Morgan Rielly fights Jan Rutta and busts him wide open; check out the damage
Before the Leafs and Lightning ever touched the ice, both Sheldon Keefe and Jon Cooper spoke of their upcoming series as though it was going to be an absolute barn burner - and boy, oh boy, did the fans ever get more than the price of admission on Monday night.
The Leafs skated away with a decisive 5-0 victory in Game 1, jumping out to a 1-0 series lead in what amounted to a very rough outing, with over 120 minutes of penalties handed out. Perhaps the most surprising thing about that though was that Morgan Rielly led the Leafs in penalty minutes with 15 (tied with Kyle Clifford, who got 5 and a game for his hit from behind on Ross Colton).
Rielly was a man possessed, helping lead the Leafs to a hard fought (literally) victory, including a pair of dust ups with Tampa's Jan Rutta, including this third period scrap, which left Rutta busted wide open off of a huge right hand from Rielly. Check out the puddle left on the ice as Rutta gets up!
If the Leafs bring this kind of passion and intensity the rest of the way during this series, the Lightning are certainly in some trouble. Of course, it's just one game and it's still very early, but the fact that the Leafs started on time and not only matched the intensity of the Bolts, but exceeded it, is very, very encouraging.
| POLL | ||
MAI 3 | 707 ANSWERS Morgan Rielly fights Jan Rutta and busts him wide open; check out the damage Is Morgan Rielly better suited to captain the Maple Leafs than John Tavares? | ||
| Absolutely | 202 | 28.6 % |
| No | 113 | 16 % |
| You don't need to wear a C to be a leader | 361 | 51.1 % |
| This is absolutely JT's team | 31 | 4.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
