The Toronto Maple Leafs have a chance to break the curse and advance beyond the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs on Saturday night, but to do so they will have to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning on their home ice at Amalie Arena.
Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe is pulling out all the stops for tonight’s Game 6 with 3 changes to his lineup, although there is reason to suspect that some of these changes may have come as the result of the Maple Leafs battling some injuries.
Coming into the lineup tonight will be Michael Bunting, Timothy Liljegren and Erik Gustafsson, and with an opportunity for those 3 we will see Justin Holl, Sam Lafferty and Zach Aston-Reese forced to step aside to make room.
That leaves the Maple Leafs with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen for Game 6.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will look to eliminate the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night when the two teams clash for Game 6 of their opening round series in the Stanley Cup playoffs, while the Lightning will look to use the energy from their home crowd at Amalie Arena to stave off elimination.
Unfortunately for the Lightning it seems as though Mother Nature may not be fully cooperating with their efforts tonight, with the Lightning already forced to cancel a big event ahead of Game 6. The Lightning announced that, following a tornado warning in the Tampa Bay area, their outdoor watch party for Game 6 has been shut down.
“In the interest of public safety, tonight’s Plaza Watch Party has been cancelled due to the Tornado Warning issued by the NWS,” said the Lightning in a statement. “Please stay safe Tampa Bay and Go Bolts!”
The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch for the Tampa Bay area which includes the following counties:
Manatee Hernando Polk Hillsborough Hardee Pinellas Pasco Citrus Highlands
This is of course also a concern for the game at Amalie Arena tonight, however thus far there have been no indications of any kind that suggest the game itself is in any danger of being cancelled.
For the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Saturday night will go down as a night to remember for many.
On Saturday night, during Game 6 of the opening round series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Maple Leafs finally got over the hump and managed to advance past the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Given that the Leafs not advancing beyond the first round had become one of the biggest jokes/memes in the hockey community, it’s easy to see why all the focus has been on the win itself. That being said though, one thing being overlooked by many is that this was also a record setting night for a franchise that has struggled mightily to get over the hump.
Both the Maple Leafs themselves and their captain, Leafs forward John Tavares, would earn themselves a little piece of National Hockey League history on Saturday night when they accomplished feats that none before them had managed.
In the case of Tavares, the Leafs captain established a new Maple Leafs record by becoming the first captain in the storied history of the franchise to score a series-clinching overtime goal. Tavares initially came to Toronto to fulfill his childhood dream of playing for his hometown team, and no doubt becoming the first captain to clinch a series for the franchise in overtime is something he will cherish for the rest of his life. It is also a record that can never be lost, given that there will never be another first.
The Maple Leafs on the other hand set a league-wide record, arguably making it more impressive than Tavares’ own, even if this record has considerably less emotional weight behind it. In their series win over the Lightning, the Maple Leafs needed to win 3 road games in overtime, a feat that has never before been accomplished by any team in the history of the Stanley Cup playoffs over the course of a single series.
Although fans in Toronto already have reason to celebrate, a few more won’t hurt.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have finally clawed that monkey off of their backs, advancing past the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night by defeating them in six games.
It was a huge moment for a franchise, fan base, and quite frankly a locker room that has watched this group struggle to get over the hump year after year and following the game Maple Leafs star forward Auston Matthews was asked to share just how much the moment meant to him.
“It’s a great feeling… but this is step one of three,” said Matthews following the huge win. “It’s a bit of a monkey off our back and we’ve still got a lot of work to do, but obviously this feels great.”
The Maple Leafs have picked up a ton of experience despite their lack of success in the playoffs over the years, often clashing with championship caliber teams in those early exits, and it seems that this accumulated experience may have paid dividends this time around.
“There’s so many ups and downs and it’s just a rollercoaster, so you just gotta try stay even keeled and just enjoy the moment,” said Matthews. “Stay present, and I’m just so proud of every guy in this locker room.”
Matthews was also cognizant of the fact that this is only the first step in a long process to obtaining a championship, but he seemed confident in his team’s ability to do just that.
“It’s a small step in where we are trying to go, but obviously this is a big one for us,” admitted Matthews. “Obviously we have the belief in our room but we’re still a long way from where we wanna go. We just gotta stay in the moment here and get ready for this next round.”
The Toronto Maple Leafs are hoping to break the curse tonight and advance past the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs by knocking off the Tampa Bay Lightning in 6 games. The Lightning have proven to be a resilient foe however and have already staved off elimination, and of course the Leafs have the added pressure of having a gigantic monkey on their back.
It looks like head coach Sheldon Keefe intends to pull out all the stops for Game 6 in his effort to get his team over that hurdle, with the Leafs hinting at a pair of very significant lineup changes on Saturday morning.
