Music: {allcanada} Maple Leafs to play Lightning in 1st round of Stanley Cup Playoffs

Sunday, April 2, 2023

{allcanada} Maple Leafs to play Lightning in 1st round of Stanley Cup Playoffs

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The Toronto Maple Leafs will play the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Home-ice advantage for the best-of-7 series will go to the team that finishes higher in the Atlantic Division. The Maple Leafs (45-20-10) are second, four points ahead of the Lightning (45-26-6).

The playoffs begin April 17.

Toronto has lost in the opening round of the playoffs in each of the past six seasons, including in seven games to the Lightning in the first round last season. Toronto last won a postseason series in 2004.

"The preparation, for the most part, goes on behind the scenes," Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. "Obviously, we played them (in the playoffs) last season and we're monitoring them throughout this season. There's not a whole lot of difference there in terms of what you're going to prepare for -- it's more just focusing on our game, and when we focus on our game, of course that allows us to prepare for the remaining regular-season games at the same time."

The Lightning have reached the Stanley Cup Final in three straight seasons. They lost to the Colorado Avalanche in six games last season after defeating the Dallas Stars in six games in 2020 and the Montreal Canadiens in five games in 2021.

"It seems like we're kind of finding our game," Lightning forward Alex Killorn said. "To get in the playoffs is great and everything is kind of known with who we're playing, but we want to continue to play the same way because it's going to be so important when we start the playoffs."

The teams have split two games this season, with Tampa Bay winning 4-3 in overtime on Dec. 3 at home and Toronto winning 4-1 on Dec. 20 at home. They will play April 11 in Toronto, the second-to-last regular-season game for each.

Mitchell Marner and William Nylander each has three points (two goals, one assist) against the Lightning this season, and Auston Matthews and Michael Bunting each has two points (one goal, one assist). Matt Murray is 1-0-1 with a 2.50 goals-against average against the Lightning, having allowed five goals on 52 shots (.904 save percentage).

Anthony Cirelli, Steven Stamkos and Corey Perry each has two assists against Toronto this season, and Ross Colton, Killorn and Nikita Kucherov each scored one goal. Andrei Vasilevskiy is 1-1-0 with a 2.51 GAA against the Maple Leafs, having allowed five goals on 77 shots (.935 save percentage).

The Maple Leafs are led by Marner (95 points), Nylander (82 points), Matthews (78 points) and John Tavares (75 points). Ilya Samsonov is 25-9-4 with a 2.40 goals-against average and .916 save percentage. Murray is 14-8-2 with a 2.97 GAA and a .905 save percentage.

Toronto acquired forwards Ryan O'Reilly, Noel Acciari and Sam Lafferty, and defensemen Luke Schenn, Erik Gustafsson and Jake McCabe prior to the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline on March 3.

The Lightning are led by Kucherov (106 points), Brayden Point (89) and Stamkos (80). Five players have at least 20 goals: Point (48), Stamkos (33), Kucherov (29), Brandon Hagel (27) and Killorn (24). Vasilevskiy (34-20-4, 2.57 GAA, .918 save percentage) has led or tied for the NHL lead in wins each of the past five seasons and has at least 30 wins for a sixth straight season. Backup Brian Elliott is 11-6-2 with a 3.30 GAA and an .891 save percentage.

Tampa Bay acquired forward Tanner Jeannot prior to the trade deadline.

Kucherov leads the postseason in scoring the past three seasons with 93 points (23 goals, 70 assists) in 71 games, almost 30 points more than Nathan MacKinnon of the Avalanche, who is second with 64 points (30 goals, 34 assists) in 45 games during that span.

The Maple Leafs have won the Stanley Cup 13 times, last doing so in 1967.

Tampa Bay has advanced to at least the third round of the playoffs six times in the past eight seasons. The Lightning have won the Cup three times, first doing so in 2004.

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