Lightning players comment on their series loss to the Leafs
Before the Leafs and Lightning kicked off their series, I wrote a piece about why I believed this group would be able to beat the Lightning. I believed in my heart they could do it. My brain, however, was racked with anxiety over the thought of winning 4 out of 7 games against the best playoff team of the last decade. As it turns out, my heart was right. The Leafs finally got over the hump and sent the Lightning packing.
Even though they were the favourites on paper, fans around the league viewed the Leafs as the underdog, and expected Tampa to beat them. When John Tavares scores the series winner in Game 6, nobody was more surprised than the Tampa Bay Lightning. They very clearly expected to win this series.
At locker clean out day, several Lightning players took the time to share their thoughts on the team that finally stopped their reign of terror over the Eastern Conference.
Brayden Point, who it was revealed had broken rib cartilage as a result of an ugly incident in game 2 with Morgan Rielly, commented on the play and refuted claims that it was intentional or dirty.
Alex Killorn talked about what it was like to have the Auston Matthews assignment in the series, and also the difference that Ryan O'Reilly made.
Finally, Patrick Maroon, who got the snot beat out of him by his friend Luke Schenn in the final regular season game between the Leafs and Bolts, spoke about what the additions of Schenn and O'Rielly brought to the Leafs. He also expressed how happy he was for them to have finally gotten over the hump. The last person you ever want to lose to is a friend, but Maroon managed to take the loss gracefully.
The Leafs' travel itinerary won't change much for Round 2. Instead of flying to Tampa, they'll be flying to Miami for games 3, 4 and 6 (if necessary). Knocking the entire state of Florida out of the playoffs would be a fun little narrative. With the first round monkey finally off their backs, I'm excited to see if this team can go on a real run here. As with Round 1, my heart says they can, but the anxiety that came with it is now gone. This team is capable of going on a run. All they have left to do now is, well, do it.
| POLL | ||
3 MAI | 484 ANSWERS Lightning players comment on their series loss to the Leafs How many games will round 2 go? | ||
| 4 | 15 | 3.1 % |
| 5 | 35 | 7.2 % |
| 6 | 315 | 65.1 % |
| 7 | 119 | 24.6 % |
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