Nikita Kucherov scored twice in a three-point night and Brayden Point collected three assists to lead the host Tampa Bay Lightning to a 5-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Monday to open the Stanley Cup Final.
Erik Cernak, Yanni Gourde and Steven Stamkos also scored, while goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 18 saves for the defending champions.
Game 2 of the series will be Wednesday, also in Tampa.
Ben Chiarot replied for the Canadiens, and goalie Carey Price made 22 saves.
“Yeah, it’s one game of a seven-game series,” Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry said.