(2A) Toronto Maple Leafs vs. (3A) Tampa Bay Lightning
Maple leaves: 54-21-7, 115 points
lightning: 51-23-8, 110 points
Season series: TOP 2-2-0; TB 2-1-1
Game 1: Monday (19:30 ET, Scotiabank Arena: ESPN2, CBC, SN, TVAS, BSSUN)
Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning will meet for the first time in the playoffs for the Stanley Cup.
Maple Leafs had a record regular season in 2021-22, setting team scores for wins (54) and points (115). They finished second in the Atlantic Division, seven points behind the Florida Panthers, the President’s trophy winner, and five points behind third place Lightning.
Toronto have not won a playoff series for the 2004 Stanley Cup and have lost in the first round in the last five seasons, including being eliminated by the Montreal Canadiens in seven games last season after a 3-1 lead.
[RELATED: Complete Maple Leafs vs. Lightning series coverage]
The Lightning are two-time defending champions in the Stanley Cup and are trying to become the first team to win three straight titles after the New York Islanders won four straight in 1980-84.
Everyone enters the hot series. Maple Leafs have been 7-2-1 in their last 10 regular season games; Lightning were 7-3-0.
Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said he understood how difficult their opponent was.
“It’s a huge challenge, of course,” Keefe said. “Consecutive champions. They have elite players in all positions, great depth, great experience, obviously, so it’s a big challenge. When I look at our band, I think the harder the better, I think that’s what we need.
“We have absolute respect for Tampa Bay Lightning in what they have achieved and who they are as a team, but we still have great faith in our own room. We are ready for battle.”
Toronto can bring back Michael Bunting for Game 1. The rookie is trying to return after an undisclosed injury and hopes to reunite with teammates Austin Matthews and Mitchell Marner.
Meanwhile, Lightning entered the playoffs relatively healthy and hungry for a chance to write history.
“There will certainly be a lot of noise in this circle,” said Lightning captain Stephen Stamkos, who grew up north of Toronto in Unionville. “But this group is a mature group. We know how to deal with many different situations when it comes time for the playoffs.
We will have to rely on our experience here.
Interrupting games
Maple leaves: Matthews leads the NHL with 60 goals and 44 goals. The center led Maple Leafs with 106 points, nine more than Marner. The 24-year-old has scored seven points (three goals, four assists) in three games against Lightning this season.
lightning: Stamkos scored a hat-trick in a 6-4 victory over the New York Islanders on Friday. The striker’s 33 points in April are the most from a Lightning player in a calendar month and the most from any NHL skater in a month since Mario Lemio was 34 in December 1995.
Video: TBL @ NYI: Stamkos scores 10th career hat-trick
Goalkeeping
Maple leaves: Jack Campbell has recovered from a seizure in the middle of the season to win eight of his last nine starts. The 30-year-old represented Maple Leafs at the Honda NHL All-Star Game in 2022 in Las Vegas and finished 31-9-6 with an average of 2.64 goals, 0.914 per cent save and five disqualifications in his NHL career. Rookie Eric Calgren was counting on support after Petr Mrazek was removed from a groin injury last month, scoring 8-4-1 with a 3.31 GAA, a .888 save and one save. Mrazek resumed skating last week, but there is no schedule for his return.
lightning: Although he showed some inconsistency further, Andrei Vassilevsky equaled Sergei Bobrovsky of Florida for the most NHL wins (39) and had a 2.49 GAA, a 0.916 percent save and two disqualifications. He has won 34 post-season games in the last two seasons. Veteran Brian Elliott (11-4-3, 2.43 GAA, .912 percent save, one exclusion) is a solid reserve.
Numbers you need to know
Maple leaves: Maple Leafs have played 45 post-season games since winning the series for the last time. They last qualified for the playoffs in 2004, when they defeated the Ottawa Senators in seven games in the quarterfinals of the Eastern Conference.
lightning: Victor Hedman is a plus-14 in the last two post-season runs. The defender, who won the 2019-20 Conn Smythe Trophy as the most useful player in the playoffs, finished plus-26 this season.
X-factors
Maple leaves: Bunting’s return is crucial after he led all NHL rookies by points in the regular season with 63 (23 goals, 40 assists). Equally important are the sandpaper and the courage he brings to the top line, pushing opponents to penalties and creating space in the offensive zone for Marner and Matthews.
lightning: Nick Paul has been a revelation since being acquired in exchange with the Senators, scoring 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 21 games with Lightning, after scoring 18 points (11 goals, 7 assists) in 59 games with the Senators. Lightning knew they were getting ahead physically in the exchange on March 20, but Paul showed the kind of secondary result that is so important in the playoffs.
Video: WSH @ TOR: Bunting marks 2nd of match, 22nd this season
They said it
“The first thing that pops up is Stanley’s consecutive cups. They understand how to play and win in the playoffs and we are trying to understand that as we enter this series. We know these guys well. We recently played with them twice in a short order, so it’s up to us as players to do what we have to do to prepare. ” – Maple Leafs defender Morgan Riley
“We all need to feel good about ourselves… A few weeks ago we gave ourselves another chance to win a place in the playoffs. It is not easy to do. Our group is very proud to be given this opportunity and now we are talking about getting the most out of it. ” “Lightning defender Ryan McDonagh.”
Will win if:
Maple leaves: They can get out of their way. As daunting as the daunting task of the Lightning Power Station is in the first round, this edition of Maple Leafs is the most skillful in a long time. Think about it: 13 players have topped their NHL careers by points this season. But recent post-season history shows that Maple Leafs have failed to catch up after the playoffs. A year ago, for example, Matthews and Marner, their leading scorers, combined one goal (from Matthews) in seven games in the series against the Canadiens. The talent is there, but so is the pressure of failure in the playoffs in the past. This is a mental obstacle that they have to overcome.
lightning: They can stifle the high-octane power of Maple Leafs. Playoff series are often determined by special team battles and this should not be different. Toronto had the strongest game in the NHL (27.3 percent), led by Matthews (16 goals in power play) and William Nilander (13), so the Tampa Bay killers will be put to the test. The lightning is ranked 11th on penalties (80.6 percent) and has scored seven short-haired goals this season, five fewer than league leader Maple Leafs.
How do they look:
The planned range of Maple Leafs
Michael Bunting – Austin Matthews – Mitchell Marner
Alexander Kerfut – John Tavares – William Nylander
Ilya Mikheev – David Kampf – Pierre Engwal
Wayne Simmonds – Colin Blackwell – Jason Spca
Morgan Riley – Ilya Lyubushkin
Jake Moose – TJ Brody
Mark Giordano – Timothy Lillegren
Jack Campbell
Eric Calgren
Scratched: Colin Blackwell, Nick Robertson, Kyle Clifford, Nick Abrusese, Justin Hall
Injuries: Rasmus Sandin (knee), Ondrej Kase (concussion), Petr Mrazek (groin)
Quickly designed composition
Andrew Palace – Stephen Stamkos – Nikita Kucherov
Nick Paul – Braden Point – Ross Colton
Alex Killarn – Anthony Sirelli – Brandon Heigl
Pat Maroon – Pierre-Edward Belmare – Corey Perry
Victor Hedman – Ian Ruth
Ryan McDonagh – Eric Chernak
Mikhail Sergachev – Zak Bogosyan
Andrey Vasilevsky
Brian Elliott
Scratched: Cal Foot
Injuries: None
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