Andrei Vasilevskiy #88 of the Tampa Bay Lightning looks on in the first period during Game Three of the First Round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Amalie Arena on April 22, 2023 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike E …
TORONTO - When the Bolts enter Scotiabank Arena on Thursday evening, they are also facing an elimination game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. It's a must-win for the Tampa Bay team.
Lightning hit the ice Wednesday morning for a 45-minute practice at Amalie Arena before boarding the plane to Canada. Every team member was on the ice with the exception of defenseman Erik Cernak, who has an upper-body injury from Game 1. Toronto will be without Michael Bunting, who had served a three-game suspension for elbowing Cernak. Coach Sheldon Keefe said Wednesday he would continue to hold out Bunting.
The Bolts know the stakes are high as they are down 3-1 in the best-of-seven series.
"We’ve had plenty of success in Toronto’s home arena in the playoffs, so we’re confident we can do that again," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "No guarantees, naturally, but we have confidence in ourselves."
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The Maple Leafs will be in front of an energetic and perhaps nervous home crowd. They will try to reverse a recent NHL playoffs history that hangs over the historic franchise.
On the other side will be the postseason-tested Lightning who are used to winning such games. But the Lightning’s three-year run of making the Stanley Cup Final, winning two of them, could very well be at the end.
Toronto is in the postseason for the seventh season in a row, but the Leafs haven’t won a playoff series since 2004.
That’s why the Leafs won’t be celebrating until they know for sure they are moving on to the next round, and coach Sheldon Keefe said Tuesday morning after rallying from three goals down to win 5-4 the night before, the mood at breakfast was "calm and quiet."
"We’ve got to prepare to win one hockey game, one very challenging hockey game, and that’s really it," Keefe said. "Anything else outside of our preparation and then our execution when game time comes is a distraction. It’s on me as the coach and our players individually to eliminate as many distractions as possible and keep the focus where it is."
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The Leafs will try to eliminate a Lightning team that likely won’t go down easily. They trailed 3-1 in last year’s Stanley Cup Final, but then went to Colorado and won Game 5 to extend the series. Tampa Bay opened those playoffs by rallying from 3-2 down to defeat the Leafs.
"We’ve had plenty of success in Toronto’s home arena in the playoffs, so we’re confident we can do that again," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "No guarantees, naturally, but we have confidence in ourselves."
This series likely will have ramifications beyond this postseason.
Should the Leafs blow another series, management could do a complete rebuild. If it’s the Lightning heading to the golf courses early, that team’s ownership could decide it’s time to start over with a younger group.
The Associated Press contributed to this report