The first hint came to us courtesy of TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie, who on Saturday morning noticed that forward Michael Bunting did not remain on the ice with the extras during the Leafs morning skate. This appears to indicate that Keefe will be re-introducing Bunting into the series after he earned himself a costly suspension for a hit delivered to Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak.
Perhaps an even bigger change though was the second one hinted at during the Leafs morning skate, with Leafs defenseman Justin Holl taking part in the optional skate. This has led to a belief that he could be a healthy scratch in favor of defenseman Timothy Liljegren, a change that many expected to see Sheldon Keefe make earlier in this series.
Timothy Liljegren has been out of action for 16 days and has not appeared in a single game during this series, so this would be a risk on the part of the Maple Leafs head coach.
When he was questioned about his lineup, Keefe opted not to give any information at all.
“I’m not going to take any questions on the lineup,” said Keefe.
Toronto Maple Leafs rookie Matthew Knies was initially held out of the Leafs opening round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, but now that he has been given an opportunity the rookie forward has made his mark.
Knies helped the Leafs get off to a strong start on Saturday night when he played a pivotal role in the game’s opening goal, setting up teammate Noel Acciari in the slot after an odd man rush from the Leafs. Acciari would make no mistake on the play, beating Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy to give the Leafs a 1-0 lead.
Knies looked thrilled to have picked up his first playoff point, but the reaction from his teammates suggest they may have been even more excited than the youngster was himself.
The Tampa Bay Lightning and the Toronto Maple Leafs are set to clash in Game 3 of their first round Stanley Cup playoff matchup, and now we have a better idea of who will be representing each team tonight.
One of the biggest questions coming into tonight’s game surrounded the status of Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman, and based on the look the Lightning are showing in warmups tonight it does appear as though he will be playing in tonight’s game. Here is a look at the Lightning’s full lineup in warmups:
Meanwhile everything was a question mark for the Maple Leafs with Sheldon Keefe declining to share any details about any potential lineup changes this evening ahead of tonight’s game. That being said, the team does have to warmup, and here is how the Leafs look ahead of Game 3:
Saturday night’s Game 3 between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Toronto Maple Leafs was the site of something that has never before been seen in the history of the National Hockey League, a fight between a pair of 60 goal scorers.
It wasn’t very much of a fight at all though and in fact you could probably argue that it was more of an assault on the part of Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos, who used a chaotic situation during the game to take a few shots at Toronto Maple Leafs star forward Auston Matthews.
The two men clashed after a scary-looking hit from Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly sent Lightning forward Brayden Point crashing head and shoulders first into the boards, with Stamkos delivering several unanswered punches to the face of Matthews while being restrained by the officials.
Following the conclusion of the game, Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe was asked about the incident and he used the opportunity to sound off on Stamkos, the Lightning, and even NHL referee Jake Brenk.
“The fight itself, that’s a classic example of a veteran championship team like Tampa Bay manipulating the officials and taking advantage of a situation, right?” said Keefe following Game 3. “I mean they know that we’re basically already going on the power play because of the Kucherov situation so it’s a free-for-all. They can do whatever they want and they just know that the way the games get called they’re not going to get another penalty. I mean you watch that sequence back and say that we shouldn’t get a 5-on-3. The officials literally holding Steven Stamkos with one arm and his other hand with no glove on is punching Auston Matthews. Not the linesman, the referee who calls the penalty was holding Stamkos while this was happening. Credit to Tampa for recognizing that situation, it’s a free pass to do what you want. Not only do they get out of it unscathed, but they take Matthews and O’Reilly with them to the box. Brilliant play by the Lightning there.”
Things have turned ugly in Game 3 between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
A heated exchange in the third period has resulted in several penalties, an injury to Lightning forward Brayden Point, and even something of a scrap between two superstars in Lightning captain Steven Stamkos and Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews.
It was a hit from Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly that would draw the ire of the Lightning but, since he couldn’t get his hands on Rielly, Stamkos would go for the next best thing and instead targeted Auston Matthews.
Things got pretty rough between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Toronto Maple Leafs during Saturday night’s Game 3, but I doubt that many of you expected that it would be Maple Leafs forward Sam Lafferty that would be getting the call from the National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety (DOPS) on Sunday.
There was plenty of physicality on both sides last night but the DOPS has chosen to single out Lafferty for a crosscheck that he delivered to the mouth and face of Lightning forward Ross Colton. As a result of his infraction, Lafferty will now be forced to forfeit $3,108.11, in salary which is the maximum allowable amount under the rules of the collective bargaining agreement.
Although Colton may have done a little selling on the play in the hopes of drawing a penalty, there’s no question that Lafferty got too loose with his stick and did in fact strike Colton in face. With that in mind the fine is perfectly warranted, but it is still somewhat surprising to see this particular infraction singled out given the number of dangerous plays that occurred on Saturday night.
