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The Toronto Maple Leafs began their first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning on the right foot, surviving early penalty trouble, displaying a high level of hustle and effort, and getting big contributions from their special teams and core group in a 5-0 victory over the two-time Stanley Cup Champions at Scotiabank Arena on Monday.
Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner each had three points, Jake Muzzin and David Kampf also scored for Toronto and Jack Campbell made 24 saves for his second career playoff shutout to give the Leafs a 1-0 in the best-of-seven series.
The game took a potentially bad turn early, as Kyle Clifford’s hit from behind on Ross Colton earned the Leafs winger a five-minute boarding penalty and game misconduct, but Toronto seized the momentum while short-handed, putting Tampa on the defensive with their speed and aggressive penalty kill, generating more offensive chances that the club with the man advantage.
“We had a lot of guys that were really good today, our team played really well. Our crowd was unbelievable tonight. I thought the crowd was the first star of the game,” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. “I thought that (the crowd) carried us through that five-minute kill. Our players played hard, they got life, we had some chances, and the way that our crowd responded and then didn’t let up for the rest of the game from there.”
Toronto seized on the momentum derived from killing off the major and took the lead on Muzzin’s long shot through a screen late in the first.
Special teams were key to the victory, as Matthews converted on a two-man advantage to increase the lead to 2-0 and Kampf scored on a short-handed breakaway to increase the lead to three. Marner, who assisted on both second-period markers, finally snapped his 18-game playoff goalless skid to put a capper on a very successful middle frame.
"I can't do anything about the past. I'm here to focus on the now. I'm here to focus on what I can do to help our team win, just like everyone else in our locker room."
The game was uncharacteristically bad on all fronts for the Cup Champs, who did not get noticeable performances from the likes of Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov, and Victor Hedman, a less than stellar outing from Andrei Vasilevskiy.
As expected, the Lightning attempted to stir things up in garbage time, as Corey Perry and Patrick Maroon reacted to a Wayne Simmonds hit on Jan Rutta by jumping on Morgan Rielly, which began a line brawl.
Perry, Maroon, and Simmonds were all fined by the NHL on Tuesday and Clifford will have a hearing for the hit on Colton. If Clifford is suspended, either Michael Bunting or Jason Spezza will take his spot in the lineup for Game 2 on Wednesday.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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