The Toronto Maple Leafs overcame a 4-1 deficit in the third period to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-4 in overtime, sending their first-round series back to Toronto with yet another chance to get over the playoff hump.
The Toronto Maple Leafs overcame a 4-1 deficit in the third period to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-4 in overtime, sending their first-round series back to Toronto with yet another chance to get over the playoff hump.
TAMPA — If there is such a thing as the hockey gods, they appear to be making amends to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
After an embarrassing 7-3 loss to open their series with the Tampa Bay Lightning last week, Toronto has fired off three consecutive victories to take a commanding 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven series with a chance to win a playoff round for the first time since 2004.
[gallery ids="5082,5083,5084,5085,5086"]
Each of Toronto's three wins have been more chaotic and — if not absurd — than the ones that preceded them. Both wins in Tampa were come-from-behind moments that have exorcised previous playoff demons.
"I'm obviously very hopeful we look at it as a positive sign with the spirit of our team, what we're capable of and what we can overcome that it just feels different," Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe following his team's 5-4 overtime win in Game 4. "I hope they take that and recognize that. Let's keep pushing here."
On Monday, the Maple Leafs put in one of their worst periods of the playoffs to open Game 4 as Tampa swarmed them and took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. The Lightning followed that up by winning the second period and seemingly having Toronto dead to rights with a 4-1 lead after 40 minutes.
But it all changed in the third.
After starting the period having to kill off a penalty when Toronto's Jake McCabe was called for cross-checking Tampa's Nick Perbix, the Leafs slowly began to chip away at Tampa's lead.
Auston Matthews, who had just one goal through the first three games of the series, scored twice to bring Toronto within one. Morgan Rielly followed it up with an equalizer with 3:56 remaining in the third.
"Our group just decided we weren't going to give and we were just going to stick with it," Rielly said. "We were just going to chip it away and see what happens."
The Maple Leafs came out firing in overtime. William Nylander, who took a bad penalty in the first period that led to Tampa's first goal of the game, atoned for his earlier transgression by drawing a power-play at 2:28 of overtime.
Alex Kerfoot, who committed a turnover that led to Tampa second goal of the game, deflected Mark Giordano's shot through to win it for Toronto while handing the Lightning their first-ever loss when leading by three goals in the third period of a playoff game.
You can make the case that Kerfoot is one of a handful of polarizing players in the eyes of Maple Leafs fans. Whether it was the mistake in Game 6 from 2022 when he took a penalty that put the Leafs down two men while they were leading. Or, perhaps it was the fact that he was coming off a down year offensively, scoring just 10 goals and recording 22 assists over 82 games.
Whatever the case, the outside perception of the pending unrestricted free agent has no effect on how much he is revered in the locker room.
"I've known him for a long time and thinking about how hard he works and everything he brings and then he buries that, you just kind of want to grab him," Rielly said of Kerfoot. "You're just so happy and for him to contribute in that way is crazy, I could not be happier for anybody."
Perhaps Kerfoot was due. Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe recalled how well the forward had been playing in February and March and although the forward wasn't scoring like he had in the past he knew he'd be needed for the big moments.
'I told him at the time that I felt pretty strongly he was going to score a massive goal for us this season," Keefe said. "I didn't know when it was going to come but I just felt for a guy who works as hard as he does and as good as he is for the spirit and leadership of this team, it the kind of guy that gets rewarded and should get rewarded, so I was thrilled."
The moment doesn't happen without Matthews coming alive for two goals in the third period and Rielly's tying goal.
Kerfoot, Matthews and Rielly have all had down regular reasons, only to come up big for the club during the playoffs in clutch moments. Particularly, Rielly, who struggled to find his offensive touch during the regular season.
"One of the things that happens when the postseason hits is that everyone starts at zero. Maybe if you're not happy with the way things have finished then you have a fresh clean slate," Keefe said before the game. "Morgan is a guy that of all of our players has been here the longest and has a great appreciation for how difficult it is to win at this time of year."
The Maple Leafs won consecutive overtime games in Tampa. Rielly scored the overtime winner and sits in a tie or third in playoff points by a defenseman with six.
The Maple Leafs spent little time reveling in another victory over Tampa. They find themselves with three chances to win a playoff round. It's not unlike the situation two years ago when they had a 3-1 series lead against the Montreal Canadiens but in a lot of ways much different here where Toronto hasn't looked particularly great or dominant for large stretches within the last two games. Yet they are finding a way.
"We all know in this room that the job is not finished," Matthews said. We've got to refocus and enjoy this one, but the fourth one is the harder one to win."
Toronto has been repeatedly humbled over the years. And while in Game 3 they won a game they likely didn't deserve to thanks to some solid goaltending from Ilya Samsonov, the Maple Leafs had a much different overtime on Monday. They dominated the session and showed some killer instinct in finishing off the comeback.
"I think we got to look at the big picture here and say, 'We are still coming to the rink so the season is not done yet," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.
It was 4-1. The common phrase used repeatedly referencing Toronto's Game 7 collapse against the Boston Bruins 10 years ago, but this time going in Toronto doing it, exorcising yet another demon.
And it's another example of the Leafs being "different".
But it's not different until it's actually done. They've got three chances to make it mean something.
Related