In Toronto, the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning downed the Maple Leafs, 5-3, on Wednesday night.
The win evens the series, 1-1, Game 3 is in Tampa on Friday night.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 31 saves in the Lightning win.
Victor Hedman scored in the first period, and Corey Perry hit for a goal in the middle frame to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead.
“A win is a win in the playoffs,” Hedman said. “I think we were a little more desperate and we battled hard, that’s the bottom line. On the power play, at 5-on-5, we did a pretty good job most of the night.
“We take it personal, that’s the bottom line. If you lose two in a row in the playoffs, it’s never good since it’s first to four. We go out there with the philosophy that we want to bounce right back, and today was another example of us doing that.”
The Maple Leafs got within one goal when Michael Bunting scored to make the count, 2-1.
Nikita Kuchero extended the Tampa lead to 3-1 in the second period, and Brandon Hagel pushed the advantage to 4-1 in the third period.
“I don’t know how far teams go when their big guys aren’t going,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “You need them especially at times when your back is against the wall. I can’t say our back was against the wall, it was one game, but we needed them tonight and they stepped up, and it started with our goaltender. He was outstanding.”
Brayden Point scored off the power play for a 5-1 lad before the Maple Leafs mounted a brief rally.
“It was probably maybe a little sigh of relief for our group (Hedman’s goal), kind of trying to take the crowd out of it a little bit,” Cooper said. “For me, the big one was the second one. It’s all well and good to score one and then they tie it, but we get that second one and now you’re making them chase.”
Mitchell Marner scored to make it 5-2 late in the third.
“I thought they played better,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “That’s really the team that we prepared for. Obviously, the difference in the game was special teams. At 5-on-5 it was a pretty even hockey game. Their power play was better. We took too many penalties.”
Alexander Kerfoot hit for a shorthanded goal to get the Leafs within 5-3 for the final.
“That’s what you have to overcome to get to where we want to get to,” the Maple Leafs’ John Tavares said. “There’s times when it goes great like Monday, when we really executed and everything was unflappable and we played a pretty darn good game. We had a pretty good first period (tonight), and obviously a tough break (on Hedman’s goal) and then their goalie makes a good save.”
Jack Campbell made 29 saves in the Toronto loss.
“Too many penalties,” Marner said. “Giving their power play so many opportunities, I mean, eventually they’re going to score. They’ve got a lot of skill, they’ve got a lot of guys who can make plays. We’re giving up a lot of opportunities on the power play. We have to just stay out of the box, make sure we are playing 5-on-5.”
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