Michael Bunting and the Maple Leafs didn’t need any extra motivation on Tuesday night.
Given their opponent, the Atlantic Division rival Tampa Bay Lightning, and a couple of road losses serving as their most recent results, the Leafs weren’t in the mood to fool around at Scotiabank Arena.
The Leafs dominated through two periods and then held off the Lightning in the third, winning 4-1 to snap Tampa’s five-game winning streak.
Toronto, in second place in the Atlantic, moved five points up on third-place Tampa in the first meeting of the teams in Toronto since Tampa won Game 7 last spring to eliminate the Leafs in the first round.
Before a crowd of 18,962, the Leafs provided the kind of response coach Sheldon Keefe sought after the Leafs lost in New York and Washington, though Tampa tightened up in the final 20 minutes.
“This game, no matter who we were playing, is going to bring some extra juice,” Bunting said in the morning. “We went on the road and did not come back with any points. We have to get back in the win column. Tampa is feeling it right now. These are the games that you wake up for and you get excited for.”
The Leafs lost Rasmus Sandin during the second period, as the defenceman departed with a neck injury and did not return. There was no immediate word on Sandin’s status.
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After the Leafs outshot the Lightning 29-8 through 40 minutes, Tampa found its footing to start the third period. Vladislav Namestnikov scored on his own rebound at 4:09, beating Matt Murray from in close to put a dent in the Leafs’ 2-0 lead. It was Namestnikov’s second goal in 30 games in 2022-23 and both have come against Toronto.
But Tampa was unable to score again, and Murray finished the game with 18 saves. Pierre Engvall and William Nylander capped the win with an empty-net goals.
Bunting scored in the first period with the kind of goal we don’t usually see from the scrappy winger. Stationed in the slot, Bunting didn’t hesitate on a pass from Nylander, scoring on a one-timer at 16:45. Bunting picked the top corner on Andrei Vasilevskiy’s blocker side for his eighth goal.
The point was the 100th of Bunting’s National Hockey League career, coming in his 138th game.
That came after a couple of sharp Vasilevskiy saves on Calle Jarnkrok and Auston Matthews. Jarnkrok, playing in his 600th NHL game, was back in the Leafs lineup after missing seven games with a groin injury and played with his usual jam.
The first period ended with an incident that we don’t usually see in the NHL. Bunting and Tampa’s Pierre-Edouard Bellemare were penalized for roughing, and as Bunting was being led off the ice, was shoved a couple of times by linesman Dan Kelly into the open gate. To put it mildly, that kind of physicality on the part of an official is rare, and Bunting clearly was upset by it.
Matthews scored the only goal in the second period, using Mitch Marner and John Tavares as a double-screen to beat Vasilevskiy with his patented wrist shot. The goal was Matthews’ 17th, one behind Leafs leader Nylander.
Later, Bunting drew an interference call on Nikita Kucherov, but the Leafs were unable to capitalize.
The rambunctious Bunting played after throwing a brief scare into the Leafs on Monday at practice. He departed after taking an errant puck off the face, and required eight stitches — six on his cheek and two in his mouth — to sew up the wound.
“Little unlucky bounce right before Christmas, but that’s all right,” Bunting said. “It happens.”
The victory served as some revenge for the Leafs, who lost in Tampa in overtime on Dec. 3 in the clubs’ first of three meetings this season. The rivals don’t meet again until April 11. Lightning coach Jon Cooper, during his morning availability, didn’t sound like he would be surprised if the teams face each other again in the playoffs.
“It can be daunting saying you have 50 games left but knowing that if you keep playing the way you’re playing, we might be visiting the team next door again in April,” Cooper said. “In saying that, you want to be in those situations. They are a ton of fun and always our games with the Leafs are pretty entertaining.
“I don’t care what anybody says about our playoff series against the Leafs last year. That could have gone either way. Fortunately, it went our way. But they’re tough games to play.”
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