NHL playoffs: What to know about the Canadian teams and their matchups

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Three teams — Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto — have a chance to bring the best trophy in sports back to Canada for the first time since Montreal's magical Cup run in 1993. Here's a quick look at each of them and their first-round matchups:

Toronto vs. Tampa Bay (starts tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET)

If you don't believe in curses, the Leafs might make you want to start.

The team that hasn't captured a Stanley Cup since 1967 and hasn't won a playoff series in the salary cap era ought to be feeling pretty good about its chances of ending those embarrassing droughts right now. Toronto just had its best regular season ever, placing fourth overall with a franchise-record 115 points, and features the game's best goal scorer in Auston Matthews, who won his second straight Maurice Richard Trophy and became the first NHLer in a decade to reach 60 goals.

But the Leafs drew an almost comically tough first-round opponent in the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning. With their incredible core of forwards Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos and Brayden Point, defenceman Victor Hedman and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy still going strong, no one would be really surprised to see Tampa Bay become the first team since the early-'80s Islanders to win three consecutive Cups.

Love or hate the Leafs, you have to feel for the predicament they're in. Though they're the slight betting favourite in this series, it wouldn't really be much of an upset if Tampa beats them. And yet, another first-round defeat would be disastrous for Toronto and could trigger a major shakeup. So, once again, the pressure is