Auston Matthews on Jack Campbell after he steals Game 3
Heading into the series with Tampa, almost all series previews had discussed how Campbell had to give the Leafs good goaltending in order for the Leafs to have a chance against Tampa. Through the first two games that's what Campbell did. Sure, Game 2 he was beaten 5 times, but 3 of those were on the powerplay and if you watched the game, you'd realize he had no chance on any of them.
Game 3, we saw the Jack Campbell that was in the Vezina conversation the first half of the year and it started 10 seconds into the game with a point blank save on Brayden Point. A few minutes later he made another point blank save after a David Kampf giveaway. Through the first period and a half of the game, he wasn't overly busy, but made key saves when he needed to. That proved to be very important in what ended up being a razor close game, despite the 5-2 final score.
The second half of the game, Campbell put on a clinic, including a game saving save on Stamkos late in the third period where he slid post to post. It was an exclamation mark on his performance last night and he surely stole the game for the Leafs.
Post game, Auston Matthews made sure to praise Campbell for his performance saying, "That's what he does. He gives us confidence every time he's out there. He's talkative, he chats out there, he has a lot of fun out there. He made a lot of saves but none bigger than that one at the end of the third period."
Through three games so far, Campbell has done his part to give the Leafs a chance and has helped them take a 2-1 series lead. Game 4 goes Sunday night in Tampa and if Campbell stays hot, the Leafs could return home with a chance to close out the defending Stanley Cup Champs in 5. *knocks on wood*
| POLL | ||
MAI 7 | 404 ANSWERS Auston Matthews on Jack Campbell after he steals Game 3 Who was the MVP in Game 3? | ||
| Jack Campbell | 330 | 81.7 % |
| Pierre Engvall/Ilya Mikheyev | 39 | 9.7 % |
| David Kampf | 25 | 6.2 % |
| Other | 10 | 2.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
