Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Toronto Maple Leafs: Stanley Cup Playoffs, Game 1 Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 5/2/2022

Stanley Cup Playoffs: Eastern Conference First Round, Game 1

Time: 7:30 p.m. ET

Venue: Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, ON

Where to watch: ESPN2, Bally Sports Sun, Sportsnet, TVAS, CBC

DraftKings: Maple Leafs -125, Lightning +105

BetMGM: Maple Leafs -120, Lightning +100

Caesars: Maple Leafs -125, Lightning +105

Keep in mind the epicness that this series will produce for the winner. Either the Tampa Bay Lightning will win a first-round series and inch closer to a 3-peat, or the Toronto Maple Leafs will win a series for the first time in almost 20 years. Something, in the most ridiculous of ways, has got to give.

What’s even more enticing about this series is the Maple Leafs have home-ice advantage, which might be what puts Toronto over the top in a series for the first time since they defeated the Ottawa Senators in 2004. Could you imagine Toronto’s first series win comes against the two-time defending champs?

A lot to unwrap here in this matchup with Game 1 set for Monday in Toronto, as the Lightning begin their quest in trying to become the first team to win three straight Cups since the New York Islanders won four in a row from 1980-84.

"It's a massive challenge, it goes without saying," Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. "Back-to-back champs. They have elite players at all positions, great depth, great experience, obviously, so it's a great challenge. When I look at our group, I think the harder the better, I think that's what we need.

"We have absolute respect for the Tampa Bay Lightning in what they've accomplished and who they are as a team, yet we have great belief in our own room. We're ready for a battle."

If there was any year that you could feel confident in the Leafs actually getting through to the next round, this might be it if for no other reason than the Hart Trophy-caliber year Auston Matthews has put together with his 60-goal season. The 106-point season was the first of his career in the century mark.

On top of that, Mitchell Marner finished with 97 points and profited greatly on playing the same line as Matthews. But it’s been a long time that a group as skilled as this in Toronto actually has the capability of not only winning a round, but going far.

"The first thing that jumps out is the back-to-back Stanley Cups,” said Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly. “They understand how to play and to win in the playoffs and we're trying to figure that out as we go into this series. We know these guys well. We've played them twice recently in short order so it's up to us as players to do what we have to do to get ready."

But as much as the Maple Leafs might even be a slight favorite going into this series, and understandably so, there should not be a single soul that counts out the Lightning until they actually lose and are eliminated in the playoffs. That’s why it’s hard to even fathom them losing to Toronto, which is just one hell of a narrative.

You would not be blamed one bit if you were leaning toward the ideology that the Lightning are starting to tire, considering they finished 3rd in the Atlantic Division and had a mostly-healthy Nikita Kucherov this time around compared to last year. But the Lightning have kept on keeping on thanks to their captain, Steven Stamkos, recording his first 100-point season of his career with 106 points.

And how ironic is it that the newest 60-goal scorer (Matthews) faces off against the last 60-goal scorer before him (Stamkos)?

"For sure, there's going to be a lot of hype coming into this round," said Stamkos, who grew up just north of Toronto, in Unionville. "But this group is a mature group. We know how to handle a lot of different situations come playoff time. We’ll have to lean on our experience here.”

If the Leafs are to win, the goaltending will need to be at its best. Which means one of Jack Campbell or Erik Kallgren will have to take down reigning Conn Smythe winner Andrei Vasilevskiy, the flat-out best goalie in the world even if he faltered down the stretch. If you bet against Vasilevskiy, do it at your own risk.

Maple Leaf Square is going to be rocking. They’re going to have something to cheer for now that the Raptors are out of the playoffs. That being said, the champs need to take advantage of this game early on, and I have no doubt they will. Lightning win 5-3

Lightning are 5-3 in their last eight Game 1 appearances.

Lightning are 15-6 this season after playing consecutive road games.

Maple Leafs are 8-11 in Game 1 dating back to 1996.

Lightning:

Ondrej Palat -- Steven Stamkos -- Nikita Kucherov

Alex Killorn -- Anthony Cirelli -- Brandon Hagel

Nicholas Paul -- Brayden Point -- Ross Colton

Pat Maroon -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Corey Perry

Victor Hedman -- Erik Cernak

Ryan McDonagh -- Cal Foote

Mikhail Sergachev -- Zach Bogosian

Andrei Vasilevskiy

Maple Leafs:

Michael Bunting -- Auston Matthews -- Mitchell Marner

Ilya Mikheyev -- John Tavares -- Alexander Kerfoot

William Nylander -- David Kampf -- Pierre Engvall

Nicholas Abruzzese -- Colin Blackwell -- Jason Spezza

Morgan Rielly -- Ilya Lyubushkin

Mark Giordano -- Timothy Liljegren

Jake Muzzin -- TJ Brodie

Jack Campbell