We now know when the Leafs/Lightning playoff series is set to begin

In terms of when the playoffs would start, there was some chatter on Thursday night that the playoffs would kick off on Monday. That does indeed appear to be the case, but Leafs/Lightning will have to wait an extra day.

According to this morning's announcement directly from the NHL, the Leafs/Lightning series is set to get underway on Tuesday, April 18th in Toronto. Obviously, there are some major storylines at play, like the Leafs having the opportunity to avenge their Game 7 loss against the Bolts last spring. They also have a pretty major monkey to get off their backs in getting past round 1 for the first time since 2004.

These two teams are not the same teams who faced off last spring. For starters, the Bolts are missing two key pieces in Ryan McDonagh and Ondrej Palat. In addition, the Leafs are deeper at all positions and are coming into this serious with superior goaltending to what we saw last year in Jack Campbell and Petr Mrazek.

It would be a mistake for the Buds to overlook the Bolts and I don't think they will or that Sheldon Keefe would even allow that to happen. The Leafs are playing a more composed two-way game with better team defense than we saw from them last season. They won the season series against Tampa this year, but, as we know, the regular season means nothing when the playoffs begin. Tampa is a battle-tested club whose core has been to 3-straight Stanley Cup Finals. Make no mistake about it, the Leafs are in for the fight of their lives when next week's round 1 series begins.

The real x-factor here will not be anyone from either team, but rather the officials. If the series is called right down the middle, I'd imagine it will be a pretty good one. However, if the officials begin to throw their weight around and try to manage the game... well, I don't even want to think about what that could mean for the Leafs, who have been on the receiving end of some horrendous calls this season.