The Maple Leafs crushed Lightning in Game 1

Matthews hit the target twice and had an assist while his sidekick Mitch Marner had a goal and two assists.

The Maple Leafs special teams are imperial, scoring shorthanded and in power play.

Jake Muzzin and David Kampf also found the back of the net for the Leafs, when Jack Campbell stopped 23 shots for the shutout. Andrei Vasilevskiy, guilty of a bad comeback in the second win over Matthews, for his part made 26 saves in front of the Lightning net.

Lightning struggled with power play, including not taking a shot at the net in five minutes of power play in the first period after Kyle Clifford was sent off.

Maple Leafs forward shouldered Ross Colton, who has no disc holder, against the boards.

Lightning also had a lack of discipline, especially in the third period without ever reaching the game. Ultimately, in a game marked by multiple fights, the Lightning earned 48 minutes of penalties while the Maple Leafs were penalized a total of 52 minutes.

Game 2 of the series is Wednesday in Toronto. The series will travel to Tampa Bay on Friday for Game 3.

The Hurricanes ahead

The Carolina Hurricanes opened their first-round series with a 5-1 win over the Boston Bruins.

Boston had a strong start, but Antti Raanta (35 saves) held the fort until Seth Jarvis and Nino Niederreiter scored two minutes later in the second period.

Taylor Hall scored early in the third period for the Bruins, but Teuvo Teravainen and Vincent Trocheck responded. Andrei Svechnikov finally sealed the result with an empty net in 17:59.

This is the third series in four between the two organizations. The Bruins knocked out Carolina in the third round in 2019 and the first in 2020.

Among the crowd in Raleigh was NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. The crowd booed him roundly when we saw him on the giant screen, in the middle period.

The second game will take place on Wednesday.