MATTHEWS POWERS TORONTO
Auston Matthews had two goals and an assist and Jack Campbell made 23 saves in the second playoff shutout of his career as the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the twotime defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning 5-0 Monday night in Game 1 of their first-round playoffs series.
Maple Leafs 5, Lightning 0
Mitch Marner had a goal and two assists. Jake Muzzin scored and David Kampf added a goal on a short-handed breakaway for Toronto, which killed off five Lightning power plays, including an early five-minute major.
Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 29 shots for the Lightning.
The second game of the best-of-seven series is Wednesday in Toronto.
Teams that have won the series opener hold an all-time record of 499-228, including a 9-6 mark last season.
Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe predicted a “borderline violent” series, and that’s exactly how things unfolded seven minutes into the first period. Toronto winger Kyle Clifford pasted Tampa’s Ross Colton from behind into the boards to earn a five-minute major and a game misconduct.
After having already killed off one minor penalty, Toronto had the better chances down a man as Alexander Kerfoot shot off the post on a 2-on-1.
The Maple Leafs failed to convert on two subsequent power plays, but moved ahead with 1:41 left in the period when Muzzin’s point shot through a screen beat Vasilevskiy.
William Nylander nearly made it 2-0 late in the period on a breakaway after blocking a shot, but failed to beat Vasilevskiy through the pads.
Toronto called a timeout ahead of a 5-on-3 power play in second and took just 11 seconds to score with five forwards on the ice. Marner fed
Matthews, whose shot beat Vasilevskiy to the short side.
Tampa got its fourth man advantage later in the period, but Kampf beat Victor Hedman to a loose puck as Toronto once again showed its superior speed before beating Vasilevskiy to make it 3-0 at 9:27.
Campbell had to be sharp at the other end on another Lightning power play. He made a nice blocker stop on Brayden Point off a Nikita Kucherov feed. Steven Stamkos then heeled a onetimer.
The Leafs put the game out of reach at 16:39, when Marner snapped his long playoff goal drought. The winger took a slick pass from Morgan Rielly off the rush and beat Vasilevskiy for his first playoff goal since April 11, 2019, a stretch of 18 games.
Toronto kept pressing into the third period. Matthews made it 5-0 when Vasilevskiy misplayed the puck behind his net and he scored his second at 8:16.
Hurricanes 5, Bruins 1: Seth Jarvis and Nino Niederreiter scored second-period goals and Antti Raanta was strong in net to help host Carolina beat Boston in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
Raanta had 35 saves in his first career postseason start with No. 1 goaltender Frederik Andersen sidelined by injury. He held up against Boston’s game-opening surge to keep Carolina in it before
Jarvis and Niederreiter scored roughly two minutes apart in the second period to break a scoreless tie.
Game 2 is Wednesday in Raleigh.
Carolina never surrendered that lead. Teuvo Teravainen and Vincent Trocheck added third-period goals, which helped Carolina maintain control and then stretch out a lead in this best-of-seven series opener.
Blues 4, Wild 0: David Perron had a hat trick and an assist to lead visiting St. Louis past Minnesota in Game 1 of their first-round series, one year after he missed the playoffs with COVID-19.
Ryan O’Reilly scored, Torey Krug added three assists and Ville Husso made 37 saves for the shutout in his postseason debut for the Blues.
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 27 shots for the Wild. He got the nod over All-Star Cam Talbot, who went 13-0-3 in his last 16 starts.
Game 2 is in St. Paul on Wednesday night, before the series shifts south to St. Louis.
Kings 4, Oilers 3: Twotime Stanley Cup winning goalie Jonathan Quick made 36 saves and Sean Durzi scored at 14:46 of the third period to break a 3-3 tie as visiting Los Angeles stole home ice away from Edmonton in Game 1.
Trevor Moore and Alex Iafallo had a goal and assist for the Kings.