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.
Although advancing beyond the first round of the playoffs isn’t usually an accomplishment that you would celebrate, for fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs and for the Maple Leafs organization on Saturday night it was most definitely a cause for celebration.
After years of disappointment the Leafs finally managed to achieve a modicum of playoff success when they dispatched the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team that has defined what it is to be a championship level team in the National Hockey League for the past few years, in just 6 games. Not only was it a moment of joy for the organization, but the relief felt by many who had the proverbial Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads must have been truly overhwelming.
On Saturday night, following the conclusion of Game 6, there was perhaps no one individual who exemplified these feelings more than Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe. While speaking to the media, Keefe admitted that he was so filled with emotion that he genuinely blacked out during perhaps the biggest moment of his professional career.
“Jubilation…. I don’t know you black out in those moments,” admitted Keefe following Game 6. “You don’t know what’s going on, you’re just really excited. It’s been a long time coming. A long time coming for a lot of players in our room, a long time coming for myself, and even longer coming for Leafs nation. So it’s a great night.
The joy radiating from Keefe, who again must have had such a giant weight lifted off of his shoulders, was palpable. You can see it for yourself, and hear the man in his own words, in the short clip below.
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 missed out on their first of three opportunities to send the Tampa Bay Lightning home for an early summer in last night’s Game 5 of their Round 1 Stanley Cup Playoffs series. Tampa Bay rebounded from an early deficit on the scoreboard with three straight tallies and held on for what would eventually be a 4-2 triumph, sending the series back to Tampa Bay’s Amalie Arena for Game 6.
The Maple Leafs underwent a lineup change with the suspension of feisty forward Michael Bunting for elbowing Tampa’s Erik Cernak in the head midway through Game 1; Bunting was banned for three games, while Cernak has yet to return to action. Bunting was essentially replaced in the lineup by rookie Matthew Knies, who has played very well in his first NHL postseason.
However, it sounds as though Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe could be considering re-inserting Bunting into the lineup based on comments that he made earlier today.
“He’d bring energy,” Keefe said of Bunting. “In both how he plays and also the fact he hasn’t played. As the series goes on, it weighs on everybody, the grind that it is. So having a guy who hasn’t played (since Game 1) come in can give us a boost.”
Bunting appeared in all 82 regular season games for the Leafs this season, scoring 23 goals while adding 26 assists. Game 6 between the Lightning and Maple Leafs will be tomorrow night starting at 7:00 PM EST.
The Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning are heading back to Amalie Arena for Game 6 tomorrow night, as the Leafs were unable to deliver the knockout blow to the Bolts in last night’s Game 5 of their Round 1 Stanley Cup Playoffs series.
And as there has been throughout this series, there was some extreme animosity between the two sides that culminated in a melee on the ice. The latest example started as the seconds ticked down on the second period; Lightning forward Pat Maroon delivered a crushing hit on veteran defenseman Mark Giordano, who was clearly shaken up. Leafs players attempted to get at Maroon to avenge their teammate, and the former was more than willing to stand up for himself. However, the on-ice officials would have none of it.
By the time it was said and done, Giordano needed assistance back to the dressing room, while Maroon would be assessed a two-minute minor penalty for roughing. Giordano would later return to the game in the third period.
Not surprisingly, one figure who did not like the hit was Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe, who was already sour at Maroon for his rough play earlier in the series.
“In terms of the hit itself, anytime there’s hits in the numbers you’re concerned with it,” Keefe said. “There’s been a few of those from that player in particular in this series. When you see a player smash his head off the glass, that’s a tough look.”
However, the panel on TNT did not agree with Keefe, saying that his crushing check on the half wall was just a good example of tough playoff hockey.
”I don’t get it, I think it was a bad call,” Colby Armstrong exclaimed. ”What is going on?”
Paul Bissonnette, a noted Leafs fan who had drawn criticism for his openly rooting for the team earlier in the week, agreed with Armstrong.
”I thought it was soft,” he said of Maroon being called. “That’s playoff hockey through and through.”
”The ref’s right there! I don’t get it. It’s driving me nuts,” Armstrong said.
