After a lopsided loss to the Capitals, Toronto was back in action at home against the Tampa Bay Lightning with a chance to clinch a playoff spot.

To say that this was an important game would be an understatement. Toronto wins, and they’re in. Toronto loses, and Tampa’s got some life, with thoughts of a collapse creeping into the Leafs’ dressing room. Unfortunately, the latter is what came to be. Here’s how Toronto’s 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning played out.

The first period wasn’t Toronto’s best stretch of hockey. The Buds came out strong with a few shifts of sustained pressure in Tampa’s zone. From that point on, though, the ice was definitely tilted in the Lightning’s favour. Both sides traded some decent chances, but nothing great from either team.

Things were progressing (relatively) smoothly until…

Yes, that’s the same Jake Dotchin that injured Kasperi Kapanen for a significant amount of time earlier this season in the AHL. If you didn’t catch the game, don’t worry – Matthews was fine and actually looked extra motivated from that point forward.

The second period is where things started to get interesting.

After Roman Polak took an incredibly, incredibly stupid penalty (drink), the Bolts took a 1-0 lead on Brayden Point’s 15h of the season.

However, just over two minutes later, #TheDream, Nazem Kadri tied things up with his 32nd.

I know this narrative is starting to pick up some traction, but there’s definitely a case to be made for Kadri as Toronto’s MVP. Yeah, Matthews and Andersen are probably slightly ahead but come on – Kadri’s tied for second in team scoring, has 32 goals, and is playing legitimately good defense. He’s been great.

While that goal tempered some nerves, the tranquility didn’t last long. Nikita Kucherov did this just a few minutes later. Holy hell.

Yes, that goal was un-freakin-believable, but part of me believes that Andersen has to come up with the save. Either way, that was Kucherov’s 39th of the season, which is great for him. Tampa’s nowhere near a playoff spot without his unbelievable play this year. Anyways, Tampa led 2-1 heading into the third.

Exactly two minutes into the final frame, Michael Bournival, yes, I’m serious, made it a two-goal game.

This goal came after some horrendous defensive-zone play from Toronto, which is something we saw a few times on Thursday night.

That was pretty much the dagger, and you could that after the goal, Toronto just didn’t have it from that point forward. The crowd tried to get back into it a few times but, essentially, that marked the end of the game.

Brayden Point added his second of the game late, which capped off an incredibly disappointing outing from Toronto’s perspective.

Toronto had a decent night possession-wise, but as you can see, they went through a number of stretches where they just couldn’t generate any kind of offense. This is most evident when they needed it most, when they went M.I.A all throughout the third period.

Individually, here’s how Toronto’s players performed:

Really, no one stood out. Hunwick had a decent game, and the fourth line looked pretty good when they played. Ultimately, this is a group that needs to regroup, and fast.

I’m not really sure of who award tonight’s Blue Warrior. Anderden made a few fantastic saves but ultimately, you’d like him to have that second goal back. Kadri had a good game as well, but his line disappeared at times. Matthews looked fantastic early on, but he, Nylander, and Hyman were effectively taken out of the game by a stellar Tampa gameplan.

I’ll give it to Kasperi Kapanen because I thought he had a good game, and should have been put on Matthews’ wing when they went down 3-1.

Toronto’s next game is Saturday night, when the Pittsburgh Penguins come to town. Toronto’s one saving grace is that Pittsburgh has every incentive to rest their top players, as they’ve already got second in the Metropolitan division locked down. Still, Toronto will be in tough, and they have to come away with a win. Tampa and the Isles are too hot, and Toronto can’t count on them losing – they’ve got to close it out themselves.

Tampa and the Isles are too hot, and Toronto can’t count on them losing – they’ve got to close it out themselves.