John Tavares scored 4:36 into overtime Saturday night as the Toronto Maple Leafs broke a 19-year playoff series drought, beating the host Tampa Bay Lightning 2–1 in Game 6 of a first-round Eastern Conference playoff series.
Tavares’ OT shot skittered past Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (20 saves) and clinched a Stanley Cup playoff series for the first time since 2004—with the last three games coming in overtime in Tampa. Auston Matthews scored in regulation, and Ilya Samsonov was sharp in stopping 31 of 32 shots.
By winning for the first time in its last nine playoff series, Toronto will move to the next round to face the winner of Sunday’s Game 7 between the Florida Panthers and host Boston Bruins….