Maple Leafs advance to second round of playoffs for first time since 2004 after OT victory
CTV
The Toronto Maple Leafs are advancing to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2004 after defeating the Tampa Bay Lighting in overtime.
The Maple Leafs finally exorcised their playoff demons -- and are off to the second round of the NHL playoffs.
John Tavares scored at 4:36 of overtime and Ilya Samsonov made 31 saves as Toronto defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 on Saturday to win their series 4-2 and advance in the post-season for the first time in nearly two decades.
The Leafs captain threw a puck in front on the winning sequence that went in off Lightning defenceman Darren Raddysh's skate and in to send Toronto players spilling off the bench.
Auston Matthews had the goal in regulation for the Leafs, who lost to Tampa in seven games last spring and were under intense pressure to finally break through in the playoffs after a string of failures.
Steven Stamkos replied for the Lightning, who saw their streak of three straight trips to the Stanley Cup final come to an end. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 20 shots.
The Leafs last made the NHL's final eight in 2004 -- before the league instituting a salary cap, before Twitter was launched, and just over four months after Paul Martin became Canada's 21st prime minister -- when they beat the Ottawa Senators in seven games.
Joe Nieuwendyk was the hero that night with two goals in the first period on a shaky Patrick Lalime. Toronto would go on to lose a second-round matchup with the Philadelphia Flyers when Jeremy Roenick scored the clinching goal in overtime in Game 6.
