When game three between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning was completed, the Maple Leafs were on an overtime victory, 4-3. With that win, they also took a 2-1 lead in the playoff series.
The best thing about the match is that Toronto won. They also scored four goals, which should be enough to win most matches.
However, they could easily have lost the third game. After the game, there was a lot of state of affairs in the games which led to a third period of dust between the two teams after Morgan Riley was hit on Braden Point as both were working hard for a puck.
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Determine the spirit of games between coaches
In a post-game interview with Sportsnet, Shawn McKenzie and Luke Fox discussed the Maple Leafs and Lightning series after the first three games. As they noticed, there were explosions, physical, and dirty on the ice. But, until the Maple Leafs win Saturday night, there wasn’t much skill involved.
Now it starts from the ice.
Cooper and Keefe Exchanging Media Jabs
There were some discrepancies between coaches and through the media. For example, the Maple Leafs have stopped making Ilya Samsonov available to the media. In this decision, they took a cue from Lightning who did the same with Andrei Vasilevsky.
Other aspects of skill games coaches
There is something almost Shakespearean about playing back and forth for the coaches. In the classic play “Julius Caesar,” Brutus’ character uses false flattery to manipulate Caesar before he betrays him.
Brutus says in the play: “I don’t love you, Caesar. But I don’t care about my life, much more about yours.” On the surface, Brutus appears to show concern for Caesar’s welfare; However, the truth is that he is actually using what he says as a ruse to cover up his infidelity.
Moving from ancient England to present-day Florida, John Cooper is an expert at twisting things through the media and making a living out of it. He is constantly on the media to make some sarcastic comments. For example, Cooper takes the time to compliment Morgan Riley for being a tough person and an all-round good citizen. However, he then said something like, “But, his injury was reckless.”
Sheldon Keefe did a similar kind of spin during his Game 3 press conference after the game. He praised the Lightning’s “brilliance”—particularly to Stephen Stamkos who was smart enough to know how the game would be called after Nikita Kucherov took the extra penalty. No more penalties when the lightning had already fallen. In Keefe’s view, it should have been five against three for his team.
Keefe said the Lightning did a “great job of juggling the officials,” and in doing so, dragged Austin Matthews and Ryan O’Reilly off the ice. By the end of the play, the Maple Leafs players had been out for about eight minutes.
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Let the games begin (measurement)
Sophistication is at full force and coaches are throwing punches through the media.
All that said, the Game 3 score is in the books. And the Maple Leafs have a 2-1 series lead. However, there is also a slight difference between this season and last season. As Coach Keefe pointed out, Game 3 was a game his team might have lost in years past.
During the conversation between McKenzie and Fox, they took some time to reflect on the subtle psychological state of the Maple Leafs franchise. In some ways, the organization feels doomed. As a result, winning was a powerful confidence booster. While the team was lucky to get this win, they got it.
Tampa dominated the play, but Toronto got a lucky break. Now the team has something to build on. The challenge now is to get a two-game cushion and take a 3-1 lead in the series.
Final thoughts on this watershed series
The series heats up between the Maple Leafs and the Lightning. There were ice fights and ice games. All that said doesn’t change the fact that the Maple Leafs won Game 3.
Now, they need to build on it and work towards a two-game cushion. If they can, it could become a turning point for a series that feels like a failure. Could it be this season?
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