Lightning Understand Winning in Playoffs

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The Tampa Bay Lightning know everything about winning in the postseason and the Toronto Maple Leafs are still trying to figure out how it is done.

That’s the explanation for why the Lightning used a pair of goals by Brayden Point and three-point games from Nikita Kucherov and Corey Perry to hammer the Maple Leafs 7-3 in Game 1 of their first round NHL playoff matchup.

The Lightning have won 46 playoff games over the past three seasons en route to three consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Final. They have won two of the past three Stanley Cups. The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, have not won a Stanley Cup since 1967 and haven’t advanced to the second round since 2004.

Toronto is 0-6 in first-round series over the past six seasons, including falling to the Lightning last season.

The Lightning struggled down the stretch in the regular-season, winning only four of their last 12. But that doesn’t matter in the postseason.

The only negative for the Lightning is defensemen Victor Hedman and Erik Cernak, plus forward Michael Eyssimont, left the game with injuries. No information was provided about those injuries, although Cooper said there was hope Hedman would be OK. But it was too early to know for sure.

The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced that Toronto forward Michael Bunting will have a supplemental discipline hearing for the illegal hit to the head that caused Cernak’s injury.

The Maple Leafs fell behind 3-0 in the first period, but cut the margin to 3-2. But three power play goals by the Lightning put the game out of reach. Mitch Marner had three assists for Toronto, and Auston Matthews had two.

⭐️ The Seattle Kraken, a wild-card qualifier, shocked the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche in Game 1 of their playoff series. This was the first NHL playoff game in Kraken history. But it didn’t look like it. Alex Wennberg contributed a goal and an assist and goalie Philipp Grubauer made 34 saves against his former team to carry the Kraken to the win. Eeli Tolvanen, claimed off waivers from Nashville earlier this season, scored the first playoff goal in Seattle history. "The belief in the team is that we can play really, really hard and right now you can see the team effort right here," Wennberg told NHL.com

✌️ Defenseman Adam Fox had four assists to power the New York Rangers to a convincing 5-1 win against the New Jersey Devils in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series. Chris Kreider netted a pair of goals. Fox and Paul Coffey are the only two defensemen in NHL history with multiple four-assist playoff games. The Rangers’ advantage in this series is supposed to be goaltender Igor Shesterkin and that was the case in Game 1. Shesterkin stopped 27 of 28 shots for a .964 save percentage. The Rangers only managed 22 shots on New Jersey goalie Vitek Vanecek and he had 18 saves for an .818 save percentage.

Who is the Carolina Hurricanes all-time leading scorer in the playoffs?

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• Defensive zone coverage explained by Hall of Famer Denis Savard

• 5 things elite hockey players focus on

TRIVIA ANSWER

Sebastian Aho is the Carolina Hurricanes all-time leading playoff scorer

Good morning and happy Wednesday, April 19th.

Be the hero of your beer league or youth team and enter to win up to 20 FREE hockey sticks thanks to our partnership with ProStockHockey.com.

The Tampa Bay Lightning know everything about winning in the postseason and the Toronto Maple Leafs are still trying to figure out how it is done.

That’s the explanation for why the Lightning used a pair of goals by Brayden Point and three-point games from Nikita Kucherov and Corey Perry to hammer the Maple Leafs 7-3 in Game 1 of their first round NHL playoff matchup.

The Lightning have won 46 playoff games over the past three seasons en route to three consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Final. They have won two of the past three Stanley Cups. The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, have not won a Stanley Cup since 1967 and haven’t advanced to the second round since 2004.

Toronto is 0-6 in first-round series over the past six seasons, including falling to the Lightning last season.

The Lightning struggled down the stretch in the regular-season, winning only four of their last 12. But that doesn’t matter in the postseason.

The only negative for the Lightning is defensemen Victor Hedman and Erik Cernak, plus forward Michael Eyssimont, left the game with injuries. No information was provided about those injuries, although Cooper said there was hope Hedman would be OK. But it was too early to know for sure.

The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced that Toronto forward Michael Bunting will have a supplemental discipline hearing for the illegal hit to the head that caused Cernak’s injury.

The Maple Leafs fell behind 3-0 in the first period, but cut the margin to 3-2. But three power play goals by the Lightning put the game out of reach. Mitch Marner had three assists for Toronto, and Auston Matthews had two.

⭐️ The Seattle Kraken, a wild-card qualifier, shocked the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche in Game 1 of their playoff series. This was the first NHL playoff game in Kraken history. But it didn’t look like it. Alex Wennberg contributed a goal and an assist and goalie Philipp Grubauer made 34 saves against his former team to carry the Kraken to the win. Eeli Tolvanen, claimed off waivers from Nashville earlier this season, scored the first playoff goal in Seattle history. "The belief in the team is that we can play really, really hard and right now you can see the team effort right here," Wennberg told NHL.com

✌️ Defenseman Adam Fox had four assists to power the New York Rangers to a convincing 5-1 win against the New Jersey Devils in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series. Chris Kreider netted a pair of goals. Fox and Paul Coffey are the only two defensemen in NHL history with multiple four-assist playoff games. The Rangers’ advantage in this series is supposed to be goaltender Igor Shesterkin and that was the case in Game 1. Shesterkin stopped 27 of 28 shots for a .964 save percentage. The Rangers only managed 22 shots on New Jersey goalie Vitek Vanecek and he had 18 saves for an .818 save percentage.

Who is the Carolina Hurricanes all-time leading scorer in the playoffs?

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• Defensive zone coverage explained by Hall of Famer Denis Savard

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TRIVIA ANSWER

Sebastian Aho is the Carolina Hurricanes all-time leading playoff scorer