The Maple Leafs should’ve already been up 3-0 or 4-0 after dominating the opening 40 minutes, but they weathered the 2-1 Tampa Bay goal without any signs of panic in the final frame and put an important two points in the points column without much stress thanks to two empty-net goals.
In terms of a high-quality performance in a key divisional matchup, this stacked up similarly to the Leafs’ 2-1 win over Boston back in November: a complete performance built off of really sound team defense that convincingly shut down an elite opponent and ended their winning streak.