Nick Paul scored twice, including an incredible individual effort on the winner late in the second period, as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 in Game 7 on Saturday to win their first-round playoff series 4-3.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions. Read more: Downtown Toronto prepares for crowds watching Maple Leafs’ Game 7 Morgan Rielly replied for Toronto, which hasn’t moved onto the second round since 2004 and is now 0-9 in elimination games over the last five post-seasons after also losing Game 6 by a 4-3 scoreline in Tampa two nights earlier.
Jack Campbell stopped 23 shots. Final pic.twitter.com/GrVe2CzqvE — Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) <a href=«https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1525656758529695745?ref_src=» https: globalnews.ca>May 15, 2022 Despite their best efforts, the Leafs were once again unable to push through and finally flip an long, ugly narrative of playoff failures for a franchise that has now lost its last seven series, including six straight dating back to 2017.
Toronto is now 7-3 all-time at home in Game 7s, including a loss at Scotiabank Arena last season after blowing a 3-1 series lead against the Montreal Canadiens.