TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Lightning dominated in almost every facet of the game on Saturday, except for the final score. Now, the Lightning is down 2-1 to a physical Toronto Maple Leafs team and needs a win in Game 4 to keep pace in the first-round series.
Tampa Bay outshot Toronto 39-27 in Game 3, but allowed the game-tying goal heading when Toronto pulled its goalie with just about a minute to go in the game.
Game 3 saw a very physical game with bad blood between the two teams erupting into a fight that saw multiple penalties and almost knocked Brayden Point out for the game.
Brayden Point takes a scary hit from Morgan Rielly...@TBLightning | #GoBolts pic.twitter.com/4IQDJ1mOfA
— Bally Sports Florida & Bally Sports Sun (@BallySportsFL) April 23, 2023
Now, the Lightning must put the problems in Game 3 behind them and hope they still have enough in the tank to knock out a very tough offense from the Leafs.
Toronto has outscored the Lightning 11-5 over the last two games, and Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy has looked more than mortal after dominating in the playoffs over the past few years.
Tampa Bay can't take a loss in Game 4 as it would send the series back to Toronto with the Maple Leafs ready to close out the Lightning and end it's dominance over the Eastern Conference.
The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. at Amalie Arena Monday night.
