TAMPA – Lose Game 6 on the road, to the back-to-back champions, and all those bad thoughts and old narratives would follow the Maple Leafs back to Toronto like carry-on baggage.
But stomp the Tampa Bay Lightning out on their own ice, under the NHL’s two most recently hung banners? Get them out and not just down?
Well, that would prove that yes, indeed, this is a different, better version of the Maple Leafs.
After 18 years of torture and teasing, after a bitter 0-8 streak of failing to knock out an opponent on the ropes, Toronto will dive right back into its oh-too-familiar narrative.
We’re going to Game 7, folks.
Saturday. Appointment television.
The Leafs versus the Tampa Lightning.
The Leafs versus their own demons.
All thanks to a gutsy yet gut-wrenching 4-3 overtime loss in which they outscored their mistakes, but then made a few more.
That much-discussed killer instinct remains just out of grasp.
“The opportunity we have to close things out, we haven’t done that in the past. That’s come back to really hurt us. Tonight, an opportunity to win and move on is big. We all realize that,” said Morgan Rielly, the longest-serving Leaf, before puck drop.
“We learned in the past what happens when you’re not able to do that.”
A tightly contested first period would have yielded a 0-0 dead heat were it not for a brutal Alexander Kerfoot drop pass to no one in the neutral zone.
Intended for T.J. Brodie, the puck was scooped up by Ondrej Palat and buried under Jack Campbell’s armpit in a blink.
The same brand of turnover that unravelled strong Leafs’ efforts last May on nights when they had the Montreal Canadiens on the ropes (see: Galchenyuk, Alex; Dermott, Travis).
Another costly turnover — by Mark Giordano in a crowded neutral zone — led to a brilliant Anthony Cirelli spin-o-rama shorthanded goal the other way.
Once again, the Maple Leafs fell down 2-zip.
Once again, they composed themselves and responded in the second period.
Three unanswered strikes by the visitors — a slick Auston Matthews’ tip of a Giordano point blast, plus a pair of shots from John Tavares that found a way, the second with just eight seconds remaining in the period — stunned the Amalie Arena crowd.
“John’s been great for us all year, all series,” Morgan Rielly said before the game of his point-per-game captain.
The Lightning struck back in the third period, when Nikita Kucherov tied the game thanks to 105 juicy seconds of controversial 5-on-3 power-play time. (Both David Kämpf and Kerfoot were stuffed in the box serving high-sticking minors.)
The crowd erupted.
Brayden Point froze the clock with 1:56 remaining in the first overtime, putting Leaf Nation on pins and needles for the next 48 hours.
Yikes.
“The hardest game to win is the last one,” an admittedly nervous Auston Matthews had said after morning skate. Then the Hart finalist and his friends went out and nearly slayed the beast.
“It’s a really good opportunity for our group to grasp the moment.”
Saturday will present another moment.
For this core, this coach, this brass, all the pressure will be on them to not make it their last.
Fox’s Fast 5
• Shocked by how ordinary Andrei Vasilevskiy has looked in this series.
• Rielly and Point were star teammates on the 2011-12 Moose Jaw Warriors, but they have not hesitated to dig into some fierce battles this series.
“You don’t really think of the old days,” Rielly said. “You just go out there and compete.”
• In case you needed further proof that Jason Spezza is one beauty of a teammate …
• Anyone catch wrestler CM Punk wearing a Tavares sweater to troll the fans on Long Island?
• Palat has 40(!) career playoff goals and is a plus-27 in the postseason. Talk about an underrated player in this league.
