Tavares Hat Trick Helps Leafs Exact Revenge

The Toronto Maple Leafs were embarrassed by a 7-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of their playoff series. They responded by making sure the Lightning knew how they felt.

The Leafs’ flipped the script by trouncing the Lightning 7-2 in Game 2 on the strength of John Tavares’ hat trick and Morgan Rielly’s four assists.

Tavares is the first Toronto player to record a postseason hat trick since Alexander Mogilny had a three-goal playoff effort in 2003. The only other Maple Leafs players to register a hat trick over the last 30 years are Mike Gartner (1996) and Wendel Clark (1993). The Tavares playoff hat trick was the first by a Maple Leafs player at Scotiabank Arena.

Rielly’s assists came on Toronto’s first four goals and he tied the franchise record for most assists in a playoff game. Doug Gilmour (1994), Darryl Sittler (1977) and Ian Turnbull (1976) are the other Toronto players with four assists.

Toronto became the second NHL team in the past 29 years to net seven goals in a playoff contest immediately after allowing seven-plus in their previous outing. That also happened to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2012 Conference Quarterfinals.

This Tampa Bay-Toronto matchup is the first NHL playoff series in 11 years to feature 19 or more goals in the first two games. The Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Philadelphia Flyers series in 2012 was the last team to feature this level of offensive fireworks.

The Lightning were without defensemen Victor Hedman and Erik Cernak who were injured in Game 1. Toronto was missing forward Michael Bunting, suspended three games for an illegal check to the head in Game 1.

⭐️ Adam Fox continued to pile up assists and Chris Kreider scored his third and fourth power play goals of the series to help the New Rangers down the New Jersey Devils 5-1. They own a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven series. Fox had two assists to give him six in the two games. Kreider is the first player in NHL history to start a playoff year with four goals on the power play in the first two games. He needs two power play goals to tie the NHL mark of six power play goals in a playoff series. It was set by Chris Kontos while with Los Angeles in 1989.

✌️ Jack Eichel, in his eighth NHL season, scored his first career playoff goal to help the Vegas Golden Knights down the Winnipeg Jets 5-2 to even their playoff series at 1-1. All four Western Conference playoff series are tied 1-1. Mark Stone had two goals and an assist for Vegas. It was the 13th playoff multipoint game of his career. Eichel missed the playoffs in his first seven NHL seasons. Eichel scored 175 regular-season goals before netting his first in the postseason.

What goaltender did Brett Hull score the controversial winning goal in triple overtime against to secure the Dallas Stars one and only Stanley Cup?

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• Skating the puck through the neutral zone

• Stabilized outside edge circles

TRIVIA ANSWER

Brett Hull scored in triple overtime against Dominik Hasek to win the 1999 Stanley Cup.