his drive to the goal. He also played a role in the Lightning’s penalty-kill unit.
The Lightning had struggled to close out games in the third period during this series (they were outscored 11-7 in the third entering Game 7) and throughout the regular season.
The Lightning know this well. Defense wins championships and Tampa Bay didn’t allow the Leafs to get near the front of the net, and they prevented rebounds that hurt them earlier in the series.