Campbell makes 32 saves, Maple Leafs beat Lightning to take series lead

Toronto's goaltender made a crucial stop on a late Tampa Bay man advantage during a 32-save performance as the Leafs defeated the Lightning 5-2 on Friday.

TAMPA, Fla. — Nikita Kucherov put the puck on a tee for Steven Stamkos in a spot where the Lightning captain has made a living throughout his banner 14-year career.

Nearly everyone inside Amalie Arena thought the one-timer off the slick cross-ice pass would find the back of the net — including Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe — and tie the score with under seven minutes left in regulation.

“There was a bit of a sense on the bench that it was going in,” he said. “Stamkos doesn’t miss those very much.”

Jack Campbell had other plans.

Toronto’s goaltender made that crucial stop on a late Tampa Bay man advantage as part of a 32-save performance after his teammates got to Andrei Vasilevsky early as the Leafs defeated the Lightning 5-2 on Friday to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.

David Kampf scored the winner, while Morgan Rielly, Colin Blackwell and Ilya Mikheyev, twice into the empty net, had the other goals for Toronto, which wrestled back home-ice advantage in the best-of-seven matchup. Pierre Engvall added three assists.

The Leafs jumped out to a 2-0 lead inside the first 10 minutes and led by three less than six minutes into the second period before the Lightning finally responded.

Toronto bent — Keefe called a timeout after Tampa made it 3-2 in the third with plenty of clock left to run — but soaked up the pressure on the back of Campbell’s stellar play.