3. THE QUESTIONABLE EMPTY-NETTER
The Lightning had a final push over the final five minutes, one that kept the puck buried in the Leafs' end for much of the closing moments, especially when the Bolts pulled Vasilevskiy in favor of an extra attacker with about 2:30 remaining.
They continued hammering away at Andersen: Stamkos from the left circle, Hedman from the point, Kucherov from the right circle. Pucks were bouncing off players in front, missing wide or high, hitting the pads of Andersen, going everywhere but into the back of the net.
There was still time for the Lightning to break through, however.
That is, until a looping puck played up in the air by the Leafs from deep in their own end appeared to bounce off something at the top of the glass and came back down into play right at the feet of Zach Hyman behind everybody to easily deposit into the goal with Lightning skaters trailing the play with their hand up in the air, looking for a whistle
"I don't know what it hit, but that was a weird bounce," Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said. "I haven't seen it. Especially on a flip like that, I've never seen a bounce like that. You've got to make that decision right away. (The officials) didn't see it that way, so we'll live with that."
The Bolts stopped skating thinking a whistle would blow the play dead once the puck seemed to change its course of trajectory on its way back down to the ice.
That whistle never came, and after some discussion, Hyman's goal counted, the final dagger in the Lightning.
"To be honest, I don't know what it hit," Stamkos said. "We thought it kind of went out of play, hit the glass behind and popped back in. Obviously, we all stopped playing. It took a funny bounce, so we figured it was out. It's a tough play to call. It's a bang-bang play for the officials. I heard someone say it hit the mic that was on the ice. I'm not sure why there's a mic in play to be honest. There was one on the glass, so I don't know why the heck that's there."