Lightning Crush The Leafs 7-3 To Tie Series 2-2

@jayRecher

They scored early.

And often.

Steven Stamkos scored just one minute into the game and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs 7-3 in Game 4 to tie their best-of-seven First Round matchup at 2-2.

Stamkos took a pass from Nikita Kucherov just inside the blue line and rifled a one-timer past Maple Leafs netminder Jack Campbell to send the Amalie Arena crowd into a frenzy 60 seconds into the game.

There was a lot of talk after Game 3 whether or not the Lightning would go with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen, but Coach Cooper stuck with 12 & 6 and was rewarded in a big way.

4th liners Pierre-Edouard Bellemare & Pat Maroon scored 2:38 apart to give Tampa Bay a 3-0 lead just shy of eight minutes in.

The building was rocking and the Bolts continued to put the pressure on the Leafs.

Ross Colton snapped a shot that went off the glove of Campbell and in at 3:17 of the 2nd period to make it 4-0.

Corey Perry put the Lightning up five with a 5-on-3 power play goal at 5:25 and during the next TV timeout, Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe pulled Campbell in favor of backup Erik Kallgren.

William Nylander scored a pair of goals for the Maple Leafs in the 3rd, but it was too little, too late for the Leafs.

Ondrej Palat scored an unassisted empty net goal at 14:40 and Colton scored his second of the night - also an empty-netter - at 17:44.

Jake Muzzin also scored for Toronto.

Campbell made Kallgren 11 saves on 16 shots. Kallgren stopped all 10 shots he saw on the evening.

*****

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Period

1. Tampa Bay - Stamkos - (Kucherov, Hedman) - 1:00
2. Tampa Bay - Bellemare - (Perry, McDonagh) - 5:20
3. Tampa Bay - Maroon - (Killorn, Sergachev) - 7:58

2nd Period

1. Tampa Bay - Colton - (Hagel, Foote) - 3:17
2. Tampa Bay - PPG - Perry - (Kucherov, Point) - 5:25

3rd Period

1. Toronto - PPG - Nylander - (Matthews, Rielly) - 2:27
2. Toronto - Nylander - (Tavares) - 12:01
3. Tampa Bay - Palat - (Unassisted) - 14:40
4. Toronto - Muzzin - (Brodie, Blackwell) - 15:41
5. Tampa Bay - Colton - (Hagel, McDonagh) - 17:44

*****

PENALTY SUMMARY

1st Period

1. Toronto - Spezza - (Cross Checking) - 8:04
2. Tampa Bay - Cernak - (Tripping) - 17:15
3. Toronto - Kase - (Slashing) - 19:33
4. Tampa Bay - Paul - (Tripping) - 19:33

2nd Period

1. Toronto - Tavares - (Tripping) - 3:57
2. Toronto - Kampf - (Delay of Game) - 4:06
3. Toronto - DOUBLE MINOR - Kase - (High Sticking) - 5:52
4. Tampa Bay - Hedman - (Tripping) - 6:31
5. Toronto - Engvall - (Slashing) - 14:14
6. Tampa Bay - Kucherov - (Tripping) - 14:52
7. Toronto - Brodie - (Slashing) - 16:52

3rd Period

1. Tampa Bay - Sergachev - (Roughing) - 2:27
2. Toronto - Bunting - (High Sticking) - 8:03
3. Toronto - Mikheyev - (Roughing) - 10:43
4. Tampa Bay - McDonagh - (Slashing) - 10:43
5. Toronto - Engvall - (10-Minute Misconduct) - 19:29
6. Tampa Bay - Hagel - (10-Minute Misconduct) - 19:29

*****

What's Next For The Bolts : The Lightning are back in action on Tuesday night as they travel to Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs for Game 5 of this best-of-seven series. Puck drop is slated for 7:30pm with the pregame show starting at 6:30pm on NewsRadio WFLA & Lightning Power Play on the iHeartRadio app.

PHOTO : Getty Images