While Game 4 wasn't technically a "must-win" game, it certainly felt like the Tampa Bay Lightning needed a victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday night.

After an underwhelming first period in Game 3, the Bolts came out in Game 4 with an extreme sense of urgency right off the hop. Before the referee could even drop the puck to start the game, Ross Colton and Ilya Mikheyev exchanged shots as they lined up for the faceoff. Once the game began, Tampa Bay dumped the puck in deep and Colton immediately set the tone with a big hit on Mark Giordano behind the Toronto net.

The crowd was buzzing from the start and the Lightning gave them a reason to stay loud very early in the opening frame when Steven Stamkos ripped a one-timer past Jack Campbell off a pass from Nikita Kucherov . It was Stamkos's first goal of the postseason and it came exactly one minute into the game. Stamkos was all the way up near the center point and after Kucherov put the puck on a platter, Stamkos fired a rocket top shelf past Campbell.

With one goal on the board, Tampa Bay kept pushing forward. Just 4:20 after Stamkos's game-opening goal, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare quickly reacted after Jake Muzzin mishandled a puck below the goal line. After the puck jumped off Muzzin's stick into the slot, Bellemare was right there to quickly adjust and bury a shot top shelf for his first goal of the playoffs.

The Lightning had the Maple Leafs on their heels and took advantage just 2:38 after the Bellemare goal. It was Pat Maroon 's turn to get on the scoresheet with one of the prettiest goals Tampa Bay has scored during this year's playoffs. After Mikhail Sergachev made a nice stretch pass up the right-side boards, Maroon barreled in on a two-on-one before taking the puck hard to the net and beating Campbell to the far post.

Following the victory, Maroon and Stamkos were made available to the media for questions. When Maroon was asked where he learned a move like the one he pulled on his goal, Stamkos quipped, "He hasn't seen your highlights from the OHL."

The Lightning took the 3-0 lead into the first intermission, but the wanted to make sure they kept their foot on the gas pedal heading into the second frame.

"I think that's more of a credit to our guys in that locker room," said Colton. "Instead of sitting back and letting them take it to us, we kind of said 'Hey, let's get the next one and then the next one after that.'"

The Bolts did exactly that and it was Colton who led the charge. At the 3:17 mark of the second period, Cal Foote made a fantastic play in the neutral zone, absorbing a big hit, but still managing to make sure the Maple Leafs didn't take the puck into the Tampa Bay zone. Foote was able to push the puck forward to Brandon Hagel , before the trade deadline acquisition from Chicago made a nice, no-look pass to Colton, who barreled into the Toronto zone and beat Campbell with a shot that went off his glove.

The goals just kept coming for Tampa Bay. After John Tavares yanked Corey Perry down with a hook at the 3:57 mark of the second, David Kampf took a delay of game penalty just 11 seconds later.

With nearly two full minutes of a 5-on-3 power play, the Bolts capitalized again with Kucherov finding Perry on the back door for his second goal of the postseason to make it a 5-0 game. Shortly after, Campbell was relieved of his duties in the crease before Erik Kallgren finished out the game for the Leafs.

Toronto would snag a couple of goals in the third period before Ondrej Palat scored an empty-net goal to bring the score to 6-2. Muzzin got his second goal of the playoffs shortly after, but Colton answered with his second goal of the night to put a bow on a big 7-3 win for the Lightning.

It was a huge game for the Bolts on Sunday night and the response was just about as good as Tampa Bay fans could have asked for. Now, with the series tied at two, Tampa Bay will head up to Toronto for a big Game 5 on Tuesday night.

But before that, here's three things we learned from the Lightning's Game 4 win.

Video: TOR@TBL, Gm4: Lightning take lead with 3 in 7:58

1. USING MOMENTUM There hasn't been a whole lot of momentum carried over from game to game in this series. On Sunday, Tampa Bay looked to have changed that trend.

While the Lightning may have lost Game 3 on Friday night, they played an excellent third period and nearly sent the game to overtime. The Bolts wanted to build on that third period in Game 4 and they looked to have picked up right where they left off.

"[In the third,] we were playing fast," said Colton following Friday's Game 3 loss. "We were all over them. We got pucks deep. We didn't give their D a chance to break out.

"It probably felt like we had seven guys on the ice, I think, at times.

"When we're playing the right way and structured, we've got a great team. We believe in that locker room that we're fine. I don't think there's an ounce of doubt in there.

"We're fine. We're going to come to the rink tomorrow. We'll look at some video, prepare, and I guarantee we'll be ready to go on Sunday."

Colton stayed true to his word. As previously mentioned, he was the one who got things going with a big hit on Giordano on the first shift of the game before the Stamkos goal. It was a great sign for Tampa Bay that they were able to carry over momentum from one game to the next. They'll look for more of the same on Tuesday in Game 5.

