![]() ![]() Tampa beat Toronto 7-3 in Game 1, but lost Cernak on a sequence that kept the minute-crunching defenceman sidelined the rest of the series. Struggling blueliner Justin Holl sat in favour of Timothy Liljegren and Erik Gustafsson, while wingers Zach Aston-Reese and Sam Lafferty also watched from the press box as the Leafs went with 11 forwards and seven defencemen. With a tornado watch issued for the area that cancelled the Lightning's fan viewing party outside Amalie Arena, the Leafs made some lineup changes ahead of Game 6.īunting returned after serving a three-game suspension for an illegal check to the head in the series opener on Tampa defenceman Erik Cernak before being made a healthy scratch Thursday. Toronto had the only power plays in the opening 20 minutes, but Tampa had the best opportunities on short-handed chances off the sticks of Alex Killorn and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. O CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN! □ /0LRJ110MKL - Toronto Maple Leafs April 30, 2023 Samsonov made a big stop on Stamkos early in a spirited first before Vasilevskiy denied T.J. Stamkos hit the post on the power play later in the period to match the crossbar Toronto's Michael Bunting struck earlier in the second. Matthews opened the scoring at 13:47 of the middle period when he blasted a one-timer over Vasilevskiy's shoulder for his series-leading fifth goal. Including a first-round defeat in 2013, Toronto's record in games where it could clinch a series sat at 0-11 before puck drop - the second-longest streak in NHL history.Ĭoming off Cup triumphs in 20 before falling in last year's final to Colorado in Game 6 at home, the Lightning tied the score 1-1 at 4:11 of the third when Stamkos scored his second of the series on a rebound. The Leafs entered Saturday with 10 straight losses in games where they had a chance to eliminate an opponent dating back to the start of the Matthews-Mitch Marner era in 2018, including a 4-2 loss in Game 5 this spring on home ice, in the process of stumbling at the post-season's first hurdle six years running. ![]() The wait for another series triumph in hockey's biggest market would last 6,948 days. NATION!!!!!!!!! /dkttq8eBpW - Toronto Maple Leafs April 30, 2023 Toronto would go on to lose a second-round matchup with the Philadelphia Flyers when Jeremy Roenick scored the clinching goal in overtime in Game 6. Joe Nieuwendyk was the hero that night with two goals in the first period on a shaky Patrick Lalime. The Leafs last made the NHL's final eight in 2004 - before the league instituting a salary cap, before Twitter was launched, and just over four months after Paul Martin became Canada's 21st prime minister - when they beat the Ottawa Senators in seven games. Steven Stamkos replied for the Lightning, who saw their streak of three straight trips to the Stanley Cup final come to an end. Flip phones and partying on Yonge Street: Look at Toronto the last time the Leafs won a playoff series.The Leafs captain threw a puck in front on the winning sequence that went in off Lightning defenceman Darren Raddysh's skate and in to send Toronto players spilling off the bench.Īuston Matthews had the goal in regulation for the Leafs, who lost to Tampa in seven games last spring and were under intense pressure to finally break through in the playoffs after a string of failures. John Tavares scored at 4:36 of overtime and Ilya Samsonov made 31 saves as Toronto defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 on Saturday to win their series 4-2 and advance in the post-season for the first time in nearly two decades. The Maple Leafs finally exorcised their playoff demons - and are off to the second round of the NHL playoffs. ![]()
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