Maple Leafs finally end 19-year playoff drought
Rangers force a Game 7 vs. Devils
TAMPA, Fla. — 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 bestof-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 first-round 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-toback championships in 2020 and 2021, but they lost to Colorado 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.
RANGERS 5, DEVILS 2: In New York, Chris Kreider had another power-play goal and two assists as the Rangers forced a deciding Game 7 in their firstround series with New Jersey on Monday night.
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.
Sunday’s games PANTHERS at BRUINS (4:30 p.m. MDT, TNT)
They split four games in the regular season, they’ve split six games in the playoffs and now Boston and Florida are heading into a Game 7.
While the Bruins, who led this series 3-1, are seeking to avoid a monumental collapse, the Panthers are looking for perhaps their most significant win since a run to the Cup Final in 1996.
“We’re excited,” captain Aleksander Barkov said. “We played playoff games for a while, since like February or March. We’ve been playing that type of game, battling for our lives, so it was pretty much like nothing new to us.”
Florida survived overtime in Game 5 to fend off elimination the first time, then erased two deficits in the third period of Game 6 to stay alive again.
KRAKEN at AVALANCHE (7:30 p.m., TNT)
Seattle was outshot 39-23 and outplayed on Friday in Game 6 by more seasoned Colorado in the franchise-first chance at eliminating an opponent and moving on. Now the Kraken don’t have a lot of time to regroup, with only one more opportunity, Sunday in Game 7 in Denver against the defending Stanley Cup champions.
“Just play like it’s any other game,” defenseman Vince Dunn said. “Every play counts. You just have to be mentally focused every time you’re out there.”
The Avalanche have much of their core back from the title run last year. Players have talked about how the 2022 playoffs showed the importance of mental strength, and they showed it by going into Seattle and winning convincingly on Friday.