The Maple Leafs Flip the Script on Their Overtime Playoff Demons to Take Series Lead Against Lightning
Heavily outplayed for much of their game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Toronto Maple Leafs finally got the hockey gods to shine brightly on them for a change in an overtime victory against Tampa Bay Lightning
TAMPA — The Toronto Maple Leafs have been part of this story before. An overtime session that is heavily one-sided for one team that follows with a harmless-looking chance of a game-winning goal for the other.
The Leafs were usually the former, peppering the opposition only to see their opponents storm back with the sudden-death victory.
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On Saturday, the hockey gods shined brightly on the Maple Leafs in a 4-3 overtime victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning to take a 2-1 series lead in their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series. Tampa outshot Toronto 31-19 with just over two minutes remaining when the Leafs pulled goaltender Ilya Samsonov out of the game for an extra attacker.
Nearly a minute later, Ryan O'Reilly poked a puck past Tampa goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy to tie the game 3-3.
Tampa proceeded to dominate in overtime with 73 percent of the shots share. Toronto had difficulty breaking out the puck and didn't generate much offensively. But in the final minute of the first overtime. O'Reilly won a faceoff clean while in the offensive zone and Morgan Rielly let a floating shot go through a screen to beat the Tampa goaltender for a victory.
These aren't the games Toronto wins... Until now.
"Over the last number of years, we've lost this (type of) game a lot of times," Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said. "Today, we stayed with it and made sure we got the win."
All you have to do is look back to the last time the Maple Leafs were in a playoff game at Amalie Arena. With a 3-2 series lead, Toronto had a 3-2 lead in Game 6 with a chance to advance when they gave up a third-period goal that forced overtime. Despite a 56 percent shots share and Auston Matthews hitting the post, it was Brayden Point who scored the game-winner to force Game 7.
It happened to Toronto in the overtimes of Game 5 and 6 against the Montreal Canadiens in their first-round series in 2021, just to fall short.
The sky was falling when the Maple Leafs opened their series against Tampa with an embarrassing 7-3 loss in Game 1. Toronto responded in Game 2 by blowing out their opponents early and often in a 7-2 win. This time they had to grind their way to a win when statistically they didn't earn it.
Toronto defended well against Tampa. And perhaps that's why everything has flipped in their favor after so many unsuccessful attempts in the recent past.
It is just a 2-1 series lead for the Leafs and Game 4 is set for Monday. But Toronto did something that seemed impossible before. They also did it while playing against Tampa's best defenseman in Victor Hedman, who returned after an undisclosed injury forced him to miss Game 2.
"Tampa Bay was better than us in a lot of areas tonight but our guys stuck right there," Keefe said. "A credit to them that they find a way to get a win. That's what it's about this time of year."
The O'Reilly Factor
There are several reasons why this year is different. The Maple Leafs got solid goaltending from Ilya Samsonov, who picked up his first-career overtime playoff victory after failing on three previous attempts. Rielly followed his franchise-record four assists in a playoff in Game 2 to score the winner in Game 3. And it might be all of the other physical players like Luke Schenn and Noel Acciari that are helping the Maple Leafs not get pushed around in postseason hockey.
But there is no doubt that it's the addition of O'Reilly that has been the biggest 'factor' for change. From the leadership he brings by being one of the most vocal figures on the bench, to scoring goals, blocking shots, or winning faceoffs, he's simply built for playoff hockey.
"This is his time," Noel Acciari said of O'Reilly. "He's calm, he's talking a lot and saying all the right things. He's a Stanley Cup champion for a reason and he knows what it takes to win."
Shortly after O'Reilly scored the game-tying goal in regulation, he blocked a Victor Hedman shot, one of three on the night.
"We get him for these moments," Keefe said of O'Reilly. "Territorially, we're getting it taken to us pretty good tonight but he's talking through it and keeping guys upbeat and keeping us positive. That's so important."
Samsonov Kept Maple Leafs In The Game
Although he had a shaky first period, Samsonov was stellar from the second period through to overtime in helping Toronto come out on top. In the second period, he allowed just one goal on 15 shots and Toronto could have easily been down by more had he not been sharp.
"Sammy was the biggest thing, especially getting out of that second period only down one was a huge thing," O'Reilly said of Samsonov. "They dominated and had some great chances and Sammy came up big."
With his second post-season victory, the Russian goaltender set a new career high in playoff wins in a year. Samsonov finished with 36 saves on 39 shots.
Sticking Up For One Another
In the second period, Rielly was involved in a battle for a puck at the end boards with Tampa's Brayden Point. A scrum would ensure after the hit and it resulted in Steven Stamkos grabbing Auston Matthews for a fight.
Rielly was initially assessed a boarding major penalty but a video review resulted in the penalty being rescinded.
"We're going to play hard and stick up for our guys when we need to," Rielly said. "We're going to do what we can to play our style of hockey and when that stuff happens it's a non-issue for our group."
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