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SPORTSCENTRE Reporter

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TSN Toronto Reporter Mark Masters reports on the Maple Leafs. The Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning held optional skates at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday morning.

William Nylander played through food poisoning in Game 1. 

"I was puking that day," the Leafs winger revealed. "I think it was sushi for lunch. I haven't gone to that restaurant in a long time and it might've been where I got it."

Nylander still managed to log 15 minutes and 36 seconds on Monday and tied for second on the team with four shots, including a breakaway on Andrei Vasilevskiy. 

"I mean, it's Game 1, you gotta be ready," he said. "You can't let the food poisoning get to you."

"In that first period, especially, he got his feet moving, got in behind the defence," said coach Sheldon Keefe. "That's when he's at his best. He maybe ran out of gas in the second half of the game."

Jake Muzzin played through food poisoning earlier in his career. 

"You don't feel 100 per cent," the veteran defenceman recalled. "Maybe not sleeping the best. You're maybe dehydrated from throwing up all the time, but you do your best to get the body and mind right. You have to go out and perform. You gotta do it."

Nylander skipped practice on Tuesday to preserve energy and was able to keep some food down. He's feeling much better now. 

Nylander led the Leafs in scoring in last year's playoffs with eight points in seven games. 

"As a team we all need to elevate like that," said Muzzin. "Kudos to Will for doing that and we're going to need him to continue."

 

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The raucous atmosphere in Toronto helped Nylander power through the dehydration. 

"It was just unreal," the 26-year-old Swede said. "Getting out there, the towels waving and the anthem, everybody was into it. It set the tone for the playoffs."

Keefe, who was coaching his first Stanley Cup playoff game with a full building, labelled the fans the first star. He's looking for a similar boost on Wednesday night. 

"I'm expecting it's going to be more of the same," Keefe said, "because it made a difference, for sure. I mean, you walk out to the bench and the seats are all full for the anthem. Everybody's there and ready to go, which is not always the case here. It's not an easy building to get to and there's a lot happening in the city. But you could tell the fans were ready and I think that really helped our team be ready."

Even the Lightning appreciated the atmosphere. 

"It didn't have a positive effect, negative effect either way," said coach Jon Cooper. "I did like the environment, though. Playing in this city quite a bit in the league, you see regular-season games are different and sometimes the crowd strolls in ... a little late. They definitely were not late. That was fun to see. It was a sweet environment."

 

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The Lightning have not dropped consecutive playoff games during their back-to-back runs to the Stanley Cup. 

"Good group at turning the page," Cooper said. "They dig their heels in when they're pushed up against the wall. We have a pretty good history of taking Game 2."

The Lightning have won Game 2 in their past seven series.

"We did a lot of good things we can build upon," said Keefe of the 5-0 opening win, "but that's not the Tampa team that we prepared for. We're expecting to see that team tonight." 

"We're trying to not get too confident," said Nylander. "I mean, we know Tampa's a great team."

The Lightning missed out on five power-play chances in Game 1. 

"There's always going to be adjustments," said Cooper. "There's some things we saw that maybe we can take advantage of."

And it wasn't all bad. 

"Our third one had look after look after look and it just didn't go in the net," Cooper highlighted. "We'll be ready for them tonight."

"They did start to get us pretty good late in that second period there," Keefe acknowledged. 

The Lightning outhit the Leafs 56-36 on Monday, but believe they can be even more physical. 

"The physical part of our game is part of our plan," said Cooper. "In our past couple of years that's been a big staple of ours to wear other teams down. We wanted to be more physical in the game, but we weren't for whatever reason ... We let them off the hook. It was an easy night for them."

Pat Maroon registered three hits and also flexed his muscles late in the game during a line brawl. 

"Not only do you have to be physical, but you have to be able to back it up and keep the players on the other team honest and Patty has that ability," noted Cooper. "Zdeno Chara, for example, is an intimidating factor and playing against him for years, not that he ever needed to be neutralized, but we never had somebody who could look him in the eye. Patty can look him in the eye. He looks the heavies in the eye. The fact you have [that] guy on your side makes everyone on your bench an inch taller."

 

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The Lightning players were given the option of not coming to the rink on Wednesday morning. Steven Stamkos was one of only a handful of guys to take the ice.

The Markham, Ont. native botched a one-timer when he had an open net to shoot at in Game 1 and was taunted by the crowd. He repeatedly hammered one-timers from that spot this morning. 

"It's going to be a long series," Stamkos vowed after Game 1. 

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Michael Bunting will return to Toronto's lineup, Keefe confirmed. The winger missed the past four games with an undisclosed injury. 

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Projected Leafs lineup for Game 2: 

Bunting - Matthews - Marner 
Mikheyev - Tavares - Kerfoot 
Nylander - Kampf - Engvall  
Simmonds - Blackwell - Kase 

Rielly - Lyubushkin
Muzzin - Brodie 
Giordano - Liljegren 

Campbell starts 
Kallgren