"This group has proven it knows what it takes at this time of the year and we know how to respond," Stamkos explained. "Now that we've done that twice now in this series, let's go out and grab the series lead.

"That's got to be the mentality, so we just need to harness that energy that we come out with after a loss. Let's do it again next game."

From the third period of Game 3 to the first period of Game 4.

From the end of the first period in Game 4 to the second period of the same contest.

Over the past four periods, the Lightning have found momentum and they've kept it rolling in their direction. Can they continue that on Tuesday night?

"Obviously, you know you get the momentum out of the win, but you can't have too highs or too lows," said Bellemare. "This is one game and we know it's going to be a tough battle there, but if we bring what we bring tonight, that's all that matters."

Video: Jon Cooper | Postgame Round 1 Game 4

2. 16-0 What a run it's been for Tampa Bay following a postseason lost. The Lightning are 16-0 following a loss in the playoffs since 2020.

In those 16 games, Tampa Bay has scored 63 goals while giving up 25. Their power play is converting at a rate of 26.2% while their penalty kill is killing off 86.8% of their infractions.

Then there's the 'Big Cat,' Andrei Vasilevskiy . In those 16 games, Vasilevskiy has recorded a .945 save percentage, a 1.41 goals-against average, and five shutouts.

Kucherov has been clutch as well following a loss, posting 30 points with five goals and 25 assists in those contests.

When the Lightning lose a game in the playoffs, they know what they have to do to recover. They have to play the way they know how to play. They're a team that knows how to win in the playoffs.

"Yeah, I think that was kind of the game plan," said Bellemare. "Just go back to ourselves.

"I think we came out pretty hard, not thinking about scoring the goals. I think we just thought about playing our way and doing the right thing out there. Then the puck kind of fell into us somehow.

"When you do the right thing out there and just sacrifice yourself for the team, then usually you get rewarded."

Now the Bolts need to focus on having that same style of play following a win. Whoever loses on Tuesday is going to have their back against the wall come Thursday.

Tampa Bay has played fantastic following playoff losses. It's time for them to string together some wins and keep that standard of play consistent.

"That's the great thing about the playoffs," Stamkos said. "You never know what you're going to get every night. We've got to find a way to buck that trend here going into Toronto.

"I think, if anything, we've learned from the mistakes that we've made earlier in this series. Especially after Game 2, winning that and then not having the best start in Game 3.

"We're a veteran group. We'll lean on our experience here and we know how critical Game 5 is in this tight series."

Video: TOR@TBL, Gm4: Perry caps tic-tac-toe play for PPG

3. SCORING GOALS After the Lightning's loss in Game 3, Jon Cooper spoke with the media the following day after the Bolts wrapped up their Saturday practice. Cooper was asked about what Tampa Bay needed to do better to score on Campbell.

"We've scored seven goals on him in the last two games," Cooper said. "If he's going to sit here and have a three and a half goals-against average in every two-game set, we'll take that.

"Has he made some saves? Sure, he has.

"Have we beat him? We have.

"There's always a misnomer out there that it's the amount of goals you score. It's the amount you prevent, and that's where we have to be looking.

"Goal scoring against these guys, that's not a worry to me."

There was a lot of talk throughout the media on Saturday and Sunday about Cooper's comments. Frankly, there were a lot of words taken out of context.

In watching video clips of Cooper's comments following his media availability, the entire bit about preventing goals was often left out. Several videos of Cooper jumped from, "Have we beat him? We have," to "Goal scoring against these guys, that's not a worry to me."

Cooper's biggest concern and point of emphasis over the years has been on defending your own end first. That's been the number one priority for him from day one - take care of your own end and generate offense from there.

Some thought Cooper's comments were a shot at Campbell, as opposed to confidence in his own team's ability to score goals. Cooper is more worried about defending the right way than he is about scoring goals. It makes sense when you're going up against the number one offensive team from the regular season.

If you've listened to Cooper's comments throughout the entirety of this series, his respect level for the Maple Leafs team and organization is extremely high. Either way, at the end of the day, Cooper was right on.

The Lightning have scored 14 goals this series, averaging 3.5 goals per game. That includes getting shutout in Game 1. If you look at the last three games of the series, the Bolts are averaging 4.7 goals per game.

Despite being shut out in Game 1, the Lightning are still tied for the third-most goals of any team in the playoffs. Toronto is tied for the second-most goals. It makes perfect sense for Cooper to want more defending and to show less of a concern for his team's goal scoring. Not only does it make sense for this series, but it's been his philosophy all along.

With 14 goals over their last three games, including an explosion of seven goals on Sunday night, Tampa Bay should be feeling good about their offensive game. Now, they will have to keep that offense rolling into Game 5 and continue to place their heaviest emphasis on defending their own end as they look to take a 3-2 series lead.

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