Scotiabank Arena hummed with the anticipation of loyal fans knowing their team would be pulling out all the stops to avenge the defeat in game one. And what a turnaround it was.
Tuesday's game began with a lacklustre start and ended with a one-sided 5-minute major that sealed the Leafs' fate in spite of a valiant effort holding off a Lightning 2-man advantage.
Dejected fans tried to fight off the self-protective urge to get the mourning over with early and give up on the team to avoid prolonging the disappointment.
But if you have been following, you know these Leafs might have stumbled in the first game, but they are made of sterner stuff than they showed that night.
On Thursday evening, the Leafs fairly pummelled the Bolts and will head back to Tampa with a split and a one-goal cumulative advantage, along with renewed confidence.
Our very own John Tavares came back to Toronto, for less than he could have made elsewhere, with the goal of bringing the Stanley Cup to his hometown. That childhood of sleeping in Leafs' pyjamas was not for nothing. He epitomized leadership and delivered three exciting goals, bringing fans' hats raining down onto the ice.
The buds head back to Tampa Bay, having sent the message that they are not to be trifled with.
Unlike the game one Tampa victory, in a game whose rhythm was spoiled by very questionable reffing, game two was an old-fashioned shellacking. (The Leafs have not won a playoff game in eight attempts with Wes McCauley as ref. Just saying.)
The boys in blue laid a serious beating on the Lightning, both on the ice and, in a few Tampa-initiated skirmishes, "in the alley." This was a better game for Toronto than Tuesday was for Tampa.
The tone has been set for an exciting series with old-school playoff hockey where nothing can be taken for granted.
The key for the Leafs now will be to avoid overconfidence and take the game to Tampa on the road as they did last night at home.
They dominated every period and "buzzed the crease like bumble bees," even when they did not manage to beat Vasilevsky. The intimidating goalie was proven human last night, while Leafs' Samsonov was solid.
While Matthews still really doesn't seem to get the concept of playoff hockey, he still got two assists, helping Marner open the scoring and passing to Nylander, who fired in the third goal. Tavares had three goals; Morgan Rielly had four assists to come in as second star between Schenn as third star and, of course, Tavares as first.
Zach Aston-Reese scored the 5th, and then Marner came in with his second of the game before John Tavares completed the hat trick. Leafs 7, Tampa 2: just a little better than the reverse of Tuesday's 7-3 loss.
The Leafs' play was characterized by great energy, confidence and crisp set pieces, as well as creative plays. The other elements on display were desire and grit, the key elements of playoff hockey where talent is generously shared across all the teams in our salary cap era.
This was great hockey to watch, and the series promises to be exciting. We are still calling it for the hometown boys.
Game three is on Saturday when the puck drops at 7:00 p.m. in Tampa Bay.