Maple Leafs eliminated by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the playoff series


Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Nicholas Paul goes down on Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Jack Campbell as Maple Leafs center Colin Blackwell defends during third period playoff series action of the first NHL round in Toronto on Saturday, May 14, 2022.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press

This playoff angst felt different for the Maple Leafs.

A team that had stumbled so often in the big moments came toe-to-toe with the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions.

In the end, however, the result was the same, and perhaps even more crushing for what it could have been.

Nick Paul scored twice, including an incredible individual effort in the game-winner late in the second period, as the Tampa Bay Lightning outscored Toronto 2-1 in Game 7 on Saturday to win the team’s first-round playoff series 4-3. .

“It’s hard to explain,” Leafs captain John Tavares said after another devastating postseason setback for a franchise that hasn’t reached the second round since 2004. “It’s frustrating, hard to fathom.

“It hurts, it hurts, it’s disappointing.”

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 29 saves for a team not yet ready to relinquish their crown despite losing star winger Brayden Point to an apparent leg injury late in the first period.

Cathal Kelly: The Maple Leafs’ loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning wasn’t as painful as it has been in past seasons. This time, they lost to a better team.

“A game of inches,” said Leafs star Auston Matthews, who scored 60 goals during the regular season and four more in the playoffs. “Unfortunately we are on the bad side of things tonight. It’s really frustrating.

“All the guys there competed and gave it their all. They made one more play than us.”

Toronto had Tampa Bay on the ropes in Game 6 on Thursday before the Lightning, as they have so often done during their consecutive title runs, found a way to strike back.

“They’ve been through a lot of tough losses, heartbreak,” Matthews added. “And they’ve climbed their way to the top two years in a row.

“We’re right there… we’re right there.”

Morgan Rielly answered for Toronto, which hasn’t been to the second round in 18 years and is 0-9 in games in which it can eliminate an opponent in the past five postseasons. Jack Campbell stopped 23 shots.

Despite their best efforts, the Leafs once again failed to move forward and finally turn around a long and ugly narrative of playoff failure for a franchise that has now lost its last seven series, including six in a row since 2017.

“We’re getting sick and tired of feeling like this,” Toronto winger Mitch Marner said. “It’s going to hurt for a while.”

Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe was behind the bench in a 2020 postseason loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets in the bubble and a seven-game collapse against the Montreal Canadiens last spring after building a lead of 3-1, a couple of series where the character of the group was questioned by both fans and the media.

There are unlikely to be any such doubts in 2022.

Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander skates the puck against Tampa Bay Lightning forward Alex Killorn in Game 7 of the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena.Dan Hamilton/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters

“This one hurts more because this was a really good team that really played hard,” Keefe said. “You can debate the merits of any kind of credit you want to give our team. But I don’t know if you can debate anything that gives the Tampa Bay Lightning, who they are, what they stand for and what they’ve accomplished.

“And we’re right there standing with them.”

Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said the series was one of the toughest his club has faced in the past three playoffs.

“A great hockey team,” he said of the Leafs. “They have all the pieces. Not easy this time of year.

“We had some failures in the past… you just keep going and you have to get over that bump.”

Down 1-0 after 20 minutes on Saturday, the Leafs appeared to tie the game at 11:28 of the second when Tavares fired a shot over Vasilevskiy, but the goal was disallowed after Toronto defenseman Justin Holl was called. by interference.

Campbell had to make a couple of desperate saves on the ensuing penalty to set the stage for Rielly’s equalizer off the Marner and Matthews setup to score his third of the playoffs at 6:35 to send the crowd of 19,316 into a chaotic frenzy. .

The goal was the first given up by Vasilevskiy and the Lightning in their last six series decider games.

William Nylander then missed high on a breakaway before the Tampa goalie stole off Matthews with the Leafs buzzing.

Paul scored his second of the night, and second of the playoffs, moments later with 3:28 remaining in the period on an excellent play in which he kicked the puck from his skate to his post.

“The electricity in this building was crazy,” said the Mississauga, Ont., native. “To come in and work as hard as we did, there was no doubt in our game. We stuck together.”

Vasilevskiy was under siege throughout the Leafs’ power play just over six minutes into the third, but held off the home team despite some furious pressure.

Toronto continued to push inside an anxious and tense track as the clock ticked down.

The Leafs, however, simply couldn’t figure out a way to get Campbell on the bench for an additional attacker.

“Lots of reasons to be proud,” Keefe said. “However, there are many reasons to be devastated and upset.”

Toronto will regret the latter stages of Game 6 when Tampa didn’t have much to do trailing 3-2 in the third period until it connected with a long 5-on-3 man lead after back-to-back high-stick penalties.

The Leafs then had plenty of chances to win the series in OT, but couldn’t capitalize before Point forced Game 7.

“We had a chance to finish them off in Game 6 and we didn’t,” Keefe said. “This one is tough because I really feel like we’re a lot closer than it seems.”

Fans react during Game 7 of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ NHL playoff hockey game against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Toronto on May 14, 2022.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press

Tavares almost opened the scoring early on Saturday on a big chance in the closing where Vasilevskiy fired his left pad before the 2019 Vezina Trophy winner denied Marner.

Campbell then held the fort on a power play from Lightning in a couple of great looks.

Point, who scored Tampa’s game-winning goal in Game 6 to extend the series, was injured late in the first when his right leg got caught under him as he fell to the ice. He tried to come back after intermission but closed it after a short shift.

“When Pointer got hurt, it seemed to shut down the whole team,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “I don’t think we’ve looked back.”

Tampa went up 1-0 moments after Point was injured when Paul, who had several chances in Game 5 with his team ahead before Toronto responded with a roar, scored his first.

Campbell made the opening save on Ross Colton’s only time of the run to cut Rielly’s stick, but the rebound fell to Paul at 1:36 when Toronto allowed the first goal for the fourth straight game.

The Lightning were playing in their second Game 7 since the start of the 2020 playoffs after defeating the New York Islanders 1-0 in the semifinals last June.

Toronto’s last Game 7 at home with fans (the club’s 2021 loss against Montreal was played in front of 550 healthcare workers due to COVID-19 restrictions) was in 2004 when Joe Nieuwendyk scored twice to send off the Ottawa Senators for the team’s last win in the series.

The Leafs didn’t make the playoffs again until 2013 when they collapsed in Game 7 against the Boston Bruins. Toronto’s new generation of stars reached the postseason for the first time in 2017, but have since endured a series of heartbreaks that continued on Saturday.

“Because the sentiment is the same, the result is the same, whether or not there are differences or more positives or whatever, it’s going to take some time to figure that out,” Rielly said of this sixth straight loss.

“In the end, the result is the same, which is very disappointing.”

However, Keefe said the tone of the handshake line was different from previous playoff setbacks.

“We’re certainly earning respect in the league,” he said. “But we are not in the respect game. We are in the winning game. We have to find a way.

That search begins again in the fall for a team that hasn’t lifted the Cup since 1967.



Reference-www.theglobeandmail.com

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