Opinion | Leafs take series lead in Game 3 with a touch of genius and some fourth-line grit


TAMPA, Fla.—In the post-neutron bomb wasteland that is downtown Tampa — parking garages and flying overpasses intact, but the shuffling homeless on N. Florida Avenue seemingly the only human survivors — NHL playoffs feel indifferently different.

The pulse of the post-season beats shallowly beyond the immediate vicinity of Amalie Arena’s rave-lite tailgating terrace. Although the ennui might have something to do with torrid temperatures. And perhaps the fan-base meh of a team, the Lightning, that is a Stanley Cup hulk (millennial era) as two-time defending blah-blah-blah, if not as intimidating as that recent history might suggest.

No point in getting all over-the-top aroused — as in Toronto — amidst the early stages of a mere first-round fandango. Which, of course, carries a lot more angst for the accused Maple Leafs.

Yet surely there’s a twinge of anxiety for the Bolts, too, on this morning after, once more trailing in what has become a best-of-five Eastern Conference first course with the Leafs snuffing out the home side 5-2 on Friday night to take a two-games-to-one lead. Looking quite calm and efficient in the undoing of the Lightning as well. With goals from what can fairly be described as secondary sources: a defenseman, a fourth-liner and bottom-sixers.

A touch of genius, for starters, for coach Sheldon Keefe, who made all the right moves in the wake of a dominated and unruly Game 2 pungent with pointless penalties, three of them converted into power-play goals by Tampa. A tall order, outcoaching Jon Cooper, but Keefe wore the cerebral beanie on this occasion. Most astute of the coach to three-card-monte a previously unseen (never even blue-skyed) fourth unit of Pierre Engvall, Colin Blackwell and Jason Spezza.

It was the latter-day acquired — as in March — Blackwell, lightly used Leaf, who drove home a working-class ethos for the Leafs on a night when the big guns were quiet. The former Kraken forward pulled the trigger on a three-on-one that was orchestrated by Ilya Lyubushkin jumping out of the box where he’d just served two for a high stick. As Lyubushkin carried the puck into the zone, after Jake Muzzin had broken up a dying power-play arises at the other end, Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy may have been forgiven for thinking big deal, what’s a galumphing D-man going to do about this . What he did was navigate the puck to Blackwell as Engvall jumped out of the way, gaping net enticingly open, and Blackwell didn’t miss for his maiden playoff goal.

Keefe hadn’t really revealed what he was thinking about putting those particular three guys together, which involved dropping Engvall down from the third line, most directly addressing his decision on drawing in Spezza instead.

“We’re just at a point in the series where we need to get Spezza involved,” Keefe had said after the full-team morning skate. “As I forecasted this series, usually when you get by the first couple of games, some of the physicality and those kinds of things sort of settles in because there’s so much more at stake. And the teams know what to expect from one another.”

A “different look” is what he’d been looking for from the fourth troika. And yeah, because Toronto had been burned by the aggression of Kyle Clifford in Game 1 (major, misconduct, suspension) and Wayne Simmonds (two penalties in Game 2, wherein the Lightning went 3-for-7 with the man advantage).

Spezza, who’s absorbed more than enough blows to his ego since arriving in Toronto, was primarily just thrilled about drawing in after missing the first two contests: “I don’t think words can describe how hard it is to watch the game when you’ re a player.”

Colin Blackwell celebrates his goal against the Lightning with Maple Leafs teammates on Friday night in Tampa.

He was able to provide sage insight, however, into the value and responsibilities of a fourth line when it’s clicking, which is usually below the radar. A line, in this case, elevated by the speed of Engvall and the savvy of Spezza and the instinctiveness of Blackwell, hip to the situation as Lyubushkin stepped on the ice.

See, this was Toronto’s “response game,” about which much had been presaged over the previous 48 hours. And there were a lot of first responders on the bucket brigade.

By that point the Leafs were already leading 1-0 on a goal by Morgan Rielly, slipping in from the point on an early first-period power-play — a dumb-dumb delay-of-game infraction by Tampa, which would be echoed in the second with another delay-of-game penalty. Although the Leafs’ power play sputtered in the middle frame (0-for-2) — lots of puck possession, but not many good looks or slick scoring chances. Sometimes it’s wiser to just throw the puck at the net and chance a messy goal than teeing up shots, because Vasilevskiy was eyeballing most of them by then.

David Kämpf, who’s shape-shifted turned into a sharpshooter in this series — try saying that five times — rounded out the secondary starring affair with his second of the playoffs, a snap shot between the retreating defenseman’s legs that Vasilevskiy did not pick up that time .

Ross Colton got one back for Tampa midway through the second and then heavy breathing on Toronto’s neck at 5:43 of the third — after a crossbar at the opposite end — with Ondrej Palat beating Jack Campbell over the shoulder on a screened shot. Even more so, especially, as the Leafs survived a power-play spate by the Bolts at 12:14, Campbell throwing himself prone to knock away a one-timer by Steven Stamkos at the bottom of the circle, right in the Tampa captain’s wheelhouse . Followed by a huge faceoff win from Blackwell that took the heat off temporarily.

Campbell, it should be emphasized, was a tall cool glass of water throughout that threat and right up until Vasilevskiy was out of the net with under two minutes left in regulation time — except Cooper’s gambit went haywire when Tampa misplayed a pass to the point. Engvall jumped over a defender and it was two-on-nobody for the empty net. Engvall could have popped in the puck himself, but he courteously nudged it over for Ilya Mikheyev to score. And, with 4.2 seconds left and the net still unprotected, Mikheyev chased a puck down from center and turned the red light again.

Here’s the thing about a playoff series: There’s almost no game-to-game correlation and “momentum” is an oft-manufactured factor. What happened in Toronto earlier this week stays in Toronto. What happened in Tampa last time these teams met here — an 8-1 thrashing of the Leafs a fortnight ago — is small beer when ordering a playoff round.

Because each game is its own creature, with a distinct tenor and trend.

Momentum is more accurately a period-to-period and shift-to-shift sensation. It’s alive to the … well, moment.

“It’s hard to explain,” Spezza had reflected earlier in the day. “When you’re just playing the same team over and over again, there’s obviously one side that’s always looking to bounce back, trying to find that edge.

“Fresh start, new game, everything’s back on level terms… back to zero-zero hockey. You get to re-establish momentum. It doesn’t really carry over.”

Or as captain John Tavares, reunited with William Nylander on the second forward unit, had previewed Game 3: “Obviously coming off a loss we want to respond and get back ahead in the series.”

Thrust and parry. Thrust and counter-thrust.

Rosie DiManno is a Toronto-based columnist covering sports and current affairs for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @rdimanno

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