For many young Toronto Maple Leafs fans, this was the first time they ever celebrated a playoff series victory. After losing ten consecutive potential series-clinching games and having not won a series in 19 years, Auston Matthews & Co. finally found a way to get it done.
The Toronto Maple Leafs rode near-flawless goaltending from Ilya Samsonov, a full 60 (plus 4) minute effort from just about every skater, and a small helping of good furtune to a 2-1 overtime victory in Game 6 of their opening round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
This was possibly the most composed Toronto has looked in a game all season.
Auston Matthews opened the scoring later in the second period, but Steven Stamkos replied for Tampa Bay early in the third. The Lightning were playing desperate hockey in front of their own fans, but the Leafs were not fazed by giving up the tying goal.
How the Toronto Maple Leafs Finally Broke Through in Game 6
In overtime, both teams traded dangerous chances before John Tavares potted the winner at 4:36 off a strong forecheck by Toronto Maple Leafs rookie Matthew Knies.
Why was this series different? Mainly, it was the team’s belief in itself. I would argue that some of that comes from the experience gained by losing so painfully the last few years. Professional hockey players hate losing, and a lack of success hopefully fuels a hunger to turn things around.
Additionally, this version of the team was better put together than previous versions. Credit to Kyle Dubas for the additions made later in the season. Ryan O’Reilly, Luke Schenn, Jake McCabe and Noel Acciari all played large parts in this series. Matthew Knies has been better than anyone could have hoped for this early in his career, and has added some youthful spark up front.
Perhaps most importantly, the Leafs had a goalie who came up with the big saves needed to advance to the next round. Last year, Andrei Vasilevskiy beat the Leafs. The year before, it was Carey Price. Two years ago, it was Joonas Korpisalo. This year, it was Ilya Samsonov who beat the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Statistically, Samsonov (.900 SV%) was better than Vasilevskiy (.875 SV%) in this series (stats from statmuse.com), but it was the extra few key stops made in Game 6 (Tampa outshot Toronto 32-22) that made the difference.
And finally, a tip of the hat to Lady Luck. The Toronto Maple Leafs have more skill on paper than the Tampa Bay Lightning, and they finished 13 points ahead of them in the regular season. On the other hand, Tampa has won 2 of the last 3 Stanley Cups, and they are loaded with experience. This was literally a coin toss of a series, and each of the last 4 games could have gone either way.
But this time, the final game finally went Toronto’s way.