The Tampa Bay Lightning being in the playoffs is a tradition like no other! And what better way to open up the postseason than getting a dub in Toronto? This series has been billed to be one of the better opening round matchups and G1 showed why. Chirping, chippy (dirty?) plays and tickling of the twine were all on the menu.
Game 1 ended with a score of 7-3 in Tampa’s favor and yeah, much of the game was like that. The Lightning jumped out to an early lead with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scoring within the first two minutes and just six minutes later Anthony Cirelli was giving the Lightning a 2-0 lead. They would take a 3-0 lead going into the 2nd Period off of a Nikita Kucherov Power Play dart that found netting with 0.04 left on the clock.
The Maple Leafs were never going to lay down and they came in the 2nd period with some juice. They chopped the lead down to 1 goal before Tampa erupted again scoring 4 unanswered of their own. The Mapes got one more in the 4th but the game was all but over.
They say a series doesn’t start until a road team wins and well…we’re off!
Three Take-aways
- Guess the Lightning do have the ability to flip the switch. On Episode 112 of our podcast I questioned if we still have enough fire to lock in for another Stanley Cup push and I feel like they took that as disrespect.
- Am I missing something or are the Mapes trying to be extra physical all of a sudden? Let’s call it what it was – dirty. Leafs took cheap shots at multiple guys and two of them knocked Michael Eyssimont and Erik Cernak out of the game. Maybe they think the Bolts are still “soft”. Didn’t work out for them in G1…
- Lightning need to stay out of the Penalty Box. The Maple Leafs weren’t really threatening to score until they their two 2nd Period goals came during Power Plays.
Three Things to Watch Next Game
- Who will start in net for Toronto? Ilya Samsonov started the game but after giving up 6 goals in 2 Periods he was swapped for Joseph Woll. In my opinion, goalies are like quarterbacks, if you’ve got 2 you’ve got none.
- Will Victor Hedman and Erik Cernak be back for G2? Heddy left the game in the 2nd period, never to return to the ice and one of the aforementioned cheap shots knocks Erik out with a possible concussion. Being without two of their best defensemen could spell trouble for the Bolts on Thursday.
- Tanner Jeanott did not play for Tampa (leg injury) and saw multiple of his teammates take dirty shots to the head. If he plays Game 2 I’m going to put the over/under at 9 minutes before he gets into a fight.
Go Bolts!
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