Rielly's OT winner gives Maple Leafs series lead over Lightning
CBC
Morgan Rielly scored at 19:15 of overtime and Ilya Samsonov made 36 saves as the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs came back from a goal down late in the third period Saturday to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 and take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.
The defenceman fired a shot from the side boards that floated past the ear of Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevsky before getting mobbed by teammates.
Brandon Hagel, with a goal and an assist, Anthony Cirelli and Darryn Raddysh replied for Tampa, which got 24 stops from Vasilevskiy.
Game 4 of the best-of-seven matchup goes Monday back at Amalie Arena.
WATCH | Rielly lifts Maple Leafs over Lightning in OT:
Lighting defenceman Victor Hedman returned to the lineup after sitting out Game 2 with an undisclosed injury.
Toronto fell to the Lightning in a tight, seven-game series last spring at the same stage of the playoffs.
The teams traded blowout victories to the open the series — the Lightning thumped the Leafs 7-3 in the opener before Toronto responded with an equally emphatic 7-2 triumph in Game 2 to set the stage for a tightly contested affair.
Tied 2-2 after Saturday's opening 20 minutes, Raddysh scored his first career playoff goal at 13:34 of the second. The defenceman took a pass at the point and wheel down the boards and around Samsonov's net — fighting off both Matthew Knies and Jake McCabe in the process — before firing upstairs.
Injured in Game 7 of last year's series, Point left later in the period after going shoulder-to-shoulder with Rielly and crashing into the boards.
Tampa's 51-goal man tried to get up, but crumpled to the ice before heading to the locker room as players on both sides dropped the gloves, including a chaotic fight between Matthews — his first in the NHL — and Lightning captain Steven Stamkos. Point eventually returned to action after receiving treatment.
Toronto, which lost Game 6 in the same building last spring, had a two-minute power play when the dust settled, but were unable to capitalize with Matthews, Rielly and O'Reilly all in the box.
Samsonov kept his team in it with a big save on Nick Paul at the midway point of the period.
Matthews, Stamkos, O'Reilly and Tampa's Nikita Kucherov all missed nearly nine minutes of action because of the fighting majors and an extended stretch without a whistle.
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