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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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The Toronto Maple Leafs needed to bounce back in a big way on Thursday, and managed to do just that in a 4-2 victory over the NHL-leading Tampa Bay Lightning to halt their two-game losing streak. Throughout this season, the Leafs haven’t lost three games in a row, and a 36-save performance from Frederik Andersen plus a game-winning goal by Mitch Marner helped keep that trend alive. Toronto moves to 29-15-2 on the season. 

TAKEAWAYS

Making a statement

The eight games since Christmas preceding Thursday’s game had been the toughest portion of the Leafs’ season to date. They had produced a meagre 3-5-0 record, with a minus-four goal-differential, and only one win over a playoff-positioned team compared to five losses against such clubs. 

To say their meeting with the Lightning, a divisional foe sitting atop the NHL standings that had won nine straight at home, was an important game would be an understatement. And Toronto treated it as such with good urgency to open the first period en route to a statement-making 4-2 win.

It was the Lightning that would strike first, though, when centre Brayden Point scored his 30th of the season on an early power play chance. Rather than being demoralized, the deficit proved galvanizing for Toronto, and the team responded with good offensive zone pressure resulting in Nazem Kadri’s game-tying goal. 

With Tampa averaging a league-high four goals per game this season, followed closely by the Leafs at 3.58 goals per game, what transpired in the second was hardly a surprise. 

Tied 1-1 after 20 minutes, Patrick Marleau gave the Leafs their first lead of the night past the midway point of the middle frame, followed 47 seconds later by Victor Hedman tying the game for Tampa. Just 1:06 after that, Marner buried a great pass from linemate John Tavares to make it 3-2 Toronto. 

Unlike recent losses where Toronto has let up with a lead, the Leafs kept pressing right until the final three minutes of the game, when Tampa pulled Andrei Vasilevskiy from the net and Toronto had to defend for an excruciatingly long stretch against one of the best puck-moving teams in the league.

But Andersen stood tall to finish with a 36-save performance to hold off the Lightning, and Zach Hyman tapped in the empty-netter to secure a confidence-boosting victory Toronto desperately needed over the NHL’s best team. 

Andersen answers the bell

Andersen had a chance to dust out the cobwebs of his two-week long injury layoff in Toronto’s 6-3 loss to Colorado on Monday, the netminder’s first start since Dec. 22. When the league-leading Lightning rolled around, Andersen was back on top of his game. 

With the long list of weapons in Tampa’s arsenal, Andersen had to be on his toes from the opening draw, upon which he was immediately the busier goaltender and would stay that way most of the night.

Like the Leafs themselves, Andersen got better as the game went on, and was no more rattled by the Lightning's opening goal than his teammates. One of Andersen’s best stops of the night came right before that Point goal, when Steven Stamkos was barrelling in alone but Andersen read the play perfectly to make the save – while Stamkos drew the penalty on Igor Ozhiganov at the same time.

Andersen ended up doing some of his best work when the Lightning had a power play after Point’s conversion. Tampa generated a handful of unbelievable chances, on a single man advantage alone, including one requiring another highlight-reel save by Andersen on Stamkos to preserve Toronto’s 3-2 lead in the second. 

The last time Toronto was in Tampa on Dec. 14, it was Vasilevskiy who stole the game for his team with a 48-save performance. This time, it was Andersen making one stop after another to keep the Leafs ahead, propelling them to a needed victory in one of his best showings of the season. 

Slump-busting scores

In recent weeks, Kadri has been steadfast that if he just continued to work, goals would eventually come. And after a 10-game goalless drought, one finally did fall for the centre in the first period Thursday. The marker relieved some of the pressure building on Kadri in what he’s believed to be a snakebit season. That goal was just the 10th he’s scored all year, in his 46th game, the longest it’s taken him to reach double-digit scores since 2015-16. 

Having produced at a 32-goal pace the last two seasons, Kadri’s decline this year has been attributed to his lacking a matchup role and a more rotating crop of wingers around him than in years past. One such linemate has been Marleau, who himself was riding a nine-game goalless drought before beating Vasilevskiy with a go-ahead goal for Toronto in the second period. 

Marleau's been slow accumulating points this season as well; in fact, his helper on Kadri’s score was the first assist Marleau had registered in 15 games. That made Thursday just the second time all season Marleau has recorded multiple points in an outing, dating back to the Leafs’ third game of the season on Oct. 7 when he registered two assists. 

Kadri also notched an assist on Marleau’s goal, giving him seven multi-point games this season. And lately Kadri has consistently been one of the Leafs’ hardest working forwards, grinding in the offensive zone and recording the second-best possession of any regular forward this season (53 per cent). His output against the Lighting helped make that line with Marleau and Kasperi Kapanen one of the Leafs’ best. 

Kapanen keeps climbing 

More often than not, Kapanen is among the fastest players on the ice in any game. On Thursday, he used that speed to help drive the Leafs through some early fits and spurts. The team’s first power play attempt began going astray and Kapanen used great backchecking to keep the Lightning from formulating a shorthanded chance. Then he showed that speed gaining the zone on a strong rush that teed up Kadri’s opening goal. 

The winger had some solid scoring opportunities himself, too, running through the Lightning defence and challenging Vasilevskiy with some shots from in tight. Kapanen led all Leafs with four shots on goal against Tampa. 

In addition to developing growing chemistry on his line with Kadri and Marleau, Kapanen is evolving into the Leafs’ best penalty killing forward – and arguably their most effective penalty killer, period. He’s intuitive playing that position, able to anticipate and shut down plays with good efficiency. 

Spectrum of special teams

When the Leafs were last in Florida a month ago, Ron Hainsey lamented that Toronto's penalty kill was just average, and had ample room to improve. Fast forward to Thursday night, where the kill was a game-changer for the Leafs. 

Stamkos managed to draw two penalties on his own, against both of Toronto’s third-pairing defencemen in Ozhiganov and Travis Dermott, but after the kill ceded the first goal to Point, they were air-tight in taking away the Lightning’s preferred cross-seam play to Stamkos and collapsing the play efficiently. Andersen’s big-time stops also helped, but penalty killers like Kapanen, Marner and Connor Brown also shone as those units went 3-for-4 against the best power play in the NHL. 

Toronto’s own power play wasn’t nearly as strong, a continuing trend for the Leafs since well before Christmas. The Leafs entered Thursday’s game going 2-for-20 in their last 10 games with the extra man, and they squandered both chances on the power play in the same way – too many puck touches, too slow on zone entries, trying too much and accomplishing too little. 

Marner milestone

With his game-winning goal on Thursday, Marner reached 60 points on the season. That makes him the first player in Leafs' franchise history to record at least 60 points in each of his first three NHL seasons (61 in 2016-17, 69 in 2017-18).

Blue and White Trending

Tracking Leafs’ trends all season long

Toronto is 3-0-0 on the road this season when leading after two periods.

Next game

The Leafs will continue their Florida swing against the Panthers on Friday.