The Tampa Bay Lightning staved off elimination with a 4-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference First Round series at Scotiabank Arena.

Toronto's series lead is cut to 3-2 with Game 6 scheduled for Saturday night in Tampa Bay.

"I think that was an answer tonight", said Lightning forward Nicholas Paul. "Even after the last couple of games when we let it slip, we knew we were coming to Toronto, we're winning this and we're taking it back home."

Michael Eyssimont and Anthony Cirelli each had a goal and an assist for the three-time defending Eastern Conference champions and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves.

"They dug their heels in tonight, and I think who really dug his heels in tonight was [Vasilevskiy]", said Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper. "His name has come up a lot for various reasons over the last couple days, and I think he proved he could handle the high shots."

Morgan Rielly and Auston Matthews scored, John Tavares had two assists and Ilya Samsonov stopped 34 shots for the Maple Leafs, who have lost their 11 last games when having an opportunity to eliminate their opponent.

"We're just confident with our group", Rielly said. "We're here for a reason, we play good hockey, we beat them in this series and can do it again. We didn't expect them to roll over, and now it's important for our group to go on the road with a mission."

Lightning fend off Maple Leafs 

Rielly put Toronto up 1-0 5:46 into the game, taking a backhand pass from Tavares behind the net that went off the stick of Matthew Knies and past Vasilevskiy.

Cirelli tied the game 26 seconds later, coring on a rebound at the top of the goal crease over Samsonov's outstretched right pad.

"I think it's huge [for them] to get that one early", Cirelli said. "Their crowd is into it, so to answer right away was a huge momentum swing for us, and we kind of got going after that."

Vasilevskiy kept the game tied, making saves on Calle Jarnkrook in the slot with Toronto on the power play and then again, this time stopping William Nylander, who was in the slot.

"When you have a team like this, you don't want to let these opportunities slide", said Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman. "We've got a phenomenal team. [We] have all the tools, and these are the type of games you want to play. 

"There's question in that room about fatigue or that we've played a lot of hockey. These are the type of games we want to play. It was a tough situation going into a place like this with our back up against the wall, but I think we responded really well."

Paul made it a 3-1 game, getting to a loose puck in the slot and beat a sprawling Samsonov. It ended a 30-game goal scoring drought for the forward.

"I've been waiting for that one for a little bit, but pucks on the net is a good shot, so it ended up in the net and now [it's] time to get hot", Paul said.

Matthews cut it to 3-2 with 3:34 left as he put home a rebound at the side of the net after Tavares deflected a shot by Mitch Marner with Samsonov pulled, but Alex Killorn scored into an empty net with five seconds remaining.

"We had some good chances and didn't capitalize on them", Matthews said. "We were in a good position at 2-1 heading into the third, and I just think the third goal puts ourselves in a tough hole to get out of.

"We kept fighting to the end, but obviously it wasn't enough."