Toronto Maple Leafs shut lights out on Tampa Bay Lightning 5-0

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Toronto Maple Leafs shut lights out on Tampa Bay Lightning 5-0. Here are the highlights from the game played on Thursday, March 16, 2017

GAME SUMMARY         |           EVENT SUMMARY        |           FACEOFF SUMMARY

ON THE SCORESHEET

Tyler Bozak appeared in his 500^th career NHL game tonight. According to Elias Sports Bureau, Bozak is the 40^th player to appear in 500 games with the Maple Leafs.

Frederik Andersen made 33 saves to earn his fourth shutout of the season and 10^th shutout of his career. Tonight’s shutout is the first by a Maple Leafs goaltender in Tampa Bay since Curtis Joseph on Feb. 2, 1999 (Toronto 3, Tampa Bay 0).

Roman Polak put the Maple Leafs on the board with his fourth goal of the season at 9:19 of the first period. All four of Polak’s goals this season have been scored on the road.

Morgan Rielly scored the second Toronto goal of the night at 2:24 of the second period and later added the primary assist on James van Riemsdyk’s second period goal. Rielly has three points (2-1-3) in his last three games.

Matt Martin registered his fifth goal of the season at 2:34 of the second period. The goal is his sixth career goal in 22 career games versus Tampa Bay, which is his most goals against a single NHL opponent. He has points (1-1-2) in two consecutive games.

Connor Brown scored his 16^th goal of the season at 6:41 of the second period. Brown has registered 11 of his 16 goals on the road this season.

James van Riemsdyk scored his 22^nd goal of the year at 15:41 of the second period. The Maple Leafs are 15-2-2 in games where van Riemsdyk scores a goal.

Tyler Bozak registered the lone assist on Polak’s first period goal. The assist was his 31^st of the season, which establishes a new single-season career-high in assists for Bozak, surpassing his previous single-season high of 30 set in 2013-14.

Nazem Kadri had the primary assist on Rielly’s second period goal. The assist was his 51^st point (28 goals, 23 assists) this season, which establishes a new single-season career-high in points for Kadri, surpassing his previous single-season high of 50 points set in 2013-14.

Alexey Marchenko picked up the secondary assist on Rielly’s second period goal. Marchenko has two points (1 goal, 1 assist) in eight games with the Maple Leafs this season.

Matt Hunwick had the primary assist on Martin’s second period goal. The Maple Leafs are 9-2-2 when Hunwick registers an assist this season.

Nikita Soshnikov picked up the secondary assist on Martin’s second period goal. Soshnikov has points (1-1-2) in two consecutive games.

Leo Komarov recorded the primary assist on Brown’s second period goal. Komarov is now four points from the 100 career NHL point milestone. He has points (1-1-2) in two consecutive games.

William Nylander also registered an assist, his 23^rd power play point of the season, on Brown’s second period goal. Nylander has points (1-5-6) in six consecutive games.

Mitch Marner earned an assist on van Riemsdyk’s second period goal. Marner leads the Maple Leafs in assists this season (38).

SHOTS FIRED

The Maple Leafs were outshot by the Lightning by a 33-21 margin in all situations and by a 20-17 margin at 5-on-5.

Tampa Bay had a 69-42 lead in shot attempts in all situations and a 44-34 lead in shot attempts at 5-on-5.

Connor Brown, William Nylander and Morgan Rielly each registered three shots on goal.

Morgan Rielly registered a team-high six shot attempts.

ROAD SCHOLARS

The Maple Leafs are 15-13-8 on the road this season.

Toronto’s all-time record is 52-28-2-6 in 88 games against the Lightning and 25-15-1-3 in games played in Tampa. 

Toronto is 23-13-7 against the Eastern Conference this season and 14-7-3 against the Atlantic Division.

The Maple Leafs will host Chicago when they return to Air Canada Centre on March 18.

MAPLE LEAFS LEADERS

RECORD WHEN…

The Maple Leafs were 5-for-5 on the penalty kill and 1-for-3 on the power play tonight. Toronto is 13-12-6 when scoring one power play goal this season and 22-9-5 when not allowing a power play goal.

Toronto is 25-6-8 when scoring first.

The Maple Leafs are 20-1-8 when leading through a period and 25-1-9 when leading through two periods.

Toronto has a 20-11-7 record when outshot by their opponent.

The Maple Leafs are 7-4-4 on Thursday nights.

Toronto is 3-0-2 when scoring five goals in a game.

