The NHL announced Games 1 and 2 of every opening-round 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs series early Friday morning with the Maple Leafs opening against the Lightning on Tuesday.
The NHL announced Games 1 and 2 of every opening-round 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs series early Friday morning with the Maple Leafs opening against the Lightning on Tuesday.
NEW YORK — There are still a couple of playoff matchups to be decided, but that didn’t stop the NHL from announcing the opening two games of each first-round 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs series on Friday.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will open Games 1 and 2 at Scotiabank Arena against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday, April 18 and Thursday, April 20 the league announced.
The league made the announcement early Friday morning as a couple of Western Conference matchups were still to be decided.
The Leafs and Lightning have been locked into the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, respectively, for the last couple of weeks. The remaining two-to-five games of the schedule are expected to be released later on Friday after the last two games of the regular season have concluded.
The Toronto Maple Leafs wrapped up their regular season in New York on Thursday after defeating the New York Rangers 3-2, finishing the season with a 50-21-11 record while ending the campaign on a four-game winning streak.
The Leafs will take on the Lightning for the second consecutive year. Tampa took the best-of-seven series in seven games in 2022 and went to the Stanley Cup Final for the third straight year. The Lightning fell to the 2022 Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche in six games.
Related
Maple Leafs Mark Giordano Dealing with ‘Minor’ Injury, Team Expects He'll be ‘100 Percent Soon'