The NHL playoffs are in full swing and that brings us a first-round matchup from the Eastern Conference coming to you from north of the border. The Tampa Bay Lightning are on the road as they take on the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 2 of their best-of-seven opening round series Thursday night. Tampa Bay drew first blood and stole home-ice advantage by rolling to a 7-3 victory on Tuesday night in Game 1 of the series. Will the Lightning head home with a 2-0 series lead or will the Maple Leafs regroup and even things up heading to the Sunshine State over the weekend? We break the game down below, so read on!
I won $14,619 in parlay tickets in the month of November, hit a 47-1 parlay to kick off the New Year plus 15 more four-teamers worth more than $13,600 in the last nine weeks! Don't miss out on another big payday! Click he re to get a month of my parlays for only $50 (normally $100)!
Tampa Bay played a strong game in the opening game of this set, taking the lead early and then getting goals in the dying seconds of the first couple of periods to secure momentum. The Lightning now look to take a 2-0 series lead before they head back to the Amalie Arena for Games 3 and 4. Tampa Bay went into Wednesday 1st in the league in goals per game in the postseason as they put up an average of seven goals per contest. The Lightning stands tied for 8th in goals against by allowing three goals per game. Tampa Bay is tied for 2nd with the man advantage as they cash in on 50% of their chances with the man advantage this postseason. The Lightning are tied for 12th in penalty killing as they successfully work through 50% of their shorthanded situations in the playoffs.
In the opener, Tampa Bay jumped in front early and maintained their lead the rest of th e way en route to an emphatic victory. The Lightning held a 15-10 advantage in shots on goal in the opening period and took a 3-0 lead to the dressing room at the first intermission. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare opened the scoring with his first of the playoffs just 1:18 into the game off an assist from Corey Perry and Tampa Bay was off and running. Anthony Cirelli made it a 2-0 game with his first of the playoffs at 7:18 off an assist from Brandon Hagel. Nikita Kucherov extended to a 3-0 Lightning edge with his first goal of the postseason, on the power play, at 19:56 with assists going to Mikhail Sergachev and Alex Killorn. In the second period, Tampa Bay had a 14-10 edge in shots and a 3-2 advantage on the scoreboard to take a 6-2 lead at the second intermission.
After giving up two unanswered goals to narrow their margin to one, Brayden Point gave the Lightning a 4-2 advantage with his first of the playoffs, on the power play, at 14:29 with assists going to Ku cherov and Cirelli. Perry extended to a 5-2 margin with his first of the postseason, on the power play, at 17:54 off an assist from Ross Colton. Point capped the period with his second of the game and the playoffs at 19:58, on the power play, with assists from Perry and Kucherov for a 6-2 lead. The Lightning were outshot 11-5 in the third period with each team scoring once as the visitors coasted home with the win. Colton made it 7-2 with his first of the playoffs at 6:59 off assists from Nick Perbix and Ian Cole before Toronto got one back to close things out. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves for the Lightning, who held a 34-31 edge in shots on goal, in the win. He’s your likely starter between the pipes for Game 2. Erik Cernak is out while Victor Hedman is considered a game-time decision.