Steven Stamkos scored one minute into the first period to spark an early barrage as the Tampa Bay Lightning steamrolled the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-3 on Sunday to knot their first-round playoff series 2-2.
Ross Colton, with two, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Pat Maroon, Corey Perry and Ondrej Palat had the other goals for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions. Nikita Kucherov added two assists.
Jack Campbell allowed five goals on 16 shots before being pulled in favour of Erik Kallgren for the Leafs, who came out embarrassingly flat on a night the franchise could have grabbed a 3-1 stranglehold in the best-of-seven matchup. Kallgren finished with 10 stops. But Toronto, which finished the regular season with 115 points, five clear of the Lightning for second in the Atlantic Division, started its third line and third defence pair, and was on the back foot from the drop of the puck as Tampa's top units came in waves against a skittish opponent.
Tampa made it 3-0 as the onslaught continued with a second fourth-line goal when Maroon jumped on another miscue by a Toronto defender — Morgan Rielly was the culprit this time — and poked home his own rebound at 7:58 after Campbell made a terrific pad stop. But the Lightning put any thought of a comeback to bed at 3:17 of the middle period when Colton's snapshot went off Campbell's glove for the centre's second goal in as many games.