FLASHY PERFORMANCE: Auston Matthews ties Rick Vaive as Maple Leafs bump Bolts

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TAMPA, Fla. — Auston Matthews and the Maple Leafs have planted a seed.

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Maybe not flourishing into first seed in the division, but one that roots belief in a series win or two in the hyper-competitive Atlantic. Toronto’s confidence certainly grew Monday when it stared down the two-time Stanley Cup champion Lightning, one of their potential opening-round opponents.

Behind Matthews’ hat trick, tying Rick Vaive’s franchise record of 54 goals from 1981-82, the Leafs out-hustled and shocked Tampa 6-2, a team that had their full attention. And the dream of being first in the Atlantic, a wolf pack many said would consume the Leafs after a year in the watered-down North, isn’t out of the question. If they can beat the Florida Panthers in regulation down the road on Tuesday, the gap would be down to five points.

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Both coaches gushed pre-game about the other team’s talent level, with Tampa’s Jon Cooper making a bold statement on Matthews and his wicked shot.

“Auston is probably the best in the league at changing his angle at a high rate of speed. He shoots from his ankles, from out wide, his release and velocity from him are big-time. Plus, he’s not afraid to shoot. You don’t care if you have that arsenal of weapons he has. I wouldn’t be surprised if sometime in his career he doesn’t get 70 goals.”

Matthews delivered on that prophecy twice in the second period, starting by aiming high glove on Andrei Vasilevskiy. Jan Rutta tied it, but Matthews was there again to direct a Mitch Marner feed. At 7:08 of the third period, cruising in the slot, Matthews notched his third hat trick this year and tied Vaive. Matthews returned the favor on Marner’s 29th, going over the 90-point mark on Monday as well.

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Matthews and Marner combined for seven points in the game as the latter hit the 55-assist mark.

There was extra gusto in the anthems and lineup intros as the idea of ​​the Bolts and Leafs tangling in a series next month takes root. But though coach Sheldon Keefe had warned getting past the Lightning checkers for a clean look at Vasilevskiy would be hard, the Leafs scored on their first rush. David Kampf broke up a pass and sat away Pierre Engvall who went blocker side.

Tampa brushed that off and evened it in a power versus power line match, Steven Stamkos beating Matthews on a draw and Nikita Kucherov getting everything into a one-time split second later.

But Jack Campbell, in his second strong start, responded with two great acrobatic pad saves, stretching on Nick Paul as he danced across the crease and another on Corey Perry. Campbell also denied Perry on a late period man advantage after the league’s top-rated Leafs’ unit came up empty on their first chance. Erik Cernak had buried Michael Bunting into the post on an interference call.

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Keefe was saying in the morning how improved goaltending from Petr Mrazek, before he was hurt, rookie Erik Kallgren in relief and now the return of the injured Campbell helped bring the Leafs full circle to a run at top spot.

“That’s a big piece. You check back 20 games and our goaltending was struggling. But (assistant coach) Steve Briere spends a lot of time focusing and working with our goalies. Certainly all the coaches were monitoring that, but more than that, monitoring what was going on in front of the goalies. And that wasn’t nearly good enough.

“We’ve done a much better job. You want to compete at the highest level against the best teams, right from the start of playoffs, then you need to be great on both sides of the puck.”

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Lightning forward Alex Killorn said there was plenty of respect among his team for the Leafs, but also Florida and the hard charging Boston Bruins.

“Regardless of where you end up, you’re going to have to beat (a good team) in the first round, second round, whoever gets through. We’re just worried about peaking at the right time.”

Leaf defenseman Morgan Rielly spoke of the value of home ice, whether that’s a first- or second-place finish.

“Home ice is important, being on the road (the Game 7 losses in Boston) makes it a bit more difficult,” he said. “Down to the last game, you want to be comfortable being at home if it gets to that and (Game 1) at home. That said, lots of teams win a series without home ice.”

That would include the Montreal Canadiens upsetting Toronto last year and the Leafs having had technical home ice in the Scotiabank bubble against the Columbus Bluejackets in 2020, yet losing that series in a deciding game as well.

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William Nylander, one of five 50-point scorers on the Leafs, was too ill to play with a bug and no one wanted him spreading it, thus Nick Abruzzese got another thrill, playing against the Cup champs. This was the last game defenseman Jake Muzzin should miss before returning from a concussion Tuesday.

Vasilevskiy fought the puck early, in addition to Matthews and Marner bombing him.

“He takes up a lot of the net,” Rielly said. “So it’s important to get traffic, tips, rebounds and make it tough on him.”

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