OF NOTE…

With four goals in tonight’s second period, the Maple Leafs scored four goals in a period for the fifth time this season and established a new season-high for goals in a second period.

The Maple Leafs had 13 players register a point in tonight’s game. Morgan Rielly led the Maple Leafs with two points (1 goal, 1 assist).

Toronto’s line of Brian Boyle, Matt Martin and Nikita Soshnikov started all of their shifts at 5-on-5 in the defensive or neutral zones.

Roman Polak was on the ice for 19 Toronto shot attempts at 5-on-5, which led all Maple Leaf skaters. He had a 5-on-5 shot attempt percentage of 59.4 percent (19 for, 13 against).

UPCOMING GAMES:

Saturday, March 18 vs. Chicago Blackhawks, 7:00 p.m. (Hockey Night in Canada, FAN 590)

Monday, March 20 vs. Boston Bruins, 7:30 p.m. (TSN 4, TSN 1050)

Wednesday, March 22 at Columbus Blue Jackets, 7:00 p.m. (Sportsnet, FAN 590)

Thursday, March 23 vs. New Jersey Devils, 7:30 p.m. (Sportsnet Ontario, TSN 1050)

Saturday, March 25 at Buffalo Sabres, 7:00 p.m. (Hockey Night in Canada, FAN 590)

POSTGAME QUOTES:

HEAD COACH MIKE BABCOCK

On tonight’s game:

Well, a real important win for us obviously. With the way we played the other night we wanted to bounce back – we were embarrassed. Guys did a good job of scoring timely goals early and did a good job in front of the net. I thought that was important. [Andersen] was real good and the penalty kill was real good.

On getting off to a good start:

I thought we skated real good early and as the game got lopsided we probably didn’t skate quite as good. But, I thought we skated really good early, I thought we had good energy and everybody was going. I think that’s real important for us, obviously. All four lines were good; we didn’t have to worry about matchups. A good win for our team and good things happened in the League for us at the same time, which you’re lucky for that to happen. We’ve just got to go home and get ready for the next one.

On the challenges posed by the Blackhawks on Saturday:

Lots of challenges – we’ve got to stay out of the box obviously. It’ll be fun to play them, I look forward to it – I haven’t seen them as much as I used to in Detroit, but I’m looking forward to it.

On the forwards allowing the defence to generate offence:

I thought for sure and I thought Rielly had a real good game for us, which is important for him too. It hasn’t gone quite as smoothly of late so great for him. He’s had a real good trip here – the game in Carolina, the game tonight – so that’s positive. It just comes down to we had good traffic, good heavy O-zone play early and that led to goals.

On facing Joel Quenneville on Saturday:

A real good man, a real good coach. Obviously, I’ve coached against him for a really long time and I’ve had the opportunity to work with him a couple times and enjoyed it every single time. When he arrived in Chicago the group was kind of like the one we’ve got here. It was going in the right direction and he molded it into a championship team. He’s been able to do special, special things. Anybody who wins three Cups with one group in today’s era, that’s a phenomenal thing. Good for him and the group there. They’ve got great leadership in [Toews] and there’s no better player than [Kane] and they’ve got the back end with Keith and Seabrook and I’m assuming we’re going to have to deal with [Crawford]. They’ve got a real nice hockey club and Stan Bowman has done a good job of keeping it replenished there.

On Brian Boyle returning to Tampa Bay:

I thought he was a real good leader for us, he’s a man on the bench. We turn the puck over and he’s happy to tell the guys not to turn the puck over. I thought it was special for him to get a nice ovation with a nice tribute and he should’ve, he did a good job here. It was great for him to be out there. He got to enjoy his family coming down and got to enjoy that as well and I think that’s important. We’re happy to have him and he’s had a huge impact in a short period of time.

FREDERIK ANDERSEN (33 SAVES, SHUTOUT)

On tonight’s win:

It’s great to bounce back and play a really good game. I think we played simple, we played the right way. We were shooting from the point and we went hard to the net and created those second opportunities and put them in the net.

On the play of the penalty kill:

We did a good job of making the read on what they were doing. I think we were in the right positions and I could see what they were going to try to do. It made my job easier to get moving around and make the save.

On how he felt earning the win:

Great, especially after playing like that in Florida. It’s a good way for the team to bounce back.

On when the team started to perform its best:

Obviously when we started shooting the puck in the second there it went our way pretty much from there. I think we did a good job in the first too. It was a good road period.

