Leafs end the drought with OT winner
John Tavares scored 4:35 into overtime, and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 2-1, on Saturday night for their first NHL playoff series win in nearly two decades.
The Maple Leafs won the best-of-seven matchup in six games, winning three times in overtime on the road and ending an 11-game losing streak in elimination games. They advanced in a series for the first time since 2004, a frustrating drought that included firstround exits each of the past six seasons.
The loss, meanwhile, ends Tampa Bay’s run of three consecutive appearances in the Stanley Cup Final. The Lightning won back-to-back championships in 2020 and 2021, but they lost to the Colorado Avalanche in six games last year.
Auston Matthews also scored for the Maple Leafs, beating Andrei Vasilevskiy from the top of the right circle at 13:47 of the second period. Tavares added the winner, which trickled past the Lightning goalie after appearing to deflect off a defender’s skate.
Steven Stamkos scored for Tampa Bay, which a year ago rallied from 2-1 and 3-2 series deficits to eliminate Toronto in the first round in seven games.
Two nights after stopping 28 shots to fend off elimination and trim Toronto’s series lead to 3-2, Vasilevskiy was on top of his game again.
Toronto goalie Ilya Samsonov was just as good, holding Tampa Bay scoreless until Stamkos positioned himself perfectly in front of the net to knock in a rebound at 4:19 of the third period.
A power player
Chris Kreider had another power-play goal and two assists as the New York Rangers beat the New Jersey Devils, 5-2, on Saturday night to force a deciding Game 7 in their first-round series.
Mika Zibanejad and Vladimir Tarasenko each had a goal and an assist for New York, which had totaled just two goals while losing the previous three games. Barclay Goodrow and Braden Schneider also scored, and Adam Fox added two assists. Igor Shesterkin stopped 34 shots.
Curtis Lazar and Dawson Mercer scored for New Jersey. Akira Schmid, who had stopped 80 of 82 shots over the previous three games, was pulled after giving up five goals on 29 shots.
Trailing, 3-1, the Devils had 14 consecutive shots on goal. But the Rangers closed it out after that stretch.
Game 7 is Monday night at New Jersey.
New York opened a 4-1 lead on Goodrow’s first goal since March 12. Jimmy Vesey fired a shot off Schmid’s pad and glove, and Goodrow knocked the puck out of the air and in at 7:23 of the third period.
Schneider then made it 5-1 when he got a pass from Niko Mikkola and fired a shot past Schmid with 7:32 left for his first career playoff goal.
With the Devils on a power play, they pulled goalie Vitek Vanecek with about 5½ minutes left for a 6-on-4 advantage and Mercer beat Shesterkin.
The Devils pulled Vanecek again for an extra skater, but came up empty. Shesterkin stopped a tip try by Nathan Bastian with 2:22 left, and then had a stellar save on Nico Hischier’s point-blank attempt on the follow.