Brayden Point scored twice and the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-3 Tuesday night in the opener of their best-of-seven, Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.
Nikita Kucherov and Corey Perry each added a goal and two assists for the Lightning, while Anthony Cirelli and Ross Colton each had a goal and an assist. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare contributed a goal and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves.
Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman left the game in the second period with an injury and did not return.
Ryan O’Reilly, William Nylander and Calle Jarnkrok scored for Toronto. Mitchell Marner added three assists and Auston Matthews had two.
Ilya Samsonov allowed six goals on 29 shots in two periods. Joseph Woll took over in the third period and made four saves on five shots.
The Lightning opened the scoring at 1:18 of the first period. Perry forced a turnover in the Toronto zone and circled behind the net before taking a shot. Bellemare scooped in the rebound on the backhand.
The Lightning scored six minutes later. Cirelli scored on a rebound after Brandon Hagel’s shot on goal.
The Lightning added a power-play goal at 19:56 of the first on Kucherov’s blast from the right circle. Mikhail Sergachev made the pass. TJ Brodie was off for holding.
O’Reilly scored from the low slot on a pass from John Tavares at 8:06 of the second period during a power play — Erik Cernak was off for roughing.
Nylander scored on a power play at 13:11 of the second with Colton on the bench for slashing.
Point answered with a power-play goal at 14:29 of the second, on a setup by Kucherov. David Kampf was off for slashing.
Toronto’s Michael Bunting received a major penalty and a match penalty for an illegal hit to Cernak’s head with 4:20 left in the second.
During the power play, Perry poked home a puck at 17:54 of the second. Toronto made an unsuccessful challenge, claiming goaltender interference. That gave Tampa Bay a five-on-three power play.
After the minor penalty expired, Point scored at 19:58 of the second. Colton then scored at 6:59 of the third period and Jarnkrok scored at 8:06 to round out the scoring.
–Field Level Media
