Matthews, Marner star as Leafs hammer defending champs in Game 1

TORONTO — Auston Matthews scored twice as part of a three-point night and Jack Campbell made 23 saves to register the second playoff shutout of his career as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-0 in Game 1 of their first-round series Monday.

Mitch Marner snapped a long post-season goal drought to go along with two assists, while Jake Muzzin and David Kampf, on a short-handed breakaway, also scored for Toronto, which killed off five Lightning power plays — including an early five-minute major — inside an electric Scotiabank Arena.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 29 shots for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, who will look to rebound in Game 2 on Wednesday.

Teams that take the opener of a best-of-seven series hold an all-time record of 499-228 (. 686), including a 9-6 mark last season.

Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe predicted a "borderline violent" series, and that's exactly what happened seven minutes into the first period when Leafs winger Kyle Clifford pasted Tampa's Ross Colton from behind into the boards to earn a five-minute major and a game misconduct.

Having already killed off one minor penalty, Toronto had the better chances down a man with Clifford taking an early shower, including an Alexander Kerfoot shot off the post on a 2-on-1.

The Leafs couldn't connect on two subsequent power plays, but pushed ahead with 1:41 left in the period when Muzzin's point shot through a screen beat Vasilevskiy to nearly blow the roof off Scotiabank Arena.

William Nylander almost made it 2-0 late in the period on a breakaway after blocking a shot, but couldn't solve Vasilevskiy through the five-hole.

The Leafs called a timeout ahead of a 5-on-3 power play in second and then took just 11 seconds to