![]() "Had his best hockey when it was most critical where we just could not afford to give up the next goal." Samsonov, meanwhile, kept his team in it with a big save on Nick Paul at the midway point of the period. "They know we're basically already going on the power play. so it's a free for all they can do whatever they want." "Classic example of a veteran, championship team like Tampa Bay manipulating the officials and taking advantage of a situation," he said. Keefe said his team deserved a 5-on-3 man advantage out of the shenanigans. Toronto, which lost Game 6 in OT in the same building last spring, had a two-minute power play when the dust settled, but were unable to capitalize with Matthews, Rielly and O'Reilly all in the box. TB LEADS 1-0 Maple Leafs' playoff woes continue as Lightning romp in series opener " goes in hard, and I understand his teammates being frustrated by that." "I thought the play was clean," Rielly said. Point eventually returned to action after receiving treatment. Tampa's 51-goal man tried to get up, but crumpled to the ice before heading to the locker room as players on both sides dropped the gloves, including a chaotic fight between Matthews - his first in the NHL - and Lightning captain Steven Stamkos. Injured in Game 7 of last year's series, Point left later in the period after going shoulder-to-shoulder with Rielly and crashing into the boards. "I was shocked," Cooper said of the call. Tampa, which tilted the ice heavily earlier in the period on an under-siege Samsonov, appeared to go up by two on a power play off a strange sequence where the puck popped in front, but the officials ruled the Toronto netminder had it frozen before Brayden Point poked it home. The defenceman took a pass at the point and wheeled down the boards and around Samsonov's net - fighting off both Matthew Knies and Jake McCabe in the process - before firing upstairs. Tied 2-2 after Saturday's opening 20 minutes, Raddysh scored his first career playoff goal at 13:34 of the second. The teams traded blowout victories to open the series - the Lightning thumped the Leafs 7-3 in the opener before Toronto responded with an equally emphatic 7-2 triumph in Game 2 to set the stage for a tightly contested affair. Game 4 of the best-of-seven matchup goes Monday back at Amalie Arena. "Really liked our game," said Tampa head coach Jon Cooper, whose team beat Toronto in a series that went the distance at the same stage of last spring's playoffs. The best-of-7 series begins on Tuesday, May 2.SERIES TIED 1-1 Tavares's 1st career playoff hat trick helps Maple Leafs bounce back, rout Bolts to even series The last time they advanced past the second round was in 2002, and the franchise’s most recent Stanley Cup was in 1967. The Maple Leafs broke a nearly two-decade streak of losing in the first round this year - they had not reached the conference semifinals since 2004. The Panthers have not made it past the second round of the playoffs since 1996, when they advanced to the Stanley Cup Final and lost to the Detroit Red Wings. Three of the four games went to overtime, so if that is any indication of the series ahead, we have plenty of excitement on the schedule. The two teams have never gone head-to-head in a postseason series.ĭuring the 2022-23 regular season, the two teams faced off four times, with the Maple Leafs taking home three of the four wins. There, they are facing the Toronto Maple Leafs for the first time in playoff history. The Florida Panthers shocked the NHL with a Game 7 upset over the Bruins to advance to the next round in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
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