On the impact of Brian Boyle since his arrival:

He’s been great on faceoffs, he knows how to make the simple plays and he’s a veteran guy in the room. It’s good to have guys like that who some of the guys can look up to a little bit. It helps the leadership be better.

BRIAN BOYLE (15:34 TOI)

On playing his former team tonight:

It’s always strange, but the importance of the game – it was just more important to kind of dumb it down, simplify and I got a ton of support from the guys in here. A lot of great memories here, I loved my time here. It was a huge, huge win. It was a lot of emotion. That’s good, I think that’s important for this time of year.

On his in-game video tribute:

Yeah, that kind of kicked [the emotions] into high gear a little bit. It was really nice of them to do that; it was a nice touch. The whole organization here is classy, as classy as they get. It was a little dusty in there during that little moment I had, I guess. I can’t thank them enough for that, that meant a lot. I’m sure it meant a lot to my wife, I haven’t talked to her yet, but that’s why I’m getting out of here now.

TYLER BOZAK (500TH CAREER NHL GAME)

On tonight’s performance:

I thought we had a ton of energy, I thought we played really well. Obviously they had a lot of power plays at the end there so I think our penalty kill did well, I thought Freddy [Andersen] played great and I thought we had a ton of energy. A really good bounce back game.

On earning a big win in his 500th game:

It’s pretty memorable. It was a fun one to be a part of and it’s nice to end it like that with the magnitude that the game had. For us to do that was great.

On secondary scoring contributing to the win:

I think we’ve had that all year. Guys have stepped up and done their job and that’s huge for our team to have everyone working together doing well.

On the team supporting each other in gritty moments:

I thought we had a lot of energy. Whenever you have a couple of days to bond as a group and do some stuff outside the rink, it really helps the team. I think that helped us a lot tonight.

On the challenge of Chicago on Saturday:

Obviously a high-powered team. They’ve got some of the best players in the game. We’ve got to be ready, you can’t give those guys any room or space or they’re going to make plays. It’s a big game for us and we’ll be ready to go.

MATT MARTIN (1 GOAL)

On tonight’s win:

It was a big win for us. I think obviously we didn’t get the result we wanted in Florida, it was a disappointing effort. We had a good response tonight, played a good first period and obviously had a big second period offensively. Luckily we were able to shut the door in the third. I think Freddy [Andersen] made a lot of big saves in the third as well. To be able to rebound and get a shutout was nice.

On scoring first after recent slow starts:

It’s a long season and there’s going to be ups and downs. Like you mentioned, our starts in the last two games haven’t been great and the whole Florida game wasn’t good. We rebounded nicely tonight with a solid first two periods. Freddy made some big saves in the third to get the shutout. Overall it was a big win.

On getting secondary scoring in games where Matthews hasn’t scored:

Auston has been – I don’t want to say he’s been carrying us all year – but he has scored a lot of goals for this team. He’s got 30-plus on the season; he has been our catalyst offensively all year. Getting offensive production from other guys when he’s not scoring – I think he’s still playing well, the puck’s just not going in for him. We’ve just got to find ways to win and I’m confident he’ll get back on track.

On getting goals from all four lines:

That was huge and that’s what you need down the stretch. Games only get harder and games get tighter this time of year. There were a lot of power plays tonight obviously but in my experience, there’s not as much room, there’s not as many power play opportunities as games get more and more important. It’s hard to score goals all around the league. For everyone to contribute is definitely massive.

MORGAN RIELLY (1 GOAL, 1 ASSIST)

On his multi-point night:

It’s always nice, but the win itself is big for us. We wanted to bounce back as a group after our last performance and I think that we had a lot of guys contributing. I thought our goalie was outstanding and we’re very happy to get a big team win and move on and get back in the win column.

On when he knew the team was playing well tonight:

Right after the game in Florida you could tell we weren’t very proud of ourselves, we weren’t very proud of the effort we put forward. We had a big job to do against a good team here tonight so I think that we started to get our act together after the game and talked to one another saying we had to kick it into gear a little bit. We had a good practice yesterday and then we came in this morning and it was all business.

On the traffic in front of the net on his goal:

Our forwards have been doing a great job all year of creating traffic and trying to get to the net. For us it’s just important to get the shots through. All the credit goes to them on that one.

On playing with multiple defensive partners:

It was good. We were kind of mixing it up quite a bit. I think we played with just about everybody tonight and that’s a good thing about our group – we can kind of mix and match and I thought [assistant coach] DJ [Smith] did a good job of managing it and making sure the right guys were out there. We just tried to play our best and it worked out.