Lightning tops Maple Leafs in seven
Paul scores two, Vasilevskiy stops 30 shots in win
Nick Paul scored twice, including an incredible individual effort on the tiebreaking goal late in the second period, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-1, in Game 7 Saturday night in Toronto to win their first-round playoff series.
Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 30 shots for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions.
Morgan Rielly scored for Toronto, which hasn’t reached the second round since 2004 and now is 0-9 in elimination games over the past five postseasons after also losing 4-3 in Game 6 at Tampa, Fla., two nights earlier. Jack Campbell had 23 saves.
The Maple Leafs were once again unable to push through and finally flip a long, ugly narrative of playoff failures for a franchise that has now lost its last seven series, including six straight dating back to 2017.
Toronto is now 7-3 all time at home in Game 7s, including a loss at Scotiabank Arena last season after blowing a 3-1 series lead against the Montreal Canadiens.
Down 1-0 after 20 minutes
in this one, the Maple Leafs appeared to tie the score at 11:28 of the second when John Tavares roofed a shot on Vasilevskiy, but the goal was waved off after Toronto defenseman Justin Holl was whistled for interference.
Campbell had to make a couple of desperation stops on the ensuing penalty kill to set the stage for Rielly’s equalizer off a setup from Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews 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 surrendered by Vasilevskiy and the Lightning in their past six seriesgames.
William Nylander then missed high on a breakaway and the Tampa goaltender robbed Matthews with the Maple Leafs buzzing.
But Paul scored his second of the night — and second ever in the playoffs — with 3:28 remaining in the period on a terrific play where he kicked the puck from his skate to his stick.
Tampa nearly made it 3-1
late in the period when Kucherov hit the goal post from the slot.
Vasilevskiy was under siege throughout Toronto power play just over six minutes into the third, but kept the home side at bay despite some furious pressure.
Toronto continued to press inside an anxious, tension-filled rink as the clock ticked down.
The Maple Leafs, however, just couldn’t find a way through with an extra skater to complete another chapter of playoff disappointment.