Game 5: Tampa Bay Lightning (3-1) and Toronto Maple Leafs (3-2)
Time: 7:30 PM EST
Location: Scotiabank Arena
TV/Broadcast/Radio: NHLN, BSSUN, Prime (Canada), TVAS, 102.5 The Bone
Odds: Lightning +124
It would be wrong to say that the Tampa Bay Lightning have a rivalry with the Toronto Maple Leafs. After all, the Leafs have been around for a million years, and they have enough other teams to be considered true contenders, whether it’s Boston or Montreal. With both the Lightning and Leafs grouped in the same division since the 2013-14 season, and with both franchises finding success over the past few seasons, they have developed, so to speak, history.
Both organizations have built themselves into perennial playoff contenders. They both have legitimate Hall of Famers on their roster. They both love to score goals. Both showed, at times, a casual approach to keeping pucks out of the net. They both wear blue and white. Both have a demanding fan base (even if Toronto is a bit larger).
The Lightning certainly have one thing the Leafs don’t, which is a Stanley Cup celebration shown on color TV.
On the ice, things are fairly close as well. Going back to the 2018-19 season, the numbers are fairly close, especially in terms of goals scored and allowed. Head to head, things were fairly close as the teams split their 18 encounters. Officially, the Bolts are 9-6-3, scoring 68 goals while conceding 55. Overall, this is how teams performed during the Lightning’s Stanley Cup window overall:
StatTampa Bay, Toronto, Games Played 458,459 Wins 286,270 Losses 137,137 Points 607,592 Goals Scored 1,6111,612 Goals Confronted 1,3171,363 Games Playoff 66 Stats via NHL
The postseason wasn’t exactly close. Although they have made the postseason the same amount of times, the Lightning have had more success. They played nearly twice as many games and recorded 32 more wins.
Tampa Bay, Toronto Games Played 8,644 Wins 5,119 Losses 3,525 Goals Scored 262,114 Goals Allowed 225 125 Series Wins 71 Stanley Cups 20 Stats via NHL
The two teams played out two exciting series against each other, with Toronto holding the edge in wins (7-6) and goals scored (47-44). The Lightning also have the distinction of being the only team the Leafs have beaten in a playoff series in more than two decades. So, if you’re keeping score, since the 2004-04 season, the Leafs have won two playoff series and the Lightning have captured three Stanley Cups.
Meeting in back-to-back postseason stints increased their hatred for each other, which is what the NHL was looking for when they changed the seeding of the playoffs to a bracket system. The animosity that builds up in playoff series when there are real stakes at stake tends to carry over into regular season games.
So, tonight’s game should be fun. It’s also the only game on the NHL schedule tonight, so all eyes will be on the two. It’s always fun when national media helicopters fly in for a regular season game and tell us everything we should know about our favorite team. So, expect to hear a lot of opinions about the Bolts and Leafs throughout today and into tomorrow.
The Lightning look to bounce back from a rough outing against the Senators on Saturday as their power play continued to struggle and they had issues handling some of Ottawa’s speed early in the night. They will want to make sure they handle the puck cleanly and move it efficiently out of the zone. Giving Toronto multiple chances in the offensive zone is a surefire way to have a bad night.
Toronto lost its season opener to Montreal (oh, the sky is falling!) and then won its next three games (start planning the show!) before losing its last game to the Rangers, 4-1 (kick everyone out!). Mitch Marner has gone from the guy everyone wanted to trade this summer to leading the team with five points (he’s tied with Max Domi) while William Nylander leads the team with three goals in five games.
Injuries have left them with the duo of Anthony Stolarz and Dennis Hildeby. The duo played well as Stolarz posted a 1.97 GAA in his four appearances while Hyldeby picked up the win, allowing just two goals on 23 shots in his lone appearance. Joseph Wall, at least according to new bench boss Craig Berube, is a day-to-day, but the Bolts will likely see Stolarz tonight.
Berube was brought in to make the Leafs more disciplined, and he seemed to accomplish that during the first week of the season. He makes sure they are not satisfied and that they pay attention to the little details. Let’s be honest, a disciplined Leafs team is nowhere near as fun as a team that was caught brawling on the bench during their playoff loss to Boston.
It should be a high-paced game tonight as both teams look to solidify their positions as early-season favorites in the Atlantic Division. Whatever the result, expect it to be a close match. Over the last two regular seasons, only two out of seven games have been decided by more than two goals.
Possible lines
Possible lightning lines:
Attackers:
Jake Guentzel – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel – Anthony Cirelli – Nick Paul
Mickey Eismont – Connor Geeke – Connor Sheary
Zemgus Jergenson – Luke Glendening – Mitchell Chaffee
Defense:
Victor Hedman – JJ Moser
Ryan McDonagh – Eric Cernak
Darren Radish – Nick Burbucks
goalkeeper:
Andrei Vasilevsky
Toronto Maple Leafs potential lines:
Attackers:
Matthew Kniss – Auston Matthews – Mitchell Marner
Bobby McMahon – Max Domi – William Nylander
Pontus Holmberg – John Tavares – Nick Robertson
Steve Lorentz – David Kampf – Ryan Reeves
Defense:
Morgan Reilly – Chris Tanev
Oliver Ekman Larsson – Jake McCabe
Simon Benoit – Connor Timmins
goalkeeper
Anthony Stolarz
