Tampa Bay Lightning center Brayden Point celebrates after scoring the game-winning goal during sudden death overtime in Game 6 of an NHL hockey first-round playoff series on May 12, 2022, in Tampa.Chris O’Meara/The Associated Press
No, please, not again.
The Maple Leafs led 3-2 in the third period but then suffered a heartbreaking 4-3 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 of their playoff series Thursday at Amalie Arena.
Brayden Point scored with 1:56 remaining in the first extra period to send the game back to Toronto on Saturday for Game 7. It was an electrifying victory on a night full of pressure.
Toronto could have advanced to the second round with a win. Instead, he now plays the defending Stanley Cup champions with that on the line at Scotiabank Arena.
“It was tough,” said Morgan Rielly, the Maple Leafs defenseman. “I think we played a pretty good game for the most part.”
Toronto defenseman Jake Muzzin posted 30 minutes and 15 seconds on ice time, TJ Brodie 28:51, Auston Matthews 28:19 and Rielly 28:14.
Toronto hasn’t won a postseason round in 18 years and has missed eight chances to close out opponents in the first round since 2018.
Saturday’s winner advances to the second round against the winner of the Florida Panthers-Washington Capitals series. Florida leads 3-2 with Game 6 at Sunrise on Friday.
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“It’s important that we keep our focus,” Rielly said. “We’re not done.”
The last time Toronto clinched a postseason series was on April 20, 2004, when they defeated the Ottawa Senators in seven games in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. The Maple Leafs lost in the next round to the Philadelphia Flyers in six games and have been doomed ever since.
That same summer, Lightning won his first Stanley Cup. Toronto last won one in 1967.
After losing 3 games to 2, Tampa Bay still has a chance to become the first team in 40 years to win three straight Stanley Cups.
The loss inflicted further anguish on long-suffering Maple Leafs fans. The team hasn’t been able to get past a first-round finish six years in a row, let alone win a Stanley Cup.
The Maple Leafs trailed 2-0 in the first period of Game 5 before coming back to win 4-3 and set up an elimination game.
Another cheering audience created a noise at Amalie Arena. It was the Lightning’s 277th consecutive sale since March 2015. Games from the 2020-21 season are excluded due to protocols in place as a result of COVID-19.
It was a close defensive battle in the first period with Toronto’s Jack Campbell and Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy stopping dangerous chances on the other side. The Maple Leafs didn’t record their third shot at the net until after 12:30. Campbell made 31 saves on the night; Vasilevskiy made 30.
The Lightning went ahead with 2:22 left in the first period when Ondrej Palat cashed in a turnover from Alexander Kerfoot on the Maple Leafs winger. It was the third goal and fifth point of the series for Palat, whose output is often overshadowed by superstar linemates Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov.
Anthony Cirelli increased the lead to 2-0 with a spectacular short-handed turning goal with 9:14 left in the second. After that, the Maple Leafs took over and seemed to be on their way to victory.
Named a Hart Trophy finalist earlier in the day, Auston Matthews cut Toronto’s deficit to 2-1 with 8:20 left in the second. The 24-year-old deflected a shot from Mark Giordano that knuckled past Vasilevskiy and into the net. It was his fourth goal of the series.
John Tavares then hit the Lightning twice in a 26-second stretch, first tying the game and then putting the Maple Leafs up 3-2, the last eight seconds before the second intermission.
Maple Leafs center John Tavares skates with the puck as Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Nicholas Paul defends during overtime of Game 6 of the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Amalie Arena on the 12th. May 2022.Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters
Nikita Kucherov scored on a power play with 10:40 remaining in the third to tie it 3-3.
Tampa Bay entered the night 17-0 in games following a loss in the last three postseasons, the longest streak in NHL playoff history.
The matchup included a Hart Trophy finalist in Matthews, a Norris Trophy candidate in Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman and a Calder Trophy finalist in Michael Bunting of the Maple Leafs.
“We talk about games like this early in the season,” Rielly said. “You want to win this time of year.
“We have an opportunity to close things out. We haven’t been able to do it in the past, and it’s come back to hurt us.”
In 2013, they trailed the Bruins three games to one, came back to force a Game 7, held a 4-1 lead, then lost.
In 2018, they came back from another 3-1 series deficit against the Bruins, led by one goal in Game 7 and lost.
In 2019, the Maple Leafs had a 3-2 series lead over the Bruins and then lost the next two games.
Last year, they led the Canadiens 3-1 after four games and lost the next three.
“I think the guys are fine,” head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the morning skate. “If we’ve learned anything along the way, it’s that you can’t focus too much on it being an elimination game.”
Matthews was named a finalist for the Hart Trophy, along with Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin.
Matthews set a Toronto record with 60 goals during the regular season and became the first American to score 60 in NHL history.
The teams split four games during the regular season and have done the same in six in the postseason.
“We know what they’re going to do and they know what we’re going to do,” Tampa Bay’s Alex Killorn said earlier in the day. “It all comes down to our will against theirs.”
The Maple Leafs’ history is against them, but they played all year for this opportunity.
“What’s in the past is in the past,” Matthews said. “We have to go out with a purpose on Saturday and play the full 60 minutes or whatever it takes.”
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