Paul, Lightning win Game 7, eliminate Maple Leafs

TORONTO --Nicholas Paul scored two goals for the Tampa Bay Lightning, who eliminated the Toronto Maple Leafs with a 2-1 win in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.

Tampa Bay, which forced Game 7 with a 4-3 overtime win in Game 6, will face the Florida Panthers in the second round.
"Growing up going to the Leafs games, even in the warmup they had the chants going, the electricity in this building was nuts, so to come in and work has hard as we did, there was no doubt in our game," said Paul, who is from Mississauga, Ontario, about 30 minutes west of Toronto. "We stuck together as a team and everyone brought their A-game, blocking shots, being detailed, being hard on pucks, and winning their battles, and to pull one out in a building like this, especially being here with family in the stands, it was a big one."
RELATED: [Complete Maple Leafs vs. Lightning series coverage]
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves for the Lightning, who are the No. 3 seed from the Atlantic Division.
Tampa Bay played most of the game without forward Brayden Point, who fell awkwardly into the boards at 17:11 of the first period before heading to the locker room favoring his right leg. Point returned for one shift in the second period but did not play again, although he remained on the bench for the duration of the game.
"That was as evenly matched a series as you're going to see," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "Adversity rears its head in so many different ways, and sometimes it can, an urgency that's already there, it kicks something into gear. The Leafs had a good start against us, we had to weather the storm, but when Point got hurt it seemed to lock the entire team in, and I don't think we looked back after that."

Lightning captain Steven Stamkos related to what Point went through. He was limited to 2:48 of ice time in a 5-2 win against the Dallas Stars in Game 3 of the 2020 Stanley Cup Final due to a lower-body injury, scoring a goal on his third shift, but remained on the bench throughout the game.
"Listen, there is no worse feeling as a player than not being out there with the guys in games like this," Stamkos said. "You want to go out there. The most nerve-racking thing in hockey is watching your teammates go and knowing you can't help them out, especially when you have a player like Point who is just a warrior on the ice and does so many little things and good things for our group. Just to see him in pain like that is tough, but give our group a lot of credit. It could have been a night where we said, 'Oh Point is done, it is going to be one of those nights,' but we fell back on the standard that has been set for this group, and that's just to do whatever it takes to win. It doesn't matter who does it when, why, it's just win and it's certainly a contagious feeling and attitude."
Morgan Rielly scored, and Jack Campbell made 23 saves for the Maple Leafs, who were the No. 2 seed from the Atlantic.
"Lots of reasons to be proud, yet lots of reasons to be devastated and upset," Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. "Feel good about the effort that they put forth, that they gave us everything that they had, but you come up short. We're in the winning business."
Toronto, which hasn't advanced to the second round since 2004, has lost its first playoff series in six consecutive seasons.
"This one is going to sting for quite a bit," Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner said. "We've got to make sure wherever they go home in the summertime, make sure that we come back a better team strength-wise, faster, quicker. We're getting sick and tired of feeling like this, so we've got to make sure we're ready for this upcoming season."

Paul put the Lightning ahead 1-0 at 18:24 of the first period, getting to the rebound of Ross Colton's one-timer ahead of Rielly and knocking in the puck with his backhand.
It was Paul's first Stanley Cup Playoff goal.
The Maple Leafs thought they tied it 1-1 at 8:32 of the second period when John Tavares skated out from behind the net and scored from the slot, but Justin Holl had been called for interference on Anthony Cirelli, negating the goal.
However, Rielly did tie it at 13:25 when he took a pass from Auston Matthews and shot glove side on Vasilevskiy from the right circle.
Paul then made it 2-1 at 16:32. Shortly after Vasilevskiy made a blocker save on Matthews, Paul collected the loose puck at the right point, tried to make a move on TJ Brodie, and kicked the puck to his stick before shooting blocker side from the low slot.
"It's a game of inches," Matthews said. "Unfortunately, we were on the bad side of things tonight. Yeah, it's really frustrating and disappointing. Like you said, I thought every guy in there competed and gave it their all. Ultimately, they made one more play than us.
"It's the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions right there. It's a team that's been through a lot as well. They've been through a lot of tough losses, heartbreak, and they've climbed their way to the top two years in a row now. We're right there. We're right there."