This game, between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs, will dictate the rest of the series.
There has been so much said about the way Toronto and Tampa have been playing — each game hasn’t been very close. It’s came down to who’s had the better start, and whoever does has came out with the win.
The same story after each game, but it could all change on Tuesday night.
Lines heading into Game Five
Here’s how Toronto’s lines will shape up ahead of arguably their most important game of the year.
#Leafs line rushes during morning skate May 10/22
Bunting-Matthews-Marner
Mikheyev-Tavares-Kerfoot
Nylander-Kampf-Engvall
Spezza-Blackwell-Kase
Extra: Clifford, Simmonds, AndersonRielly-Lyubushkin
Muzzin-Brodie
Giordano-Holl
Sandin-LiljegrenCampbell (starter)
Kallgren— David Alter (@dalter) May 10, 2022
Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said at the morning skate that he’s re-watched Game Four three times and thought the Mark Giordano and Justin Holl pairing was as good as ever on Sunday. They will remain together for another game.
William Nylander is back on the Maple Leafs’ third line with Pierre Engvall and David Kampf, while Ilya Mikheyev and Alex Kerfoot are reunited with John Tavares. Finally, Ondrej Kase gets moved to the fourth line alongside Jason Spezza and Colin Blackwell.
Splitting up Nylander and Tavares allows for two things: it gives the Maple Leafs more depth throughout the forward lines and it splits up two players who aren’t playing well together at the moment.
Keefe on splitting Tavares and Nylander again for Game 5: “The focus for me is not necessarily having Nylander and Tavares apart as much as it is having Mikheyev + Kerfoot and Engvall + Kampf on two different lines.â€
— David Alter (@dalter) May 10, 2022
Keefe also discussed the lack of production from Tavares throughout this series and why fans shouldn’t be worried about it heading into Game Five.
Keefe on Tavares’ lack of production pic.twitter.com/ggF3wCqSaU
— David Alter (@dalter) May 10, 2022
The vibe around the Maple Leafs seems to be really good and they sound very excited about the opportunity ahead of them.
Giordano on mindset for Game 5: “Come out, believe in our game. Our game has been great all year. I feel it’s been good the last stretch coming into playoffs and we have to believe in what got us here.â€
— David Alter (@dalter) May 10, 2022
In terms of the Lightning’s lineup ahead of Game Five, it looks to not be changing from their last game in Tampa.
#Bolts pregame lines and D-pairings:
Palat-Stamkos-Kucherov
Cirelli-Point-Killorn
Hagel-Paul-Colton
Maroon-Bellemare-PerryHedman-Cernak
McDonagh-Bogosian
Sergachev-Foote
Rutta working in#TORvsTBL— Chris Krenn (@Chris_Krenn) May 8, 2022
As it stands and as it should be, Jack Campbell and Andrei Vasilevskiy are the two projected starters ahead of the fifth game of this series.
Looking forward to tonight, I believe both goaltenders will be incredibly tough to beat. Of the 25 goalies that have seen a game in this year’s NHL playoffs, Campbell (.889) and Vasilevskiy (.888) sit 21st and 22nd in save percentage.
The two goaltenders even have almost the exact same goals-against average, but again, Campbell leads at 3.53GA and Vasilevskiy has a 3.54GA. I think with how much is on the line tonight, both netminders will be on their best game.
Or, I could be wrong, who knows, right?
Every player from each team needs to be on the top of their game heading into tonight. It really feels like whichever team takes this game could take the series. This could always go down to the wire with a seven-game series, but I doubt either team wants to get there.
If you’re interested in watching this massive affair, puck drop will be a few minutes after 7:30PM ET on Sportsnet (in Canada) and ESPN2 (in the US). Enjoy the game!
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