It’s no secret that the Toronto Maple Leafs are currently mired in a lengthy postseason victory drought that hasn’t seen them advance past the 1st round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs since prior to the invention of YouTube. To be exact, it was 19 years ago that Toronto last celebrated a series win, a 4-1 triumph over the Ottawa Senators at the then-named Air Canada Center.
It was veteran forward Joe Nieuwendyk who electrified the crowd with two 1st period goals against an extremely leaky Patrick Lalime en route to a series win and a date in Round 2 with the Philadelphia Flyers.
Take a look back the game itself and the subsequent celebrations that followed:
Tonight, the Maple Leafs have the chance to advance to Round 2 for the first time since that night, and Toronto is ready to party like it’s 2004 again. Will they get the chance to?
The Tampa Bay Lightning were in prime position, only 20 minutes away from being able to return back to Toronto having tied their series at two games apiece with the rival Toronto Maple Leafs, who are facing enormous scrutiny and pressure to advance past the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2004.
However, the Lightning got a bit too comfortable with their three goal lead, which began to evaporate midway through the third period dissolve thanks to a furious comeback effort by the Leafs, capped by the stunning power play goal in overtime by Alex Kerfoot. Coming into tonight’s pivotal Game 5 at Scotiabank Arena, it’s not the Leafs with their backs up against the wall, but rather the Lightning.
And ahead of tonight’s game, it appears as though they could be making a key lineup change. Forward Tanner Jeannot, whom the Lightning acquired from the Nashville Predators at the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline for a massive haul of draft capital along with defenseman Cal Foote, could be a healthy scratch.
According to TSN’s Chris Johnston, it appears that Jeannot is the odd man out for tonight in favor of Mikey Eyssimont:
“Mikey Eyssimont came off the ice early at a very optional #TBLightning morning skate — a possible indication he’ll draw back in for Game 5.
No confirmation on any changes, but Tanner Jeannot was the last forward to stay on.”
Jeannot, who has been held off the scoresheet in the three games that he’s played in so far during the postseason (he missed Game 1 due to a lower body injury), has skated in an average of 13:21 of ice time while racking up a fighting major along with a -2 plus/minus rating.
The Toronto Maple Leafs missed out on their chance to clinch their first postseason series victory since 2004 tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning, dropping a 4-2 decision to give the Bolts new life and a renewed sense of swagger as the two teams head back to Amalie Arena for Game 6 on Saturday night.
Despite taking an early 1-0 lead courtesy of Game 3 overtime hero Morgan Rielly, the Lightning would respond with three straight tallies, including the winner from Nick Paul midway through the third period. Auston Matthews would score late to give Toronto a chance at the tie, but an empty netter from Alex Killorn would seal the win.
The Bolts also got goals from rookie Mikey Eyssimont as well as Anthony Cirelli, while goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy rebounded from three straight uncharacteristically poor performances by making 28 saves in the win.
This now marks the 11th straight time since 2013 that the Maple Leafs have failed to advance when a victory would have punched their ticket to the next round.
Afterward, head coach Sheldon Keefe tipped his hat to the Lightning and their performance with their backs up against the wall while dismissing the thought that perhaps once again the moment was too big for his team.
“Obviously, we didn’t get the result, but I don’t think it has anything to do with the moment or anything like that,” Keefe said. “It is a good hockey team we are playing against. They played as perfect of a road game as you could probably ask for if you are them.”
“We had some opportunities here tonight,” he continued. “We scored first, so you like that. We had some really good opportunities on our power play in the first period and a chance to take the lead there. We couldn’t convert on those kinds of looks. It was probably the most looks we had on one power play all series. It didn’t go for us. It is a tight hockey game all the way through. We couldn’t get the next one.”
The Lightning, who have been to the Stanley Cup Final the last three straight seasons, have no intention of breaking for an early summer. And Toronto is well aware of that as they head back down south for Game 6.
There was more rough stuff between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs, this time at the end of the second period of tonight’s Game 6 of their opening round Stanley Cup Playoffs series. The melee began when hard-nosed Lightning forward trucked veteran defenseman Mark Giordano into the half wall, causing the latter to collapse to the ice in pain.
And while on-ice officials worked to get everything sorted out, Giordano slowly made his way to the dressing room. And according to multiple reports, he has not returned to the Leafs bench for the start of the 3rd period. Meanwhile, Maroon would be assessed a two-minute minor penalty for roughing.
