TAMPA BAY – SPORTS – Jack Campbell made 32 saves, and the Toronto Maple Leafs held on for a 5-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Amalie Arena on Friday.
Toronto now is leading the best-of-7 series 2-1. Game 4 will be in Tampa Bay on Sunday.
“Coming into this rink, it’s a tough rink,” said Campbell. “Their fans are into it and their team is always buzzing. We did a great job of having a strong start tonight, especially after Game 2 (a 5-3 loss on Wednesday). The sacrifices every single guy was making in front of me tonight, blocking shots, getting into lanes, and making it tough to get things to the net, was huge.”
Colin Blackwell scored his first playoff goal, Pierre Engvall had three assists, and Morgan Rielly and David Kampf each had a goal for the Maple Leafs, the No. 2 seed from the Atlantic Division.
Ondrej Palat had a goal and an assist, Ross Colton scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 31 saves for the Lightning, the No. 3 seed from the Atlantic.
“We pushed, but sitting up here now we’re still down 2-1 (in the series),” stated Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper. “We can sit here and pat ourselves on the back all night long and say, ‘Hey, great job pushing at the end,’ [but] it’s still … you’re down 2-1.”
