Lightning score 7, defeat Maple Leafs in Game 1 of Eastern 1st Round

TORONTO --The Tampa Bay Lightning scored four power-play goals in a 7-3 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday.

"I will never question the guys in that room, and again, as the coach, you always want the best, but deep down inside you know there's a whole bunch of gamers in that room and this night we knew they would come out to play," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said.
Corey Perry and Nikita Kucherov each had a goal and two assists, Brayden Point scored twice, Anthony Cirelli and Ross Colton each had a goal and an assist and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves for the Lightning, who are the No. 3 seed in the Atlantic Division and have been to the Stanley Cup Final each of the past three seasons, winning it in 2020 and 2021.
Tampa Bay had gone 4-8-0 in their final 12 regular-season games and 14-15-5 in their last 34.
"We had a tough March, tough end to the season, but it's about playoffs and we were trying to get our game into shape to come in here and play," Perry said. "We know what we have to do, how we have to play as a team. We did a lot of good things tonight, but at the same time, we still have some stuff to work on."

Mitchell Marner had three assists, and Ilya Samsonov made 23 saves for the Maple Leafs before being pulled after the second period. Joseph Woll, making his Stanley Cup Playoff debut, made four saves in relief. Toronto, the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic, lost to Tampa Bay in seven games in the Eastern Conference First Round last season.
"I certainly sensed nerves]*
Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman left after the first period because of an undisclosed injury, and forward Michael Eyssimont left after taking a hit from Jake McCabe at 13:45 of the second period. Cooper had no update on Cernak or Eyssimont but said about Hedman, "That one was a little bit surprising. We're hoping he should be OK, but it's way too early to tell."
Tampa Bay went up 1-0 at 1:18 of the first when Pierre-Edouard Bellemare backhanded a rebound at the top of the goal crease after Perry's wraparound.
Cirelli made it 2-0 at 7:18 when he put in a rebound in the slot from Brandon Hagel's shot.
Kucherov one-timed a pass from Mikhail Sergachev at the right face-off dot on the power play to make it 3-0 at 19:56.
"We were excited for [the playoffs]," Colton said. "For a while there we weren't playing the way we wanted to play. We kept saying we were going to flip a switch, and at some point we had to stop talking about it and start doing it.
"Playoffs against the Maple Leafs in this building, it was obviously electric, so we just wanted to use that to our momentum. Fortunately, we got an early one and then were just able to play our game."

Ryan O'Reilly cut it to 3-1 at 8:06 of the second period on the power play when he one-timed a pass in the slot from John Tavares.
William Nylander brought the Maple Leafs within one at 13:11 on the power play when he shot between the legs of Alex Killorn from the high slot to make it 3-2.
Point, however, put the Lightning up 4-2 at 14:29 when he took a pass from Kucherov, skated through the slot and shot past a sprawling Samsonov's outstretched glove on a power play.
Michael Bunting was assessed a five-minute match penalty for an illegal check to the head of Erik Cernak at 15:40, and at 17:54 on the power play, Perry jammed in a loose puck at the side of the net to increase the lead to 5-2. Toronto challenged for goaltender interference, but the goal was upheld upon review.
Cernak left the game and did not return. There was no update.
After Toronto killed off the ensuing two-minute minor penalty for delay of game for an unsuccessful challenge, which led to a 2-minute 5-on-3 power play for Tampa Bay, Point made it 6-2 when he backhanded a loose puck between Samsonov's pads from the slot at 19:58, the Lightning's fourth power-play goal of the game.

Colton scored on a breakaway to put Tampa Bay up 7-2 at 6:59 of the third period.
Calle Jarnkrok redirected a pass from Marner at the side of the net at 8:06 for the 7-3 final.
"They stepped up their level and we didn't quite do that," Matthews said. "It's pretty simple, a bad start and a lot of penalty trouble, and they obviously have a very good power play."
NOTES: Kucherov had his 21st three-point game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, tying Denis Savard for fourth in NHL history behind Wayne Gretzky (59), Mark Messier (30) and Jari Kurri (28). … Vasilevskiy made his 100th playoff start. He is 64-38 in 104 games. … The seven goals are the most in a playoff opener in Lightning history (five in 2021 first round, five in 2018 first round). … McCabe played his first playoff game. He has 124 points (25 goals, 99 assists) in 504 regular-season games.