Maple Leafs defeat Lightning in OT in Game 6, win East 1st-Round series

John Tavares scored at 4:36 of overtime, and the Toronto Maple Leafs won a Stanley Cup Playoff series for the first time since 2004 with a 2-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Amalie Arena on Saturday.

Tavares skated from behind the net to the left circle and threw the puck at the net where it hit Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh’s skate and trickled past goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.

“I got the puck up high and interchanged with [Mitchell Marner] and I thought most of the coverage would go to him,” Tavares said. “But they read it well and I just kept the puck in. … With the space that I had and knowing [Morgan Rielly] went to the net, I said let’s throw it there and see what happens.”

Auston Matthews scored, and Ilya Samsonov made 31 saves, including a breakaway chance by Michael Eyssimont at 1:51 of overtime for Toronto, the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic Division.

“I’m so excited, this is a big deal for us,” Samsonov said. “It was a good battle. Everybody did a great job … the PK … it doesn’t matter how you win, in overtime or whatever, just get four wins.”

The Maple Leafs won all three games at Amalie Arena in overtime and will play the winner of the series between the Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers, which concludes Sunday with Game 7 in Boston.

“It’s been a long time coming, a long time coming for a lot of players in our room, long time coming for myself, long time coming for Leafs Nation … it’s a big deal,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “You see that puck find its way in the net and it’s just an incredible moment. Playoff hockey is incredible. This whole night was incredible.”

Steven Stamkos scored for the Lightning, the No. 3 seed in the Atlantic, who were the three-time defending Eastern Conference champions. Vasilevskiy made 20 saves.

The Lightning had won 11 of their past 12 playoff series, winning the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021 before losing in the Cup final to the Colorado Avalanche last season.

“This team hasn’t lost a series in the Eastern Conference since 2019, it’s 2023,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “We’re not used to this feeling. I don’t know, I can’t think of the word. It just doesn’t feel good.”

Matthews put the Maple Leafs ahead 1-0 at 13:47 of the second period with a one-timer from the top of the right circle off a pass from TJ Brodie.

“It feels good, obviously we worked for this all year long, it wasn’t an easy win in any terms,” Marner said. “It’s a special moment, but we can’t be satisfied. There’s a lot more ahead and we’ve got to be ready for it.”

Stamkos tied it 1-1 at 4:11 of the third period when he was able to punch in a rebound off a shot from the point by Raddysh.

“There’s no shame in the effort that we put in, maybe the execution at times wasn’t great,” Stamkos said. “No one should go home feeling like we didn’t leave it on the ice. I thought we played better 5-on-5 hockey than we did last year. Maybe we got some bounces last year. That’s a good hockey team over there. It [stinks] when it doesn’t go your way.”

Tampa Bay has lost five straight playoff games at home and is 1-10 in their past 11 playoff overtime games.

“At some point, you’re not going to get the break, that’s just the way it is,” Cooper said. “And for [Toronto], that has struggled in the playoffs. At some point they were going to get a break. It just [stinks] that it was in a series against us.”