At long last, the Toronto Maple Leafs won a playoff round.
The Maple Leafs beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in overtime in Game 6 on Saturday night to advance to the second round for the first time since 2004.
Captain John Tavares buried the game-winner, ending an abysmal streak of six straight opening-series exits for Toronto since 2017.
Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews broke the stalemate late in the second period with a one-time blast that went up top past Andrei Vasilevskiy, but Lightning captain Steven Stamkos had the answer for the Bolts in the final 20 minutes to force the extra frame.
Toronto netminder Ilya Samsonov enjoyed his best game of the series, stopping 31 of 32 shots in the victory. On the other end of the ice, Vasilevskiy made 20 saves.
Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe tossed his lineup into a blender and ran with 11 forwards and seven defensemen for the contest. Winger Michael Bunting and blue-liners Timothy Liljegren and Erik Gustafsson came in for Sam Lafferty, Zach Aston-Reese, and Justin Holl.
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