TORONTO — Matt Murray made 18 saves for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 4-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday.
“We were carrying the game through the first two periods, a lot of puck possession, a lot of zone time and obviously a ton of shots, and they weren’t getting much, so I thought we played a real solid game all the way. through tonight and that’s a big reason why they weren’t able to generate much, especially through the first two periods,” Murray said.
William Nylander had a goal and an assist Michael Bunting and Austin Matthews scored for the Maple Leafs (20-7-6), who had lost two straight.
“It’s a nice win for us,” Matthews said. “That’s a really good team over there, so I think you kind of have to expect there’s going to be chances both ways and we made good on some of ours and obviously some big stops in there as well.”
Vladislav Namestnikov scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 36 saves for the Lightning (20-10-1), who had won five in a row and seven of eight.
“I don’t know what part of the game they reinvented that had us perform like that,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “Note to self, don’t come to Toronto three days before the game. That was painfully evident because we definitely didn’t show up tonight.”
Video: TBL@TOR: Bunting scores 100th point with opening goal
Murray made a stretching left toe save on Brayden Point 41 seconds into the first period.
“We weren’t in the right spot in our coverage and it opened up a big hole for him that he jumped through, and that certainly was a huge moment in the game,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said.
The Maple Leafs went up 1-0 at 16:45 of the first period when Bunting one-timed a pass from Nylander in the high slot for his 100th NHL point.
“I took a little different path to make the NHL, six years in the American [Hockey] League, or whatever it was, over 300 games,” Bunting said. “I’m proud of my path and the way I got here, and I just want to keep building off of it.
“I had to keep grinding and keep believing in myself and it got me here. It’s been a great run so far and I want to keep this rolling.”
Matthews made it 2-0 at 1:01 of the second period when he shot from the top of the left face-off circle on the power play.
Video: TBL@TOR: Matthews nets a PPG to extend lead
Toronto outshot Tampa Bay 15-4 after the first period and 29-8 after the second.
Namestnikov cut the lead to 2-1 at 4:09 of the third period when he got his own rebound at the top of the goal crease and put it past Murray’s outstretched left pad.
“I thought our guys played really well,” Keefe said. “Even in the third period, I thought we started a little bit hesitant early in the period but found our legs and just got back to playing, which is what we talked about after the second period. We were in a good spot for a good reason, let’s just stay with it.”
Pierre Engvall scored into an empty net with 1:46 left to make it 3-1 and Nylander scored a second empty-net goal with 32 seconds left for the 4-1 final.
“That’s the same team we’ve played and the exact style and the exact same everything with less players,” Cooper said. “It’s the NHL, I get it, there’s 82 games, you’re not going to have your best every single night, but we started trying to manufacture things out of nothing and we were just giving them opportunities. Everything we talked about doing, I’m not sure we did at all tonight. That was a complete game, I’ll tell you that, a complete bag of you-know-what, that’s what that was.”
NOTES: Maple Leafs defenseman Rasmus Sandin Left the game at 1:01 of the second period because of a neck injury and did not return. Keefe had no further update after the game. … Maple Leafs forward Calle Jarnkrok, who played his 600th NHL game, had an assist and played 12:50 in his return after missing seven games with a groin injury. … Bunting has 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in the past 12 games. … Matthews has 17 points (eight goals, nine assists) in the past 11 games. …Forward Mitchell Marner extended his home point streak to 13 games (four goals, 15 assists) dating to Nov. 2. He is the 10th player in Maple Leafs history with a run of at least 13. Darryl Sittler set their record of 18 in 1978. … Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev played 22:48 after missing two games with an upper-body injury. … Tampa Bay forward Nikita Kucherov had his seven-game point streak end (two goals, 10 assists) and a six-game assist streak end (10 assists). … Lightning forward Steven Stamkos had an assist and has at least one point in 16 of the past 17 games (nine goals, 15 assists). … Lightning forward Brandon Hagel had a five-game point streak (five goals, four assists) and a four-game assist streak ended.
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