For the second consecutive season, the Toronto Maple Leafs will face-off against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the First Round.
There is nothing about this playoff series that the Toronto Maple Leafs should be afraid of. It’s essentially a rinse and repeat of last year and that defeat should only motivate them more, to win this year.
When the Leafs faced the Lightning last year, it was new territory. First, they hadn’t seen the Lightning in the playoffs before and secondly, they had home-ice advantage for the first time in the Auston Matthews Era.
I know they had it during the Montreal Canadiens series but there were no fans in the building, so home-ice advantage doesn’t really mean much when there’s no crowd.
Both team’s cores are the basically the same. The only difference is that Ondrej Palat is no longer on the Lightning’s roster. However, their forwards are still stacked and the team is primed to make another long playoff push.
So, who’s going to win?
Will Toronto finally break their streak and win their first playoff series in 19 years, or will the Lightning do what they do every spring and defeat every opponent they face?
Well, let’s compare both team’s based on their forwards, defenseman, goaltender and the veterans on each roster and see who’s better.
Let’s start with the forwards: