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The Toronto Maple Leafs' playoff struggles continued as they were defeated by the Tampa Bay Lightning by a huge 7-3 scoreline on their home ice on Tuesday.
From the start of the first period, the Bolts appeared to be sharper and more offensive. They left no room for the Leafs to mount a comeback. Throughout the game, the Leafs were chasing the Bolts.
Toronto Maple Leafs fans were not at all happy with their team's performance. Soon after the game, fans went on Twitter and blamed match official Wes McCauley's poor officiating calls for being responsible for the defeat.
Here's what fans have to say about the defeat:
The Toronto Maple Leafs were certainly not at their best tonight. The game also had a few decisions that went against them, with the first two goals against them being followed by penalties. Another decision that went against them was the dismissal of forward Michael Bunting, who earned the match penalty for an illegal hit on Bolt's Eric Cernak.
Tampa Bay Lightning down Toronto Maple Leafs 7-3 in Game 1
The Tampa Bay Lightning scored three goals in the first period of the game. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Anthony Cirelli and Nikita Kucherov were the scorers for the Bolts in the first period at the Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday.
Coming into the second period, Ryan O'Reilly cut the Bolts' lead to 3-1 after scoring on a powerplay in 8:06 minutes. William Nylander scored the second goal for the Leafs and brought the scoreline to 3-2 at the 13:11 mark of the second period.
The Tampa Bay Lightning completely dominated the remaining minutes of the second period as Brayden Point scored twice with Corey Perry scoring a goal to extend the team's lead to 6-2 before the game moved into the third period.
Ross Colton scored the seventh goal for the Lightning from a wrist shot at the 6:59 mark of the third period. The Leafs' third goal came from Calle Jarnkrok, but they fell short of four goals, falling 7-3.
Nikita Kucherov and Corey Perry both had three points contributions in the Lightning's win. While netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy had 28 saves on the night.
NHL playoffs Game 2 between the two teams will take place on Thursday.
