Ondrej Palat broke the ice for the Tampa Bay Lightning, firing the two-time defending champions into a 1-0 lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs after the opening period of Game 6 of their first-round series.

Palat’s marker came at the 17:38 mark for the first frame as the teams were playing four-on-four due to an interference penalty to Leafs defenceman Justin Holl and an embellishment infraction to Lightning forward Nick Paul.

The Leafs lead the best-of-seven series 3-2 and will advance to the second round of the NHL playoffs for the first time since 2004 with a victory on Thursday.

The series has returned to Amalie Arena in Tampa after the Leafs pushed the Lightning to the brink of elimination on home ice on Tuesday with a 4-3 victory.

Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made six saves to help his team into the lead.

Jack Campbell stopped 11 of the 12 shots he faced in the first period for the Leafs.