TORONTO (AP) — Brayden Point scored twice and the Tampa Bay Lightning routed the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-3 on Tuesday night in the opening game of the team's first-round playoff series.
Nikita Kucherov and Corey Perry each had a goal and two assists, and Anthony Cirelli and Ross Colton finished with a goal and an assist for Tampa Bay. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare also scored for the Lightning, who scored four goals on the power play. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves in his 100th playoff start.
Ryan O’Reilly, William Nylander and Calle Jarnkrok scored for Toronto. Mitch Marner had three assists and Auston Matthews added a pair. Ilya Samsonov allowed six goals on 29 shots before being replaced by Joseph Woll at the start the third period. The rookie netminder finished with four stops.
Toronto winger Michael Bunting was whistled for a match penalty and game misconduct for an illegal check to the head of Tampa Bay's Erik Cernak. The hit occurred with 4:20 remaining in the second period. Cernak, who did not have the puck, fell backward to the ice and went to the locker room.
Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Thursday night in Toronto.
