The Tampa Bay Lightning began their quest for a fourth straight Eastern Conference title with a thorough 7-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference First Round series at Scotiabank Arena.
"I will never question the guys in that room, and again, as the coach, you always want the best, but deep down inside you know there's a whole bunch of gamers in that room and this night we knew they would come out to play", said Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper.
Corey Perry and Nikita Kucherov each had a goal and two assists, Brayden Point scored twice, Anthony Cirelli and Ross Colton each had a goal and an assist and Andre Vasilevskiy made 28 saves for the Lightning.
They had lost eight of their last 12 games and 14-15-5 in their last 34.
"We had a tough March, tough end to the season, but it's about playoffs and we were trying to get our game into shape to come in here and play", Perry said.
"We know what we have to do, how we have to play as a team. We did a lot of good things tonight, but at the same time, we still have some stuff to work on."
Mitch Marner had three assists and Ilya Samsonov made 23 saves for Toronto before being replaced in the second period. Joseph Woll made four saves in relief.
"I certainly sensed [nerves] in the game", said Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe. "We were on our heels a bit early on. It looks like Samsonov was fighting the puck early on and he's been in such a groove and that to me was a sign of that.
"But i don't think nerves have anything to do with why we don't defend our net, allow a guy to walk out from below the goal line. Those are all things we are as good as anybody in the NHL at defending that area of the ice."
Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman was knocked out of the game after an undisclosed injury, and forward Michael Eyssimont left after taking a hit from Jake McCabe in the second period.
No update was provided on Eyssimont, but Cooper said of Hedman "that one was a little bit surprising. We're hoping he should be OK, but it's too early to tell."
Lightning get off to early lead, never look back in dominant performance
It only took Tampa Bay 78 seconds to go in front as Pierre-Edouard Bellemare backhanded a rebound at the top of the goal crease from Perry's wraparound.
Cirelli made it 2-0, beating Samsonov on a rebound from the slot from Brandon Hagel's shot.
With four seconds left in the first period, Kucherov one-timed a pass from Mikhail Sergachev at the right face-off dot while the Lightning were on the power play.
"We were excited for the [playoffs]", Colton said. "For a while there we weren't playing the way we wanted to play. We kept saying we were going to flip a switch, and at some point we had to stop talking about it and start doing it.
"Playoffs against the Maple Leafs in this building, it was obviously electric, so we just wanted to use that to our momentum. Fortunately, we got an early one and then were just able to play our game."
Ryan O'Reilly got Toronto on the board as he one-timed a pass in the slot from John Tavares with the Maple Leafs on the power play.
William Nylander made it a 3-2 game with Toronto again having a man advantage. His shot went between the legs of Alex Killorn and past Vasilevskiy.
Point restored Tampa Bay's two-goal lead as he took a pass from Kucherov, skated through the slot and beat a sprawling Samsonov's outstretched glove.
Michael Bunting was assessed a five-minute match penalty for an illegal check to the head of Erik Cernak, Perry jammed in a loose puck at the side of the net to increase the lead to 5-2.
Toronto challenged for goaltender interference, but the goal was upheld upon review.
The Maple Leafs killed off the two-minute minor for an unsuccessful challenge, which resulted in a delay of game penalty. Point made it a 6-2 game as he backhanded a loose puck between Samsonov's pads with two seconds remaining.
Colton scored on a breakaway and 1:07 later, Calle Jarnkrok redirected a pass from Marner at the side of the net to close out the scoring.
"They stepped up their level and we didn't quite do that", Auston Matthews said. "It's pretty simple, a bad start and a lot of penalty trouble, and they obviously have a very good power play."
Game 2 is Wednesday night with puck drop is scheduled for 7:30pm Eastern time.