Maple Leafs:50-21-11, 111 points
Lightning:46-30-6, 98 points
Season series:TOR 2-0-1; TBL 1-2-0
Game 1:Tuesday at Toronto (7:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, CBC, SNE, SNO, SNP, TVAS)
The Tampa Bay Lightning will look to reach the Stanley Cup Final for a fourth consecutive season, a journey that begins with a matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Eastern Conference First Round.
From 2020-22 the Lightning won 11 consecutive postseason series and the Stanley Cup twice (2020, 2021) before seeing their run end by being defeated by the Colorado Avalanche in six games in the 2022 Final. Tampa Bay is attempting to become the first team to reach the Final in four straight seasons since the New York Islanders did it in five consecutive seasons from 1980-84.
"There are a lot of teams that are really strong and have a legitimate shot of winning the Stanley Cup," Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois said. "I like that we're one of them. That gives us a chance."
Their first obstacle is an opening-round series against the Maple Leafs, the team they eliminated in seven games to start the playoffs last season.
"You have no chance to win the Stanley Cup unless you make the playoffs," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said.
There's one box checked off. The next one is defeating a Maple Leafs team that has not won a postseason series since 2004.
In retrospect, much has changed for each team since two goals from Nick Paul helped the Lightning defeat the Maple Leafs 2-1 in Game 7 on May 14, 2022.
For the Lightning, forward Ondrej Palat (New Jersey Devils), and defensemen Jan Ruuta (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Ryan McDonagh (Nashville Predators) are gone. Ruuta and McDonagh were great fits for the physical gameplan Tampa Bay employed during the postseason, and the Lightning plan to stick to that blueprint with new players.
"It's not about fighting. It's about finishing checks, because when you finish checks, guys really don't want to go in the corner," defenseman Mikhail Sergachev said. "So it's just about that, and then obviously your skill can take over."
Lightning management was thinking along those lines when it acquired forward Tanner Jeannot from the Predators prior to the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline on March 3. The forward creates chaos for the opposition on the forecheck but will miss the beginning of the series after sustaining a lower-body injury against the New York Islanders on April 6.
As for the Maple Leafs, they feel better equipped to deal with the physicality of the postseason after acquiring forwards Ryan O'Reilly, Noel Acciari and Sam Lafferty, as well as defensemen Jake McCabe and Luke Schenn in pre-deadline deals. Each plays a blue-collar style that should help in grinding out shifts, improving the cycle game, and initiating physical play, as much as absorbing it.
"There's no reason to beat around," Toronto GM Kyle Dubas said. "We've wanted to be more competitive."
While the Maple Leafs have added much-needed sandpaper, they also augmented their leadership both on and off the ice in O'Reilly, the former St. Louis Blues captain who helped them win a Stanley Cup in 2019. O'Reilly and defenseman Mark Giordano (Calgary Flames, Seattle Kraken) have both captained NHL teams and can help current captain John Tavares.
There's no question Toronto has improved its depth. But ultimately the Maple Leafs will need more from its core: forwards Auston Matthews, Mitchell Marner, William Nylander and defenseman Morgan Rielly, who have been part of six consecutive one-and-done postseason eliminations with Toronto.
"You can only control what's ahead, not the past," Marner said. "Our focus is on that."
Toronto earned five of a possible six points against Tampa Bay this season, winning 4-1 on Dec. 20 and 4-3 on April 11. The only blemish was a 4-3 defeat in overtime on Dec. 3. Nylander led all scorers in those three games with three goals and six points; Marner, and Lightning forward Alex Killorn each had two goals.
