Lightning vs. Leafs - Game 3 - 5/6 7:30 PM ET

[Hoek]

Can we take the series lead tonight or are we going to keep trading blowouts?

[Bolthed]

Would love to see the home crowd at full-throat. Any extra pressure we can put on the Leafs and refs would help.

[Puckhead]

Would love to see the home crowd at full-throat. Any extra pressure we can put on the Leafs and refs would help.

If the oil can beer was $10.00 instead of $22.00, you could count on it!!

[Pat664422]

I hope we see Point from Game 2 rather than Game 1. Well, that's true for the entire team, but Point's apparently not 100%, and we're not going to the next round without him looking like he did last night.

[aapbolt]

Refs were really bad tonight, really gave the leafs more PP’s plus a short 5/3, then when the Leafs fired the puck out and it came in we should have gotten a five on three just like the Leafs did when the same thing happened to us. Cheating bastards.

[TexasBolt]

The refs didn’t make the Lightning come out and get their ass beat for a period and a half before they kicked it into gear.

[Puckhead]

Did 91 hit the ice tonite?

[Pat664422]

It's around this time in our typical playoff series performances I wonder how costly giving away that first game is will be.

[Hoek]

Did 91 hit the ice tonite?

Yes he got stoned on his classic one timer in the third when he finally showed up near the end.

So far this series feels like the Florida one last year except Toronto is actually getting good goaltending. Same high flying opportunistic taking advantage of our mistakes otherwise though.

[aapbolt]

Yeah I know we played crappy but the calls all went against us. Plus after the game Leaf fans chanted Lightning Suck. Really irritating. We did not shot the puck enough at all it is like we were looking for the perfect shot. The Leafs have done their best to nullify Stammer and that has made it difficult for him. When he finally did get open for a shot it just missed. Crowd last night was in full throat and the noise level was really intense. By the way the Leafs have had 2 5/3 PP opportunities…how many times do you see that in the playoffs.

[Bolthed]

Another inexplicable start to this game. At least, unlike Game 1, they snapped out of it in the third but by then it was already too late.

I’d bet they bounce back tomorrow, but they’re not playing with the requisite desperation consistently … yet. Still a chance to get into gear tomorrow and then carry that momentum north of the border to take ahold of this series.

I hung out with a Toronto fan last night. They’re thrilled with the way they’re playing and happy to see us scuffling a bit and not playing out best. They’ve got great respect for the Lightning as you’d expect. But there’s something lurking behind everything for Leafs fans — they’re recent history in the playoffs. They’ve lost like 4 or 5 game 7s in a row, haven’t made the second round in several years and suffered a brutal loss to Montreal just a year ago. There’s fear and a fatalistic sense of their inevitable disappointment looming over them. Hopefully the players and coaches feel a bit of that too. It’s definitely there, but the Bolts have to get out of their own way and help Toronto tap into those vibes.

[the_narrow_way]

A lot of interference didn't get called last night.

[Pat664422]

Did 91 hit the ice tonite?

Stamkos' game has never translated over as well to the post season. While he's a 40 goal scorer in the regular season, his post season career numbers - 32 goals in 97 games - are closer to a 20 goal scorer. I'm guessing it's because he scores a lot of his goals off one timers which don't come as easily when every team is playing tighter defensively. That's why Point is so important to me - he can create offense on his own.

Right now our top players have some of our worst stats - Hedman, Kucherov and Point are all -5 in the series, Stamkos and Killorn -4 and -3. Cernak and Cal Foote(!) are the only defenseman that are not negative.

[RSchmitz]

Toronto is super aggressive with the forecheck, and we seem to have no idea how to counter that. On the other hand we let Toronto consistently gain the red line before we even attempt to disrupt them. Somehow we still manage to be better 5v5 because we are simply the better team without the puck, but we would be winning this series if we weren’t so damn passive. Attack the puck carrier and force them to try and beat us in transition

[TexasBolt]

Toronto is super aggressive with the forecheck

They play defense like a college basketball team. Press in the backcourt, try and trap in the frontcourt, get turnovers and get out on the fast break. That tactic has worked against the Lightning all year… the defense as a whole hasn’t been as good on the puck as they have in past seasons.