Toronto Maple Leafs: Tavares OT Winner Goes Down in History

On Saturday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs finally broke through and won a playoff series.

Yes, you heard that right – The Toronto Maple Leafs are going to the second round.

Even two days later, this game still feels surreal.

This game is going to be remembered for a long long time.

 Toronto Maple Leafs: Tavares OT Winner Goes Down in History

After a fairly quiet game, it was none other than Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares scoring the game-winner.

As someone who had never seen the Leafs win a series in their entire lifetime (I was born 2 months after the 2004 win), this win was well worth the wait, and the Leafs earned it.

Head Coach Sheldon Keefe deserves credit.

He faced criticism earlier in the series for some of his decisions, but he made up for it in game 6. He took Justin Holl, Zach Aston-Reese, and Sam Lafferty out of the lineup, all of whom faced criticism of their own for lackluster play.

Keefe then replaced them with Michael Bunting, Erik Gustafsson, and Timothy Liljegren. All three had very solid game 6s, especially Bunting, who brought tons of energy to the lineup and seemed to have learned his lesson after his game 1 suspension.

GM Kyle Dubas has more than earned credit.

He went all-in at the trade deadline, trading away numerous draft picks to improve the team. Indeed the team did improve. Pickups Noel Acciari, Luke Schenn, and Jake McCabe all sit in the top 4 league-wide in total hits. Who would have ever thought 3 Leaf players would ever be near the top of the league in hits?

Not only this, but Acciari added 2 key goals in the series, and Schenn and McCabe provided stability and depth on the back end that the Leafs have been lacking for years. Of course, I can’t forget about Ryan O’Reilly, as the former Conn Smythe winner had 2 goals and 7 points in the series. It’s safe to say Dubas won almost every trade he made this year.

Last but certainly not least, the Leafs’ core players deserve all the credit in the world. They arguably all had their best playoff series in their entire career. Auston Matthews scored 5 times in just 6 games, Mitch Marner finished with 11 points(at one point led the NHL in playoff scoring), Morgan Rielly followed his 4-goal regular season with 3 goals and 8 points in this series, previously mentioned John Tavares finished with 4 goals and 8 points, and William Nylander finished with 2 goals and 7 points.

Each one of these guys came to play. Goaltender Ilya Samsonov also had the series of his life, making key saves on multiple occasions and outdueling future Hall of Famer Andrei Vasilevski between the pipes. (stats: nhl.com)

This series and game 6 will be remembered for a really long time, and rightfully so. Players and fans alike have been waiting for this moment for 19 years.

Toronto will play either the Panthers or the Bruins in round 2, and they better be prepared. The Leafs aren’t done yet.